BottleRock Napa Valley 2023 Festival Journal, Day 2

You’re reading Day 2 – be sure to check out what you missed on Day 1!

Day 2 of this year’s BottleRock started with similar weather to the previous day. By the time I was done watching Paris Jackson‘s set (my first of the day), I was already warm enough to take my jacket off. Despite having heard at least a few of her songs here and there, I wasn’t sure what to expect from Jackson. She has a solid sound with her band, and her set was enjoyable pop-rock. I enjoyed her enough that I’ll be curious to see where her music career will take her. Continue reading “BottleRock Napa Valley 2023 Festival Journal, Day 2”

BottleRock Napa Valley 2023 Preview

Can you feel it? Summer’s almost here, finally! Besides the fact that the rain has finally stopped and the temps are heating up, you always know it’s just about summer when it’s time to take a look at the upcoming BottleRock Napa Valley festival!

As usual, the folks organizing this magical event in my sweet hometown have done a brilliant job providing us with not just fantastic headliners but quite a few awesome smaller bands. It starts in less than 10 days, and as usual, I can’t wait!

This year, the Red Hot Chili Peppers return to headline along with The  Smashing Pumpkins, Lizzo, Duran Duran, Post Malone, and Lil Nas X!

Beyond that impressive lineup of headliners, there are countless other interesting acts I hope to see, including Bastille, Phantogram, Kennyhoopla, Jean Dawson, Beach Weather, Paris Jackson, local band High Noon, Leon Bridges, Carly Rae Jepsen, Tove Lo, Dayglow, Danielle Ponder, Wu-Tang Clan, The National, Caamp, Sheryl Crow, Los Lobos, The Wrecks, and The Alive. And that’s without listing any of the extensive food, wine, or cocktails available to tempt and delight tastebuds, too!

Here’s my 2023 BottleRock preview playlist for your listening enjoyment, and I look forward to seeing you there soon! Don’t have tickets? Try here, and come on out to Napa for some sunshine at the best fest in the west!

BOTTLEROCK 2023 LINE UP IS HERE!

BOTTLEROCK LINEUP HAS DROPPED!!!! And it’s looking like it might be the most fun year yet! Not only do they have 3 of our top ten of 2022 (Lizzo, Carly Rae Jepsen, Ashe), but the top line also features the classic lineup of Red Hot Chili Peppers finally making up their lost 2020 set, hitmaker Post Malone, New Romantic heartthrobs Duran Duran, groundbreaking genius Lil Nas X, and 90’s Lollapalooza veterans The Smashing Pumpkins (still minus D’Arcy, however. :grumpyface:)

Other Spinning Platters favorites at this shindig include The National, Sheryl Crow, Tove Lo, Nile Ridgers & Chic, Phantogram, Japanese Breakfast, and, hiding at the very bottom, Paris Jackson (!). Full lineup after the jump. And then the “About Damn Time” video because that song never gets old.

Tickets on sale January 10th at noon PST. 

Continue reading “BOTTLEROCK 2023 LINE UP IS HERE!”

Spinning Platters’ Top 10 Albums of 2022

By The Spinning Platters Editorial Team

Good news, everyone! Just like every other year, Spinning Platters is publishing the LAST top albums of the year list you’ll be reading. Our entire team has been listening to each other’s favorite records, no matter how painful it can get, and we’ve voted on our 10 favorite albums of 2022! Without further adieu, here we go: Continue reading “Spinning Platters’ Top 10 Albums of 2022”

Outside Lands 2021 Diary

A special thanks to Paige Parsons for providing us with so many lovely photos this year. You should follow her on Instagram, as her feed will bring you many bursts of joy. 

Outside Lands was the first concert I remember going on sale in the dark days of SIP. It sold out in two minutes, and my husband and I looked into our souls and wallets and sprung for VIP. And then, I wound up getting a press pass. Anyway! I was very very excited to go, and it’s been a long time since I reviewed anything.  Continue reading “Outside Lands 2021 Diary”

Outside Lands Daily Lineups & Single Day Tickets

I’m forever grateful that the good folks of Another Planet and Superfly are working hard to make Outside Lands happen this year. And I know many of you loyal readers are sad that they missed out on buying 3-Day passes. Or didn’t buy them because they were waiting for the daily lineups to see if they can cancel their usual Halloween plans for this. 

Well, cancel those Halloween plans because Outside Lands announced their single-day lineups, and, well, Tame Impala, Brittany Howard, Kehlani, and freaking Nelly are playing on Halloween! Also, whoever decided to book Neal Francis and Neil Frances for the same day deserves a prize. The rest are below the jump. Single Day Tickets are on sale Thursday, April 29th at 10 am! Continue reading “Outside Lands Daily Lineups & Single Day Tickets”

Outside Lands 2021 has been moved to Halloween!

The news that we’ve been expecting for quite some time has finally dropped… Sadly, it looks like it’s not quite feasible for Outside Lands to happen in August this year. The good news? We get to party together in Golden Gate Park for HALLOWEEN!!! Yes, Outside Lands 2021 has been moved to October 29-31. Does this mean that we may get a replay of Tame Impala’s Halloween 2013 show when they performed as The Spice Girls? Dear God, I really hope so. 

More good news: in addition to the already stacked lineup with Lizzo, The Strokes, Tyler, The Creator, Hinds, Vampire Weekend, Kehlani, and more, we’ve got a bunch of new names! We have the first black performer ever to win an electronic music Grammy, Kaytranada. We also have Glass Animals, Lord Huron, Flo Milli, and 24kGoldn all coming to the park for a massive Halloween bash. And, of course, there is still more to come! We haven’t even thought about The Barbary, Heneiken Dome, or Gastromagic stages yet!  

Tickets are available NOW! Including payment plans, if you can’t do it all at once. If you can’t make the new date, you can request a refund until April 17th. But, really, why would you not want to spend Halloween at Outside Lands? 

Spinning Platters’ Top 10 Albums of 2019

By The Spinning Platters’ Editorial Team

2019 was an insane musical year… If I traveled back to 2000 and told me that Trent Reznor would have writing credit on the longest running #1 single of all time, and that song was a duet between a 20 year old rapper and Billy Ray Cyrus that won a CMA award, I’d think you were insane. (BTW: I just watched the video to this song for the first time, and it’s pretty wonderfully weird) The insanity is a good thing, and our top 10 of the year ended up being our most eclectic one yet!

#10  Pony / Orville Peck Continue reading “Spinning Platters’ Top 10 Albums of 2019”

Spinning Platters’ Top 50 Records from our First Decade: 1-10!

The appropriate 10th anniversary gift is tin. So, um, here’s a pile of tin?

…And we’ve reached the finish line! Here are the top 10 records of the first decade of Spinning Platters, as voted on by our editorial team. Enjoy! Looking to see where we started? Here’s 31-50 and here’s 11-30 Continue reading “Spinning Platters’ Top 50 Records from our First Decade: 1-10!”

Outside Lands 2018: 27 Instant Gig Reviews

Ate a lot of food. Got a lot of steps. But it was mostly Janet Jackson.

All photos by Dakin Hardwick unless otherwise noted

Outside Lands reached its 11th birthday this year. I’ve been to ten of those eleven installments. This year, the folks booking the festival decided it was time to take some risks… They added an extra stage for acoustic sets and magic, called “Cocktail Magic.” They added a whole pot awareness area (not that folks at a music festival need to be *more* aware of weed). Continue reading “Outside Lands 2018: 27 Instant Gig Reviews”