Even if I weren’t eagerly awaiting this year’s BottleRock Napa Valley, as I do every year, I would have known it was coming: Napa weather has been absolutely perfect lately. Highs in the mid-70s, clouds are few and far between, and there’s often a lovely breeze if you get a little hot in direct sunlight. Seriously, it’s been wonderful. It’s perfect festival weather! Continue reading “BottleRock Napa Valley 2024 Festival Journal, Day 1”
Tag: megan thee stallion
Festival Preview: BottleRock Napa Valley 2024
Happy New Year, live music lovers! BottleRock Napa Valley has announced the lineup for this year’s festival, and as usual, it’s got me looking forward to the summer!
It may seem like there’s a long time between the lineup announcement this morning and the festival itself, but I know from experience that the rest of the winter and the spring will both fly by, and before you know it, it’ll be time to gather at Napa Valley Expo once more.
After many years of speculation, Pearl Jam will indeed (finally!) headline the BRNV stage, as will Stevie Nicks, Ed Sheeran, and Maná. Headliners aside, I may be most excited to see Megan Thee Stallion, but also Cold War Kids, Queens of the Stone Age, Norah Jones, Dominic Fike, St. Vincent, The Offspring, Nelly, Bebe Rexha, Stephen Sanchez, Cannons, Holly Humberstone, The Record Company, Royal Otis, The Moss, and Mondo Cozmo.
As always, you can plan on finding amazing food, wine, beer, and cocktails to pair with your festival weekend. Trust me – you don’t want to miss this one!
You can find my 2024 BottleRock Napa Valley Preview playlist here, so you can listen along and get excited! Don’t have tickets? Don’t worry, you can get yours here. I’ll see you in Napa this summer!
Single of the Week: “Out Alpha The Alpha” by Megan Thee Stallion
I guess we are getting a raunchy, musical adult update on The Parent Trap. And it’s called Dicks and it stars Nathan Lane, Megan Mullaly, and Megan Thee Stallion, and it seems pretty absurd. What isn’t absurd is how I’ve spent most of 2023 learning that Megan Thee Stallion is really, really talented. This piece is just chock-full of witty braggadocio, and I’m sure within the context of the film, it’s even wittier, but she is just a beast on the microphone.
Dicks is in theaters on October 20th, and the soundtrack is out NOW!
Outside Lands 2023: 22 Instant Set Reviews
Happy 15th Birthday, Outside Lands! I’ve been to 13 out of 15, which are pretty good odds if you ask me! And despite this being the “year of the throwing stuff at bands,” this may have been the kindest, friendliest Outside Lands yet! I don’t think I’ve had more lovely conversations with strangers in three days at any other point in my life. Folks were consistently watching out for each other on the ground, working together to get medical attention for folks quickly, even at the risk of losing their spot, sharing food and water, and all around being grade-A music fans. I had the most amazing Creole Garlic Noodles of my life. I had the worst vegan experiment of my life- a veggie lamb slider (I won’t tag the restaurant here). I had plenty of Rocko’s Ice Cream Tacos because Outside Lands isn’t complete without at least 1 taco a day.
Continue reading “Outside Lands 2023: 22 Instant Set Reviews”
Spinning Platters’ Top 20 Albums of 2021
By The Spinning Platters Staff
This was an intense year… It feels like we’ve lived 300 in the last 3 months, TBH. Anyways, here’s the Top 20 records of 2021 as voted by the staff at Spinning Platters. You may notice a couple of late 2020 releases here… Similar to the Grammy’s, we don’t do a typical calendar year. Instead, we do 11/20-11/19 as a year. Because, really, in those last six weeks of the year, can anyone develop an emotional connection to a record? Continue reading “Spinning Platters’ Top 20 Albums of 2021”
BottleRock Napa Valley 2021 Preview
It’s been nearly a year since the original lineup announcement for BottleRock Napa Valley 2020. It was only January, and we hardly knew anything yet about what would become of the world as we know it, especially for us live music lovers.
Fast forward to mid-May 2021, and most of us are starved for live events we might have once taken for granted. Fortunately, there’s finally a light appearing at the end of a very long and difficult tunnel.
I haven’t seen a show since January 2020. If you know me at all, you know that festivals are my favorite – especially one I can walk to from home. And finally, finally, finally, it seems like it’s about that time again. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you…
Bottle Rock Napa Valley 2021’s lineup! I’m happy to see that quite a few of those originally slated for last year’s BRNV will be playing this Labor Day when vaccinated music-lovers can convene to enjoy! This includes original headliner Stevie Nicks, plus Guns N’ Roses (!!) and returning headliners Foo Fighters. In addition to those three, I’m also looking forward to several smaller acts! Personally, I can’t wait to catch Finneas, the freaking Village People (!!), Absofacto, Atlas Genius, Miley Cyrus, Megan Thee Stallion, Brandi Carlile, Cage the Elephant, Portugal. The Man, Young the Giant, Maren Morris, Black Pumas, Jon Batiste, Digable Planets, Matt Nathanson, Mondo Cozmo, Meg Myers, among many others. Who are you most excited to see this year?
Here’s my preview playlist featuring some of my faves. Enjoy, get vaccinated, and I’ll see you in my hometown this Labor Day weekend at BottleRock Napa Valley!
BottleRock ticket info: On sale 5/20 at 10 am PST. Get yours here!