Green Day, Public Enemy deliver explosive performances on Day 1 of the BottleRock 2025 music festival in Napa. 

 

Green Day and Public Enemy were the standouts on a jam-packed Day 1 of BottleRock 2025 in Napa — an incredibly diverse music festival with a multitude of musical acts, gourmet food to die for, celebrity chefs, copious amounts of wine, and beautiful weather in the heart of California’s wine country.  

A massive crowd of screaming fans stretched into the outer limits from the main JaM Cellars Stage during Green Day’s high-energy performance. More than 120,000 people are expected to attend BottleRock over the holiday weekend, and the East Bay rock legends certainly set the stage for the bands to come. 

Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong led a hit-filled set, opening with “American Idiot,” and then nonstop from “Holiday,” “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” and “Basket Case,” to “When I Come Around,” “Wake Me Up When September Ends,” and “Good Riddance.”

The set was accented by shockingly loud fireworks, a fan receiving a dream-come-true moment to sing and rock out on stage, and a the appearance of a “Bad Year” Blimp that flew over the crowd. 

Turning up the heat

There were political moments throughout the day’s performances, including when Armstrong started off by changing the “American Idiot” lyrics from “I’m not a part of the redneck agenda” to “MAGA agenda.” This was preceded by Flavor Flav of Public Enemy who went on a multi-minute rant on the Verizon Stage about everything from the war in Gaza to who was really right — Democrats or the Republicans? Flav then expressed that “no one is right all the time,” and then, he asked: “Am I right?” 

In a both humorous and passionate moment, the famed hype man managed to get thousands of fans to chant back: “You’re right!”

However, it was the turned-up heat of the Public Enemy performance that was most appreciated by a sea of humanity bobbing heads and pumping fists, from the hits “Fight The Power,” “Public Enemy No. 1,” and “Terminator X to the Edge of Panic.”

Flav capped it all off by dropping a powerful message to the masses: “No matter what race we come from, at the end of the day, there is only one race. That’s the human race.”

He also paid tribute to Bay Area legend E-40 who performed just an hour before on the JaM Cellars Stage. Fans loved E-40’s iconic blends from “Sprinkle me,” “Tell Me When To Go,” “Choices (Yup),” and “Yay Area,” but they had to wait and wait and wait for the famed rapper to finally, and casually, walk onto the stage like he owned the place. The crowd did enjoy about a half hour of West Coast mixes from DJ KMP, everybody was wondering when E-40 would actually show up. But when it happened, the moment was explosive to say the least. 

Sublime was another lead act that drew an immense audience wanting to see Jakob Nowell, the son of the late frontman Bradley Nowell, lead the ska-funk-reggae masters including founding members Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh. 

Meanwhile, a group of dedicated and astute music lovers were fortunate to be in front of the somewhat smaller White Claw stage to see Australia’s Mallrat (Grace Shaw) grace the stage. Her dreamlike performance was mesmerizing with “Hocus Pocus,” “Surprise Me,” and “Horses.” Shaw and the audience was truly enjoying every single moment. At one point, the singer joyfully announced that her dad was in the audience, flying all the way in from Brisbane with his partner.  

So many things to do

BottleRock must be the Disney World of music festivals. Fans on Day 1 were guided through multi medium avenues lined with such things as a full-on roller rink, a silent disco, a club dance venue, two spacious world-class food courts, a star-studded culinary workshop stage, an all-in-one spa offering everything from hair styling and facials to IV hydration and chair massages. 

At the Williams Sonoma Culinary Stage, Flavor Flav joined E-40 and celebrity chef Aaron Sanchez to create some scrumptious concoctions. Tennis star Serena Williams also showed up with her cute daughter Olympia for a food demonstration with country singer Trisha Yearwood. 

As for the food vendors, literally you could do no wrong, according to our Times reporters. So much food, wine and craft beers to choose from. 

Our Times all-around favorite continues to be a simple Lobster Roll from the New England Lobster and Crab Shack, washed down with a nice pinot noir from the Robledo Family Winery. The Original Burger Dogs were pretty good too. You can’t beat a unique hamburger in a hot dog bun. 

One staff member of Silverado Vineyards told the Times they had sold more than 1,000 glasses of wine on Day 1 of the event, and they were just one of about 25 winemakers specifically featured at the event.

Next Up 

Saturday’s music line up includes Justin Timberlake, Benson Boone, Ice Cube, 4 Non Blondes, Kaleo, Rebellion, and Kate Hudson, among several other top acts.

On Sunday, you got Noah Kahan, Khruangbin, Cage the Elephant, Carin Leon, Goose Flo Ride, Allen Stone, Drama, and Robby Krieger of the Doors, among many others.