First Day At BottleRock 2018 In NapaMy Father, Robert Hernandez

BottleRock 2018 landed on Memorial Day Weekend for its fifth year of food, wine, and killer music! The three-day festival had Muse, The Killers, and Bruno Mars as headliners.

As I was apart of media for this year's BottleRock, I saw received the whole VIP experience and more! When attending the festival, expect to see loads of wine, cocktail, and food stations as this is a HUGE culinary festival. There is even one stage dedicated to famous chefs!

Napa's relaxing atmosphere and spread out venue makeup multiple stages, beautiful decor, and an abundant of cool perks that add to your experience such as a spa, art, and a silent disco.

COIN, an alternative pop band from Nashville, Tennessee played for an hour at the Lagunitas stage. I had seen the indie pop band before at the Social Hall in San Francisco. The four-piece band outdid all expectations just like the first time I saw them.

Chase LawrenceLauren Hernandez

COIN played a total of 11 songs including their new single, "Growing Pains." The crowd danced and sang to every song! COIN bounced off the crowd's energy and singer, Chase Lawrence danced all over the stage, climbed a few props and pillars, and went into the crowd multiple times!

Chase Lawrence of COIN!Lauren Hernandez

"Miranda Beach," "Hannah," and "Boyfriend" were a few of my favorites and definitely songs that had the crowd going crazy!

The Struts played on the Jam Cellars stage for forty-five minutes, early on day one. The band shared the stage with many big acts including Incubus, Muse, and Earth, Wind & Fire.

The Struts are a glam rock band from Derbyshire, England, whose inspirations include Oasis, The Smiths, The Killers, Queen, and the Rolling Stones. The band describes themselves as "glamorous and dangerous."

Luke Spiller at BottleRock 2018Me, Lauren Hernandez

To a full crowd, The Struts rocked the stage. The band played many of their hit songs and even invited a fan on stage for their cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark."

The band interacted with the crowd and the crowd fed off their energy as they danced, jumped, and sang to every song. "Kiss This" and "Put Your Money On Me" were two of the crowd favorites!

The StrutsMe, Lauren Hernandez

The Struts were energetic and charismatic throughout their performance, especially the singer, Luke Spiller. Spiller is known for his dramatic makeup, glamorous outfits, and charismatic personality. You couldn't ask for a better frontman with killer vocals. The band not only enhances the performance but they feed off Spiller's energy.

The band ended their show by thanking the crowd and bringing out a half British and half American flag. The crowd left either being excited they saw one of their favorite bands or left wanting to know everything and more about the British phenomenon.

Another great band from day one is the alternative rock band known as Flor. Flor comes from Portland, Oregon and is signed to Fueled By Ramen. The same label as Twenty One Pilots, Young the Giant, and All Time Low.

Flor has one studio album released in 2017 named come out. you're hiding. Flor played many songs from the debut album during their forty-five minute set on the Midway stage. Bands such as LANY and Phantogram played on the Midway stage for the first day of the festival.

The band was very appreciative of the outcome for their show earlier in the day. Flor put on an awesome performance and the crowd left thrilled with what they just saw! Flor is definitely a great band and was an awesome addition to BottleRock's lineup.

In The Media RoomMy Father, Robert Hernandez

I had a chance to see Earth, Wind & Fire and Incubus the first day as well! Both acts were great, but very hard to see because of the abundance of people. Day one definitely had a huge outcome, but nothing compared to Saturday and Sunday of the festival.

Day two had a lot of smaller acts earlier in the day such as The Aces, a band who was just on tour with Joywave. Acts like Bleachers, Snoop Dogg, and The Killers were the bigger acts that night.

On day three, I was able to see multiple acts including some culinary shows.

The Wrecks were the first band I saw on Sunday at the Midway stage. The Wrecks played for forty-five minutes and started off Sunday right! They played 10 songs including a Jet cover of "Are You Gonna Be My Girl." The crowd danced throughout their whole set, but really went off during The Wrecks' hit song, "Favorite Liar."

Halsey Wearing an Oakland A's ShirtLauren Hernandez

Next, Halsey and chef, Giada De Laurentiis cooked together on the Culinary stage for thirty minutes. Fans lined up at the small stage to see the iconic chef and fan favorite singer. Halsey walked on stage repping the Bay Area as she wore an Oakland A's t-shirt. The singer cooked and drank with Giada De Laurentiis, the famous Italian-American chef.

New Politics performed both new and old songs at the Midway Stage for an hour! The band from New York and Copenhagen performed a total of 14 songs to which the crowd danced and sang to!

Lou Vecchio of New PoliticsLauren Hernandez

Drummer, Louis Vecchio sang to each song, while guitarist and vocalist Soren Hansen jammed all over the stage. Frontman, David Boyd danced and jumped all over the stage and even crowd surfed into the audience. Their performance was more than fun as they are the perfect festival band!

Søren Hansen of New PoliticsLauren Hernandez

"Harlem," "Everywhere I Go (Kings & Queens)," and "Tonight You're Perfect" were some of the best songs live. Each song including "Yeah Yeah Yeah" had the crowd so into the performance! I hope to see New Politics at 2019's BottleRock Festival!

The last act I saw was Halsey on the Jam Cellars Stage, which Bruno Mars later performed at. Halsey performed for an hour on the Jam Cellars Stage for Day three of Bottlerock. Halsey tried to engage the audience as she performed a lot of her B-side tracks.

Halsey at the Culinary StageLauren Hernandez

Halsey also performed many of her hits from her newest album like "Alone," "Bad At Love," and "Strangers." The crowd went off when Halsey performed her hit single with The Chainsmokers, "Closer."

Halsey put on an awesome show and performed a great variety of songs. Her vocals along with the props on stage made her performance one of the best of the day! The Bay Area cannot wait for her to come back!