BottleRock Day 1 Images Capture Entertainment, Fun

Written By Al Francis and Joyce Hughes-

The traffic was snarled, the crowds were huge and the weather was warm but thousands of music lovers were in their glory with band after band thrilling them on the opening day of BottleRock Napa Valley, the sold out three-day music, food and wine extravaganza at Napa Expo Fairgrounds in Napa on Friday.

Concertgoers not only had thousands of others heading for the same place; there was also the Memorial Weekend Friday get-a-way crunch to contend with on the highways and roads.

A group of women attempting to take public transportation bus on Soscol Ave, abandoned the bus stop and walked the 8-10 blocks to the venue after waiting 20 minutes.

But once the maize at will call and security check was cleared there was sensory overload with music blaring from four stages all day long until 10 p.m. sharp, and the William Sonoma cooking demonstration stage where Gordon Ramsay made an appearance.

There were food vendors everywhere. There were wine lounges and beer booths with long lines.

With so many bands performing you needed a scorecard or the BottleRock app downloaded into your smartphone to keep track.

Oakland eight-piece band La Misa Negra got the party started in the early afternoon at the Miner Family stage with what is described as an high-energy Afro-Colombian dance music.

Concert goers could not keep from dancing.

But, the energy kept going over at the JaM Cellars main stage with Andy Grammer delighting fans with his hit singles "Keep Your Head Up" and "Fine by Me" and his latest #1 single "Honey I'm Good" and "Good To Be Alive" as he was laughing and smiling the entire set having a great time.

Last year Michael Franti and Spearhead performed at the secondary stage at BottleRock but the barefoot humanitarian and musician moved over to the main stage and his fans loved it, packing the place for the mid-afternoon show in the hot sun.

One fan, a boy wearing a orange UCSF Medical Center tee-shirt and a SF Giants hat and black horn rimmed glasses was spotted by Franti in the crowd, brought up on stage, and given him a hand held mic to join Franti for their single "Sound of Sunshine."

However the young boy realized a great opportunity with thousands before him and he stole the show helping with the lyric and a few times turned to the crowd and started everyone jumping; apparently stage fright didn't seem to be an issue with Michael Franti and the Spearhead as your backup.

A tough act to follow but Lenny Kravits took to the main stage next with a blasting brass section and three singers who put all their energy, dance and style into the show and the crowd could not get enough.

There were flashes of Jimi Hendrix as Kravits played his guitar throwing his head back as if saying 'Excuse me while I kiss the Napa sky.'

Day One of BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 was capped off with the legendary Stevie Wonder before a full house with every possible bit of real estate at the JaM Cellars stage area occupied.

However, for the first time in BottleRock history a band was not allowing anyone from the press to photograph any of Stevie Wonder's performance.

Usually media still photographers are allowed to photograph only the first two songs of the set from a "photo pit area" at the base of the stage and no other photographs of bands performing at BottleRock or other venues are allowed.

But, an outright media photo embargo was what the press relations team and the promoters were faced with and the bands call the shots-and a headliner.

However, at 7:30pm, 45 minutes before Stevie Wonder was to start, a PR relations person read from a list of a handful of handpicked newspapers photographers allowed to take photos at the beginning of the set.

-all images via Al Francis