Bay Area hometown heroes Green Day was the big attraction on Day 1 of the BottleRock Napa Valley festival.
Fans waited (somewhat) patiently all day for the East Bay trio â consisting of vocalist-guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt and with drummer TrĂ© Cool â to take the stage for its headlining set on Friday (May 23).
Finally, right around 8 p.m., these Rodeo rockers hit BottleRockâs biggie JaM Cellars Stage and delivered a 100-minute-plus set of pop-rock favorites from the bandâs multiplatinum-selling catalog.
The Green Day performance â which was something that both fans and organizers had been hoping to see at BottleRock for many years â certainly was a nice way to cap off what had been a very successful opening day to the 2025 edition of this intensely popular festival.
Other highlights included the hip-hop champions Public Enemy, U.K. buzz band Bad Nerves, Aussie indie-pop crooner Mallrat and Palo Alto singer-songwriter Remi Wolf.
BottleRock Napa Valley continues through Sunday at the Napa Valley Expo in downtown Napa. For more information, visit bottlerocknapavalley.com .
Pop titan Justin Timberlake was set to headline on Saturday, with such acts as Benson Boone, Ice Cube, 4 Non Blondes, Kate Hudson (yes, that Kate Hudson) and Lauren Mayberry scheduled to appear earlier in the day.
New England folk-pop singer-songwriter Noah Kahan gets top billing on Sunday, but the docket also includes sets from Goose, Carin Leon, Flo Rida, Khruangbin and â best of all â legendary rock guitarist Robby Krieger from The Doors, among many others.
The music began right around noon on Friday and stretched until close to 10 p.m. During that time, BottleRock attendees were treated to more than two dozen acts, ranging from one of the biggest bands of all time â Green Day â to an array of top touring acts and a plethora of up-and-coming talents.
As far as the latter goes, Bad Nerves certainly made one of the best showings of the day. The U.K act, which melds power-pop, garage rock and indie sounds into an equally abrasive and addictive sound that would please both Television and Strokes fans, barreled through its songs like a freight train about to come off the tracks.
The group has the sound, the look (think U.K. punk-chic) and the energy to go far in this business. So donât be surprised if you see them back at BottleRock down the line, only playing a bigger stage than they did this time around.
Bad Nerves performed on the smallest of the four main stage areas â the one that is now dubbed the White Claw Stage. It doesnât get the attention of the bigger stages, but itâs kind of the hidden gem of the festival â where the really cool buzz bands and young talents play. Plus, itâs typically less crowded than the others, so you can usually walk right up close to the stage without much hassle. Due to these factors, the White Claw has become my favorite of the four stages.
And it certainly was the right place during the 6 oâclock hour, which was when Mallrat â the stage name for Aussie singer-songwriter Grace Shaw â was busy charming a relatively small crowd with her electronic indie-pop tunes from her two-album catalog.
As an added bonus, watching Mallrat meant you could skip most of Sublime, which took to the Verizon Stage at the same time and then proceeded to showcase that vocal talent doesnât always run in the family.
The group is fronted by Jakob Nowell, the son of Brad Nowell, the bandâs dearly departed original lead singer. The whole thing makes for a nice story. It does not, however, make for good music.
Remi Wolfe did a much better job with her set, delighting listeners with songs from her strong back catalog. The Palo Alto native also delivered a stellar (and pretty faithful) cover of Fleetwood Macâs âDreams.â
The best set I saw all day came courtesy of Public Enemy, which certainly isnât surprising given that these Long Island legends seem to give their all each and every time they take the stage. Chuck D â almost 40 years removed from when the first PE album, âYo! Bum Rush the Show,â hit shelves â still sounds incredibly strong on the microphone. And Flava Flav remains the gold standard for hype men.
Green Day finally took the stage and steadily rocked its through such early classics as âLongview,â âWelcome to Paradiseâ and âBasket Caseâ as well as âHoliday,â âBoulevard of Broken Dreams and other âAmerican Idiotâ-era nuggets.
The fans were right there with them every step of the way â including tennis great Serena Williams, who is reportedly a huge Green Day fan and was in attendance at BottleRock on Day 1. Besides grooving to Green Day, Williams appeared earlier in the day with country star Trisha Yearwood in a cooking demonstration on the Williams Sonoma Stage, which is wonderfully hosted by Liam âFoodie Chapâ Mayclem.
Green Day had a little help closing up its set â as well as the overall Day 1 of the 2025 BottleRock Napa Valley â as Public Enemyâs Flava Flav joined Armstrong on the always-impactful encore of âGood Riddance (Time of Your Life).â
Originally Published: May 23, 2025 at 11:02 PM PDT
