Since emerging on the scene in 2013, BottleRock Napa Valley has signaled the beginning of festival season in the Bay Area. While the Stern Grove Festival kicks off in June, and Outside Lands and the Portola Music Festival are still months away, the North Bay’s late May celebration of music, beer, wine and food is typically held on Memorial Day weekend.
This year’s gathering features headliners Metallica, Twenty One Pilots and Pink—along with big name supportings acts like Spoon, Silversun Pickups, Chvrches and Bleachers. Those who can’t make it to the Napa Valley Expo this weekend, will get the chance to catch a number of these supporting acts in San Francisco in the BottleRock After Dark series.
Glaswegian technopop outfit Chvrches, touring in support of their recent album, Screen Violence, play The Fillmore on May 26. Modern troubadour Amos Lee headlines the same venue two nights later.
Japanese psychedelic rockers Kikagaku Moyo have announced that this will be their final tour before an indefinite hiatus. So both the converted and the curious will want to catch them May 28 at August Hall. Singer-Songwriter, Bay Area native and ace collaborator (G-Eazy, Quinn XCII) Marc E. Bassy plays an AfterHours homecoming show there the following night. Indie rock heroes Spoon also play on May 29 but at the Fillmore. Closing out the San Francisco AfterDark run—there are also shows in Oakland, San Jose and Sacramento—is French-Chilean MC/vocalist/lyricist/composer Ana Tijoux at The Chapel on Memorial Day.
Various Venues, Various Dates