Gearing Up For BottleRock Napa Valley 2015: PHOTO SHOW

By Al Francis:

Things were rocking at the Napa Valley Expo Thursday with a week to go before the big show - BottleRock Napa Valley 2015, the premier musical event with 70 acts.

Work at the fairgrounds in Napa saw crews erecting tents, bleacher, cell phone towers, while other were bringing in portable restrooms and offices trailers. There were also crews painting buildings’ exteriors and pouring cement.

The troubled BottleRock music festival got off to a rocky start its first year with the original producers, BR Festivals, ending up in bankruptcy, with losses nearing $10 million. However, the new producers, Latitude 38, are gearing up to make money this year.

According to the concert web site, the May 29-31 festival, is sold out for three-day general passes. It’s no wonder with a musical line up that includes Imagine Dragons, Michael Franti, Public Enemy, Los Lobos -- and that’s just on Friday, May 29.

Saturday, May 30, will have Robert Plant, The Avett Brothers, Passion Pit, to name a few. On Sunday, May 3, shows will include No Doubt, Snoop Dogg, Gipsy Kings.

One-day General Admission, VIP and Platinum passes are still available. See more here.

Many changes were made to the Napa Valley Expo, home to the Napa fairgrounds that host events such as the Home & Garden Show, a fair in August, and in the past, rodeos, car destruction derby and past concerts by The Jefferson Starship and the Beach Boys.

Several buildings and structures have been demolished leaving freshly laid sod grass that will allow for the concert capacity to increase from 60,000 in years past to 100,000 daily attendance. In past years concert goers had to stand in line for everything-first to be searched to get onto the property, then long line to the bathrooms, beverage and food booths.

Crews were busy painting murals on fairground buildings, pouring concrete for a patio behind one of the expo buildings on Thursday. And crews from various cell phone providers were adding portable towers to increase capacity at the concert site.

A Verizon crew was installing towers behind the main stage area to capture photos, video, text messages that fairgoers will be sending during the concerts with a relay tower set up near the nearby PG&E substation to then bounce the signal to the main switch for distribution.

Other providers, including AT&T, have already installed their towers surrounding the main concert area which is actually the parking lot for the fairgrounds.

Local workers in downtown Napa area are already concerned about the traffic gridlock expected for next weekend, however there will bus shuttles and more nearby parking promised by promoters for music fans heading to the concerts.

Photo credits: Al Francis of NapaSonomaPhotos