Healdsburg BottleRockers Arrange for Bus to Napa's Music Fest

Imagine The Black Keys and the Black Crowes, Train, Kings of Leon, Primus , The Shins, and hot new artists The Alabama Shakes among many other acts, just a bus ride away.

Imagine that bus has reclining seats, restrooms, free champagne and wi-fi, and you’ll be traveling with folks you know from your own home town.

That exercise in imagination could come true next month, when Napa’s first BottleRock concert takes place just one county over, from May 8-12.

An express bus called “The Healdsbus” will shuttle local rock fans from Healdsburg to "the other valley" in comfort next month for BottleRock Napa 2013, the largest music festival in wine country history.

For a first time festival,  the line-up is mighty impressive, with more than 60 acts planned for three stages. As well as the headliners above, acts include the Flaming Lips, the Zac Brown Band, Furthur with Phil Lesh and Bob Weir, Jane’s Addiction, Jackson Browne and local blues favorite Charlie Musselwhite performing with Ben Harper –fresh off their White House appearance this week.

There’s even a stage featuring a full roster of nationally known comics, including “Daily Show” correspondents Aasif Mandvi, Wyatt Cenac and Demetri Martin. Napa Valley Patch has a lot of stories on the festival, from the hyper-local perspective.

It’s really pretty nuts. You’ll have to visit the bottlerocknapa.com website to get the full impact of this first-ever rock music festival in Napa, and to buy tickets for the individual events or the full five-day pass. (Use the code SOCIALROCK to get $20 off a multi-day pass, $10 off a single day pass.)

But enough about BottleRock, what about the bus? Daily service from Friday May 10, to Sunday, May 12, has been arranged to allow Healdsburg’s music fans to catch all the acts each day, returning home after the headline gig each evening. The bus is open to fans of all ages. Advance reservations are required. Tickets can be purchased at www.healdsbus.com.

The organizer is the project of Healdsburg resident Stu Harrison, who thought about attending the festival as soon as he saw the line-up of artists performing.

“I went to Coachella last year,” he said, “but when I saw the line-up it didn’t really interest to me. Then I started reading about BottleRock.

"It's an amazing chance to see some top rate musicians who don't come to this part of the world very often," Harrison said. "But I found that all the hotels were booked, and parking in Napa looked like it could be a nightmare - expensive and a long way from the venue.

“So I booked a bus!”

BottleRock Napa Valley is a five-day festival, with some of the acts mentioned appearing on days other than the Friday-Sunday Healdsbus bus run. The bus will leave from healdsburg’s Park and Ride at 10 Grant Ave. at about noon, and return to Healdsburg after the final act, departing about 10:30 p.m. for the hour-plus drive.

Tickets are $59 plus an online-transaction fee. Harrison has set the ticket price based on anticipated demand with a goal of breaking even. Should a profit be generated, it will be donated to the same Autism causes that are being supported by the BottleRock Festival.

Harrison has offered a deal for readers and friends of Healdsburg Patch, however, a 20% discount on bus fare. Just enter the discount code BURGPATCH with  your online order at Healdsbus.com.

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