MF #12
BottleRock 2017
Date
May 26th – 28th, 2017
Location
Napa Valley, California
Reason
Best Beverage Catering
After a successful Coachella I was more determined than ever to find my way back to a music festival, ideally as a worker. BottleRock Music Festival was occuring nearby in Napa Valley and I was looking for an opportunity. Scouring Craigslist, I found what I was looking for – “Event Workers Needed”.
Exploring the listing information further, a catering company was looking to hire bartenders for BottleRock. I submitted my application and heard back almost immediately. I had to report to an in person interview at a nondescript office building near San Francisco. The interview was a joke and everyone who was there was quickly hired. The main point was to fill out the proper paperwork ahead of time.
I checked into the offsite campground the night before the start of the event. Many of the people in the campground were brand new to the scene, but there was a hard core group of regulars who all seemed to know each other. While I hung out with the people near me, I stayed quiet and listened to the stories from the regulars. These bartenders were a wild bunch. They worked hard, but they partied harder.
Bartending for the VIPs at BottleRock Music Festival
Me and more than 200 other bartenders reported to duty around 10am the next morning. We were quickly issued bar assignments and t-shirts. I was in the VIP section so I was given an official BottleRock polo shirt. BottleRock is the fanciest of music festivals so we had to look sharp.
I reported to my bar and met my bar manager Jules. He asked about our experience and what roles we were looking to fill. Everything paid the same, but we needed bartenders and barbacks for the bar to function properly. I admitted my lack of bartending experience and volunteered to barback. This put me in good graces with my manager, and personally I would much rather be worrying about running out of ice than customer service.
With less than 1 hour training, the doors to the festival grounds were opened and we started serving our first few customers. We were serving $18 glasses of wine to VIPs. Tips were quickly piling up. I soon learned how to predict what items would run out next, and always made sure to communicate with my bartenders to make sure they didn’t need anything.
My view of Modest Mouse from behind the bar.
The job was fun! People were in a good mood, I was only working when things were running out, and from our lifted VIP section we could clearly see and hear the Samsung Side Stage. For a side stage, we saw some amazing acts. Catfish and the Bottleman started off the day, while Modest Mouse closed out Friday night. Most of the rest of the day was a blur as I was mainly focused on learning my role.
With the music over on our stage, we shut down the bar, cleaned up and had a team meeting on our performance. Our bar manager was extremely happy. Everyone on our crew had done their jobs, and we didn’t have any major serving issues. I personally had opened probably 400 bottles of wine that day, so I was sure the numbers looked good. He then told us our tips for the day. $430 each! FOR ONE DAY. And we would be getting an additional ~$12 per hour in a paycheck next week. I expected to make ~$600 for the weekend. I made that on the first day. No wonder our bar manager was so happy. He was getting tipped out too.
The next day I reported to work a little early. At this pay rate, I didn’t want to do anything to mess it up. Saturday was more of the same, just busier. Our bar was slammed through the afternoon. I did manage to step out for a bit of The Devil Makes Three set. They were performing at the stage nearest ours, but it was good to be off the clock even if it was just for 30 mins. There were no breaks at the bar. Time went fast, but you had to work hard. Any individual slacking would cost the entire crew, and our entire team had the same goal – maximize the $$.
Tom Petty was headlining Saturday night, and as a result the festival decided to shut down all the other stages early. We were on the side stage, so we got to close up after 8 pm. Our whole crew rushed through cleaning up so we could all go enjoy the show. We officially got cut around 8:30 pm, just a few songs into Tom Petty’s set. I got away from the crew, took advantage of the VIP access, and got right up close for Tom Petty.
This performance was amazing. Hit after hit after hit. I knew almost every single song. The entire crowd knew every single song. It was awesome! Yes, I was working at the festival. But, by working the festival, I got to experience the festival. The experience was outstanding.
Arriving at the bar on Sunday, my bar manager let me in on a little secret. He had accidentally ordered way too much ice. He didn’t want to get in trouble for the excess order, so just me and him set out on a mission to melt the ice. We spread ice all over the place. Anywhere where the sun was hitting and the festival coordinators wouldn’t look. I dumped out over 50 bags of festival ice, the most expensive ice in the world. With our shared secret, I could now pretty much do what I wanted at the bar.
I had a few fraternity friends attending the festival that day, so I took off for an extended lunch break when they arrived on the grounds. We met up, exchanged pleasantries while I downed food, and then I went back to work. It’s always fun seeing friends from other worlds in a festival environment.
Tom Petty performing live at BottleRock 2017
Fortunately or unfortunately, our bar would not be shutting down early today. The Roots were scheduled to headline the Samsung Stage, right during the Foo Fighters performance. Impressively, The Roots pulled a very large crowd and put on a fantastic performance. I kept my head down, enjoyed the music, and focused on the work. I wanted to make sure I ended the weekend in the good graces of my bar manager. I wanted to do this job again. It was easy, the money was good, and I enjoyed the feeling of working fast while helping people have a good time.
Sunday night break down was a bit more intensive, but nothing compared to what I had experienced working as a food vendor. At the end of the weekend, I would be getting almost $1600 in pay. Not bad for three days at a music festival. I made sure to get my bar manager’s phone number and asked him if he would give me a recommendation to work future events. He assured me that he would be happy to do so, just let him know when I reach out to the company.
Driving home with at stack of $1 bills from tip out
While they had several local events, they would also be working the bars at Electric Forest, one of the biggest and best music festivals in the entire country. I didn’t tell him at the time, but that was my plan. Find a way to get to Electric Forest. Dave said it was his favorite music festival. I was determined to experience it for myself.