Welcome back for the second BottleRock Napa Valley in under a year! After locking down the Napa Valley Expo for more than a year and a half, festival producers are more than making up for it. Have you regained your strength from last September? Whether you have or not, I’m here to help you make the best use of your time at BottleRock 2022.

This guide may seem like a lot. Maybe it is, if you prefer to find a patch of grass at the JaM Cellars Stage and call it home for most of the day. But if you’d like to explore all the music BottleRock 2022 has to offer, this festival is perfectly set up for such a trek, with no two stages being so far apart that you get lost along the way.

Let’s presume you’re already set on Metallica on Friday. On Saturday and Sunday, you likely know already whether you’re checking out Twenty One Pilots and P!nk or hip-hop legends Mount Westmore and country superstar Luke Combs. B…b…but what about DJ extraordinare Kygo, reggae icons the Wailers (performing with a Marley, no less!) or Chvrches and Greta Van Fleet (performing at the same time!).

You’ll be making important choices all day long for three straight days. We help remove the stress from your pricy expedition. Let RIFF curate your music experience with this hour-by-hour guide.

Which stage is which?

At this point you might be wondering: “Roman, what the heck is the Allianz Stage!? What is the Truly Stage!?” Ahh, yes, they like to rename the stages at BottleRock Napa. JaM Cellars remains the main stage, and Verizon remains the secondary stage. Those are right next to each other at the opposite end from the main entrance. The Truly stage is closest to the main entrance (turn left as you walk in) along 3rd Street. This leaves the Allianz Stage (formerly Plaza and a bunch of different names) along Burnell Street. Head to the right once you walk in if entering through the main entrance.

You should actually know this ahead of time, but there are two stages apart from the four main ones (and the Williams Sonoma Culinary Stage): the Jampad and the VIP Village. There’s quite a few artists splitting time between those two, and if you can reach them (and have the proper access), it will increase your odds of catching more artists that you want to see. But for the purposes of this column, we won’t mention those here. The culinary stage, as of this writing, hasn’t released its schedule yet. So while watching Lars Ulrich tenderizing tandoori chicken (or whatever) could be interesting, I can’t tell you when he’ll be there. Let’s stick to the four main stages.

Friday

12 to 2 p.m.

Arrive well ahead of time. The lines are usually longer on the first day, and you never know if we’ll be back to COVID testing for the latest Omicron sub-variant. Better yet, there’s nothing that beats the smell of a festival on the first morning. No porta-potty smell, no dust clouds from thousands of festival-goers, you know…

Once inside, grab something from a food vendor and make your way to: 1) If you like rock, then the JaM Cellars stage (the main one) for the band Dorothy; 2) If you want to start with hip-hop, to the Truly Stage for Kosha Dillz; or 3) If you want to start with soul, then to the Allianz Stage for Peter Collins. All three are on right at noon. Because the grounds won’t yet be crowded, you can even meander among all three! Also on at this same time is The Alive, who’ve played every year for like five years at this point. They’ll give you a heaping dose of hard rock, some metal and some cool covers. I didn’t include them in the initial list above because I love variety, and those other three acts don’t come here every year.

The second hour of the first day belongs squarely to rock band Bastardane and Fantastic Negrito. Spend the first 30 minutes at the Truly stage with James Hetfield’s son’s rock band (he’s the drummer), then make your way over to the main stage for the East Bay’s own Negrito, who’s won three Grammys already and is about to release a fourth album. It used to be you could call him a blues musician, or a soul rocker, but now he’s mixing dance music into his sound, so let’s keep the boxes out of this, OK?

2 to 4:30 p.m.

Negrito plays until 2:30 p.m., so you’ll have to make a decision because alt-rock band Liily is on at 2 p.m. on the Truly stage. BottleRock offers more variety than other Bay Area festivals; but if you’re a fan of four guys (or girls) smashing away at their instruments as a team, that is much less common these days. It doesn’t help that these two stages are the farthest apart at the Napa Valley Expo.

From this point, you’ll be moving for a bit. First up is eclectic percussionist Madame Gandhi (2:30 to 3:15 p.m., Allianz); then soul-rocker Marcus King and his band (3 to 4 p.m., JaM Cellars); always entertaining New York pop band MisterWives (3:15 to 4:15 p.m., Verizon); and funky Colombian band Diamante Eléctrico (3:45 to 4:45 p.m., Allianz). For maximum exposure, give each artist at least 20 minutes.

4:30 to 6 p.m.

This is tricky! You’ve got perennial good time Spoon (4:30 to 5:30 p.m., JaM Cellars) on at the same time as intriguing alt-rock singer-songwriter Djo (better known as “Stranger Things” actor Joe Keery; formerly of the band Post Animal (so I know he’s got music skill). He only plays for 45 minutes starting at 4:30 p.m. at the Truly stage. My curiosity picks Keery, but there’s no wrong answer.

Then there’s viral rapper SAINt JHN. You know him. He’s the one who has the song about being in a porno with a bag of screaming goats, or something like that. He’s on from 4:45 to 5:45 p.m. Basically the same time. But assuming he does the screaming goats song (“Roses” Imanbek remix) last, then theoretically you could catch Djo or Spoon and then finish up with the goats, in a porno. OK, I’m done with that. I promise.

Of course, Kikagaku Moyo is on during this time as well (5:15 to 6:15 p.m., Allianz), but chances are you won’t be split about them or SAINt JHN. It’ll be an easy choice for you.

6 to 10 p.m.

From my perspective, the easiest choices of the first day are right here. Both CHVRCHES (6:15 to 7:15 p.m., Verizon) and Fletcher (7 to 7:45 p.m., Truly) were in the Bay Area within the last few months. If you’re a fan, you were at those shows. So instead, check out retro rockers Greta Van Fleet (6 to 7 p.m., JaM Cellars) and reggae artist Skip Marley (6:45 to 7:45 p.m., Allianz). And no offense to Kygo, but Kygo is not an artist you spend $200 to see. But Metallica is. And it doesn’t matter so much that they’ve seemed to play locally a lot over the years. They’re still Metallica.

Saturday

12 to 4 p.m.

The bigger schedule conflicts on Saturday come later. I suggest you start the day with the soul and funk of Ron Artis II and the Truth at the JaM Cellars stage (12:15 to 1:15 p.m.) before either continuing that same vibe with The Suffers at the same stage (1:45 to 2:45 p.m) or getting your thrash fix with the second of three Metallica offspring bands; OTTTO features bassist Tye Trujillo, son of Robert (1 to 1:45 p.m., Truly).

At the 2 o’clock hour, you’ve got two choices so different that there’s no way you’ll break a sweat choosing between poppy Gen-Z rapper DE’WAYNE (2:15 to 3 p.m., Truly) and your favorite artist’s collaborators’ favorite collaborator, Marc E. Bassy (2:15 to 3:15 p.m., Verizon), whose songs range from lo-fi bedroom pop to hip-hop inspired bangers. For what it’s worth, we caught Bassy at Outside Lands in October, so we’ll probably go with DE’WAYNE.

4 to 7 p.m.

If you’re not already familiar with Mexican rock band Kinky (and especially if you are) check out the first 45 minutes of its set (4 to 5 p.m., Allianz) before moving on to another entertaining indie rock band, Rainbow Kitten Surprise (4:45 to 5:45 p.m., JaM Cellars).

This is where Saturday gets tricky!

Up-and-coming rock band Hot Milk (6 to 6:45 p.m., Truly) might prevent you from catching Grandmaster Flash’s biggest jams, so you just may have to catch these guys another time. Driving that point home is the Black Crowes (6:15 to 7:30 p.m., JaM Cellars), one of the day’s highlights. Poor Hot Milk.

7 to 10 p.m.

RIFF’s expert in alt-pop, Domenic Strazzabosco, called BANKS‘ new album a masterpiece (more or less). She’s on at 6:45 p.m. (until 7:45 p.m., Verizon). But if her new material is too out-there for you, you’ve got alternatives in folky pop artist Noah Kahan (7 to 8 p.m., Allianz) and roots rock band The Brothers Comatose (7:15 to 8:15 p.m., Truly).

The day’s two headliners are Twenty One Pilots (8:15  to 9:45 p.m., JaM Cellars) and Mount Westmore (8:30 to 10 p.m., Verizon). Mount who? Oh, just Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, E-40 and Too $hort. I’m guessing your age will determine which way you lean, but this one of the festival’s biggest toss-ups.

Complicating matters further are BottleRock regulars Moonalice (8:30 to 10 p.m., Allianz), who used to be a jam band. But they’re a psychedelic soul band now, and performing with Bay Area group T Sisters and soul icon Lester Chambers, of the Chambers Brothers. If you caught “Summer of Soul,” then you know Chambers plays prominently into that. Moonalice will be performing a bunch of soul songs, and it might be the surprise set of the day at BottleRock.

Sunday

12 to 1 p.m.

Out of the three days, Sunday offers the most intriguing artists first-thing. But if it’s your third day at the fest, you’re likely pretty tired by this point. Pop singer-songwriter Niko Rubio (12 to 12:40 p.m., Truly) has a fun songbook so far. Folky artist Allison Ponthier (12 to 1 p.m., Verizon) will provide some mellow introspection. But most intriguing to me is singer-actor Jharrel Jerome (12 to 12:45 p.m., Allianz), who’s appeared in “When They See Us” and “Moonlight.” He’s got just one song on Spotify right now, which only makes me want to hear more. If you’ve got the energy for it, walk around and give all three artists 20 minutes.

1 to 4 p.m.

Complete the Metallica offspring trifecta and check out Taipei Houston (1 to 1:45 p.m., Truly), with two Lars Ulrich sons for the price of one. Last December, the duo was still playing its first shows. It’ll be interesting to see where they’ve gotten since then. And unlike OTTTO and Bastardane, Taipei Hoston offers a more melodic sound. Then at the 2 o’clock hour, take in both rock songstress and Jack Antonoff collaborator Blu DeTiger (2 to 3 p.m., JaM Cellars) and indie pop singer-songwriter (and RIFF cover artist) Tessa Violet (2:15 to 3 p.m., Truly).

Your best bets for the 3 o’clock hour include moody Northern Ireland folk-singer Foy Vance (2:45 to 3:30 p.m., Allianz), emo rocker grandson (3 to 4 p.m., Verizon), who’ll provide a caffeinated jolt, and BottleRock regular Michael Franti (3:30 to 4:30 p.m., JaM Cellars), who manifests the good times of his music on stage. You can get away with picking two of the three without wearing out your shoes and your knees.

4 to 6 p.m.

I’ve never seen Chilean singer and rapper Ana Tijoux in person, but if I’ve learned anything from Mon Laferte, it’s that Chilean artists know how to have a good time. Tijoux fuses traditional sounds with modern production. So on Sunday at 4 p.m., you’ll find me at the Allianz stage. After her, I’ll head over to uke-jamming Vance Joy (4:30 to 5:30 p.m., Verizon). Not to be confused with Foy Vance, Vance Joy has a new album on the way, and this will be your first opportunity to hear it. Here’s hoping he’s got something as catchy as “Riptide” on the way! But if you desire your stringed instruments more reverb- or fuzz-laden, check out poppy quartet Eliza & The Delusionals (4:45 p.m., Truly).

At 5 p.m., I recommend the earnest balladry of Alessia Cara at the JaM Cellars stage. While not as well-known as, say, Olivia Rodrigo, Cara has some tear-inducing songs like “Scars to the Beautiful,” “Stay” and “Here.”

6 to 10 p.m.

At the risk of becoming THAT GUY, my recommendation for this slot is Pitbull (6 to 7 p.m., Verizon). He might be the butt of late-night TV jokes, but we like to have fun, right? There’s a reason you have that image of him in your head. You’ll be dancing like those people in the high-end tequila commercials. ALSO: Aly & AJ have spent considerable time in Northern California, as have Jack Antonoff’s Bleachers, who are great but played at the Masonic last winter and will be back in San Jose in June. So, my point: Pitbull.

Follow him up with viral hitmaker Tai Verdes (7:15 to 8 p.m., Truly) who two years ago was working at a cell phone store in L.A. (Verizon, no less. They really missed a marketing opportunity by not putting them on their stage). But that was before he released “A-O-K,” “Drugs” and “Stuck in the Middle.” BottleRock has no shortage of reggae-tinged pop, but he’s one of the most entertaining at that sound on the lineup.

Up next, you’d better be checking out P!nk (8:15 to 9:45 p.m., JaM Cellars). Multiple people have told me her production will blow people away. If you’re not sure what that means, look up videos of her swinging around arenas on guide wires. How will they replicate such a thing without a roof over the entire crowd? I don’t know! But I’ve been told it might not be a recreation of her arena shows. It might be something new and exciting in a different way. No offense to Luke Combs (8 to 9:30 p.m., Verizon) or The Wailers with Julian Marley (8:30 to 10 p.m., Allianz), but you should only check them out if you’re a big fan, or if you showed up at P!nk too late and can’t see a thing.

Follow editor Roman Gokhman at Twitter.com/RomiTheWriter.