Sombr performs during the BottleRock festival at Napa Valley Expo on May 24, 2026 in Napa, California.
Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images
Though his timing was slightly off, Sombr’s vibes were on at BottleRock Napa Valley on Sunday evening.
Sombr, the 20-year-old breakout pop act, hit the main stage about 15 minutes late but wasted no time making up for it, launching straight into his hit “Homewrecker” with a punchy blast of lyrics that snapped the crowd to attention.
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“You hit like a drunk cigarette,” the singer, whose real name is Shane Michael Boose, sang to the crowd.
Sombr appeared in red pants and a cropped leather jacket and moved in an almost uncanny way, his slender frame twisting and pacing with a wired microphone in hand, often lifting the cord like part of the choreography. It was hard to look away, as his intensity carried clearly even from hundreds of feet back.
Sombr eventually took off his glasses, unbuttoned his jacket and pushed further into a performance that felt chaotic in the best way, slightly unpolished but electric. He stretched his vocals at times, leaned into emotional falsetto and tore into guitar lines during tracks such as “come closer,” “perfume” and “i wish i knew how to quit you.”
Sombr performs during the BottleRock festival at Napa Valley Expo on May 24, 2026 in Napa, California.
Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images
Though Sombr had a rapid rise to fame with several viral hits in 2025, he was slammed on Tik Tok in a fiery debate last fall. After someone called his show “one of the worst experiences of my life,” he responded by saying the Tik Tok user should “live a little” and “enjoy life.”
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His angsty personality came through when he commanded the crowd to jump at BottleRock, an order that actually landed.
“If you think you’re too cool to jump, go to another f—king stage for all I care,” the singer shouted, firing up the crowd as scattered cheers broke out and he sprinted across the stage, amping up the energy even further.
Several times throughout the show, Sombr, who is from New York, called Napa Valley’s weather extremely hot despite the temperature only being 67 degrees. Still, his energy didn’t quit with “crushing,” which felt like a confessional track with big feelings, slightly unhinged delivery and a raw, emotionally maximalist style.
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Sombr performs during the BottleRock festival at Napa Valley Expo on May 24, 2026 in Napa, California.
Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images
At one point, Sombr also performed an impressive cover of “Fake Plastic Trees” by Radiohead, where he stripped back on the excitement and replaced it with a slower, softer tone that let the melancholy of the song come forward. “This is a song by my favorite band,” he told the crowd.
To close out the set, the singer ended with his biggest pop hit, “Back to Friends” which he said “changed his life” after writing it at just 18. The entire crowd locked into its rising hooks, singing along in near unison as the song built toward its final stretch.
The biggest moment, though, came at the end with “12 for 12,” another radio hit that nearly got him cut off for running over time but delivered the loudest singalong of the night.
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“They’re trying to cut me off. Guys, you can’t cut me off, motherf—kers. We’ve got another smash hit,” he shouted.
As his anchor songs roared through the festival grounds, a screen in the background flashed words that read: “Everyone f—king jump.”
Before leaving the stage, Sombr closed on a heartfelt note, urging the crowd to push forward through life’s difficult moments as a final message lit up the screen behind him: “Rock music is the reason. Family is the reason. You are the reason.”
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