Stagecoach Music Festival

I recently attended the Stagecoach music festival. Stagecoach is the country music sibling to Coachella (pop music) and is held on the weekend after Coachella at the same location as Coachella (Empire Polo Club in Indio, California). It is the world’s largest country music festival (about 75,000 people per day). I used to go to Lollapalooza in Chicago, but I aged out – I was no longer interested in their lineup. Last year, our kids visited us in Phoenix, went to Stagecoach (only four hours away), and raved about it. I decided to tag along this year, and I am glad I did. I am mainly a rock fan, and contemporary country music is modern rock music. I was familiar with about half the artists on the lineup poster – better than I can say for most pop festivals.

Here are my key takeaways from the weekend:

• It is a well-run festival, except for the COVID years (2020 and 2021), Stagecoach has been around since 2007. The only complaint was merch—the main merch tent had a 90-minute wait most of the weekend, and the satellite tents had shorter waits but minimal inventory. There is plenty of food and drink. We stayed in an Airbnb that was a 15-minute walk to one of the shuttle pick-up spots—the shuttles ran frequently, so we experienced virtually no wait to get to or leave the festival. The festival is the right size, not crowded, and has room to grow, as Coachella can handle two-thirds more people (Stagecoach is not using all the space Coachella uses).
• The crowd is mellow – people are having a good time, but I didn’t see anyone out of control. I guess most of the crowd is between 25 and 35 – I am 66 and hardly saw any other seniors.
• The roster is a nice mix of country music superstars, up-and-comers, old stars, and some oddball rock and pop choices.
• It is impossible to see all the acts each day – a reasonable day is 8 – but that requires hustle and determination.
• The T-Mobile Mane Stage (deliberate spelling there emphasizing Stagecoach’s horse iconography) is too big, and the secondary stage, Polomino, is too small – this seems like an opportunity for improvement. The other stages are just about right. I particularly liked the Bud Light Backyard—it had a nightclub vibe and was the perfect size for up-and-coming acts.
• An outdoor festival is a weather-dependent event. Indio, California, has reliable weather in late April/early May, but I imagine a hot or windy/dust-storm day would be miserable. We had perfect weather.
• The acts try to make their sets memorable with cool cover songs and guest artists; for example, Luke Combs had Garth Brooks join him for “Friends in Low Places,” Combs covered Zevon’s “Lawyers, Guns and Money,” Shaboozey did Dylan’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” and Jelly Roll had a ton of guests.

Here are the acts that made a positive impression on me:

• 49 Winchester – their frontman is a rock star
• Alana Springsteen has a nice singer-songwriter vibe
• Lana Del Rey – I am a fan, but I could not imagine how she could pull off a festival set given her lugubrious style – she pulled it off by just being herself
• Zach Bryan – I am not a fan as I find a sameness to his music – he solved that by having a fantastic big band
• Crystal Gayle – she is in her mid-70s and still sounds great
• George Birge – an up-and-comer who will graduate from the Bud Light Backyard to a bigger stage at future festivals
• Ashley McBryde – I was already a fan – she had a great afternoon set
• Sturgill Simpson – I am a huge fan, and he did not disappoint – he modified his typical 3-hour set to a one-hour workshop on guitar histrionics
• Jelly Roll – it is hard not to love Jelly Roll – he spiced up his set with guests: Machine Gun Kelly, Lana Del Rey, Wiz Khalifa, Shaboozy, BigXthaPlug, Alex Warren, and Brandon Lake
• Midland – a cross between George Strait and Yacht Rock
• Brent Cobb – is a sweet, soulful singer-songwriter who is more Americana than country
• Luke Combs – was my favorite headliner of the weekend – a great country rocker

Overall, Stagecoach was a great weekend. Best of all, I spent it with my daughter and son-in-law. Thank you to my wife, (aka Lady Catch/mamawelby), for encouraging and supporting this adventure!