Country music stars shine at Stagecoach music festival

This past weekend, one of the biggest — if not the biggest — country music festivals took place right in our backyard in Indio, California. The Stagecoach country music festival featured a star-studded lineup to satisfy attendees both young and old.

In addition to the music, the festival boasted a dance hall, giant-sized versions of games such as Jenga and various corporate sponsors. Despite displaying the big corporate names and logos throughout the festival, Stagecoach seems to have made the right decision. Each and every one of the sponsor booths were packed all throughout the festival.

Because Stagecoach is held at the same location as Coachella, one can’t help but make comparisons. The festival grounds were definitely reminiscent of stylish, hipster Coachella. It all seemed familiar, yet couldn’t be more different. What used to be the Sahara tent hosting the biggest names in EDM is now the Palomino stage hosting a variety of acts ranging from Logan Brill to Gregg Allman. Two large outdoor stages at Coachella were replaced with one Toyota Mane Stage with pun intended. This stage featured the festival’s biggest headliners and had seated viewing areas in the back with a bring-your-own-chairs policy. Stagecoach was also considerate enough to leave ample time in between the headliners’ sets to travel over to the other stages as well as to fill up on beer and barbeque. The biggest difference, however, was the family-friendly environment of Stagecoach. It was certainly a different mood, which was very fitting for the festival.

Stagecoach featured a variety of performers throughout the three days. Headliners Tim McGraw, Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton dished out their greatest hits at the Mane Stage to those waving their beers up in the front, and those in lawn chairs with their families in the back. On the opposite end of the festival, the blues guitarists Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard of ZZ Top packed the Palomino tent to overflowing capacity. In fact, festival-goers had to stand outside the tent to get a glimpse of this incredible trio and their trademark beards.

One standout artist was definitely Jake Owen on the Mane Stage on Friday. Though he had some questionable remixing of hip-hop songs into the country genre, he was definitely having the time of his life on stage. It was evident in his expression, in the way he walked, in the way he played and in the way he sang his music. His smile was non-stop, and his energy roused the crowd more than any other act of the night. Not only was he energetic, but he was also personable with a shout-out to his “mom somewhere out there,” asking his crowd to take good care of her. He even made a trip into the pit to high-five his fans within the first three songs of his set. Though it was the veteran country singer’s first appearance at Stagecoach since its inception in 2007, it will definitely not be his last.

Saturday’s incredible lineup had Dierks Bentley on the Mane Stage just before Lambert. In the middle of his set, he changed it up a little to give a breath of fresh air from non-stop country with his rendition of OneRepublic’s “Counting Stars.” He talked about his 1994 Chevy pickup truck from when he first left for Nashville, which inspired the song “I Hold On.” It was an all-around solid performance from a great artist. Lambert closed out the stage with a well-planned set. It started off with a video of her song, “Somethin’ Bad,” and then another video highlighting the fastest women in sports before she appeared on stage to sing “Fastest Girl in Town.” The clever setup was only the beginning of a set list of songs everybody knew the lyrics to. The hits in her albums did not disappoint as she closed off the second day of Stagecoach.

Sunday featured up-and-coming acts such as Logan Brill, and the most solid Mane Stage lineup of the weekend. The Swon Brother, Jerrod Neimann and The Band Perry preceded a much-awaited performance by Shelton to close out the three-day music festival with more than 200,000 attendees.