Telepeer

Stagecoach 2023: Chris Stapleton, Brooks & Dunn and Diplo wrap up the fest

May 1, 2023

The third and final day of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival on Sunday, April 30 started off a little slow. Though there were noticeably more fans on-site earlier in the day, the temperatures did not let up over the long weekend, still hitting over 100 degrees by mid-afternoon.

Festivalgoers didn’t seem to be in too much of a hurry to get to any particular place on the venue grounds and instead hung out in the shaded areas, ducked into the buildings and activations that had air-conditioning and continued to enjoy beer and cocktails in the blistering sun.

The wind also picked up in the early evening and large gusts blew the cowboy hats right off the heads of guests and sent them sprinting after them as they tumbled away. When the sun went down, the energy picked up. Some women traded out their cowboy boots for flip flops and were ready to dance along to the closing acts — Tyler Childers in the Palomino, Brooks & Dunn and Chris Stapleton on the Mane Stage and EDM artist and producer Diplo closed out the Late Night in Palomino after-party with an overflowing tent of enthusiastic fans soaking up the final moments of the festival.

Country artist Lainey Wilson perfroms on the Mane Stage on the final day of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Sunday, Apr. 30, 2023. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn of Brooks and Dunn perform on the Mane Stage on the final day of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Sunday, Apr. 30, 2023. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Actor, and star of the televison show Yellowstone, Luke Grimes performs with his band on the Mane Stage on the final day of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Sunday, Apr. 30, 2023. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

A couple dances as the sun sets on the final day of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Sunday, Apr. 30, 2023. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Brooks & Dunn’s Kix Brooks, left, and Ronnie Dunn perform on the Mane Stage during the Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Sunday, April 30, 2023. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Contributing Photographer)

A large crowd fills the Empire Polo Club on the final day of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival in Indio on Sunday, Apr. 30, 2023. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Ryan Bingham performs on the Palomino Stage during the Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Sunday, April 30, 2023. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Contributing Photographer)

Turnpike Troubadours perform on the Palomino Stage during the Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Sunday, April 30, 2023. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Contributing Photographer)

Turnpike Troubadours’ John Fullbright performs on the Palomino Stage during the Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Sunday, April 30, 2023. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Contributing Photographer)

Ronnie Dunn and Kix Brooks of Brooks and Dunn perform on the Mane Stage on the final day of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Sunday, Apr. 30, 2023. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Expand

Stapleton isn’t one for small talk. Instead, the country outlier let his songs and guitar playing do the talking.

“We’re going to play as much music as we can,” Stapleton said over the screaming crowd. With a soft, iridescent light shining on the band, he skipped any fancy on-stage gimmicks: pyrotechnics, elaborate lighting and special guests.

Stapleton’s band was fully in sync as they explored the elements of his Southern rock and soul sound with guitar solos galore. He opened with a pair of his breakout its: “Nobody to Blame” and “Parachute,” which seemed to please the crowd as fans danced around in the field. The set was pretty slow paced, with several 30 seconds or longer interludes between songs, during which the stage went dark. But even with those pauses, he kept fans screaming as they could be heard calling out “I love you Chris Stapleton!” in the quieter moments.

Sign up for our Festival Pass newsletter. Whether you are a Coachella lifer or prefer to watch from afar, get weekly dispatches during the Southern California music festival season. Subscribe here.

He played “Second One To Know” and a rendition of Kevin Welch’s “Millionaire,” with his wife, Morgane, by his side providing backing vocals and harmonizing with her beau, too. Stapleton’s voice and guitar playing shined through “Cold,” “Midnight Train to Memphis,” “Arkansas,” “Fire Away” and his cover of David Allan Coe’s “Tennessee Whiskey.”

Country music duo Brooks & Dunn put on a nostalgia-filled, high-energy show that kicked off with the mighty “Brand New Man,” which instantly had the crowd singing along. They also had no problem belting out most of “Red Dirt Road” as Ronnie Dunn pointed his mic out into the front rows and let them take it away. Kix Brooks looked to be overheating a bit as he sang the ballad, “You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone.” Whatever may have been bugging him, he shook it off and pounded on his guitar for “Hard Workin’ Man” and the saucy “Rock My World (Little Country Girl).”

Fans swayed and sang along to the heartbreak song “Neon Moon” and tried to keep up with Dunn as he can still hit those very high notes of Daniel Moore and B.W. Stevenson’s “My Maria.” They ended their turn with “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” and “Only in America,” during which they brought out members of different branches of the military in uniform on stage to salute them.

Unlike its Coachella big sister fest, the 15th annual Stagecoach Festival didn’t have too many special guest appearances, which could be due to the fact that most of the genre’s prominent players were performing at Willie Nelson’s 90th birthday party at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on Saturday and Sunday. There were a few quick appearances here and there, however. Lainey Wilson came out with Brooks & Dunn to sing Reba McEntire’s parts on “Cowgirls Don’t Cry,” Kane Brown’s wife, Katelyn Jae, joined him for “Thank God” during his headlining set on Saturday, April 29 and Breland showed up at Nelly’s Late Night in Palomino set for “Country Grammar” on Saturday, too.

Parker McCollum, who was named ACM’s 2022 new male artist of the year, set the mood for the last sunset slot on the Stagecoach Mane Stage. The Texas-based crooner’s knack for creating coming-of-age, heartbroken tales seemed to go over quite well as fans sang each song like their lives depended on it. One woman was even spotted shedding some tears as she sang, “I Can’t Breathe.”

“I’ve been looking forward to this show all year,” McCollum said with a grin. “I’ve dreamed of playing Stagecoach since I was a kid and to have my name under Brooks & Dunn and Chris Stapleton is insane to me.”

In many ways the set was a testament to where he’s going as he played multiple new tracks off his forthcoming record, “Never Enough,” due out on May 12. He also made sure to play “Like A Cowboy,” a song he mentioned that was actually written by Stapleton. Other highlights included his hits “Handle On You” and “Pretty Heart.”

Earlier in the day, singer-songwriter and “Yellowstone” actor Ryan Bingham pulled a sizable crowd for his set in the Palomino. He performed “Sunrise” and got significant crowd reactions when he went into “Southside of Heaven,” which carried more of a Honky Tonk feel than his studio recording and got the crowd to stomp, cheer and dance with their partners. He also played his Oscar-award-winning song “The Weary Kind,” which was featured in the film “Crazy Heart.”

Over at the Mane Stage, the gaps between the crowds filled with anticipation for Lainey Wilson, who also has a role on “Yellowstone.” She was introduced by the TV series’ creator Taylor Sheridan who got the crowd to yell her name before she came out. During her performance, she told the crowd that Sheridan reached out to her about creating a character based on her persona and bell bottom pants for the show.

“‘Yellowstone’ has been really good to me, and they put my music in seasons two and three and allowed me to share music with a whole lot of people,” Wilson said.

Her set was full of twangy bass lines that complimented her Southern accent in songs such as “Grease,” “Watermelon Moonshine,” “Hold My Halo,” a cover of 4 Non Blondes “What’s Up” and her hit “Heart Like a Truck.”

Tyler Childers closed out the Palomino with several songs that caught the audience’s attention including “Old Country Church,” “Honky Tonk Flame” and “Heart You’ve Been Tendin.’” Before his set, Oklahoma-based group Turnpike Troubadours — who are back after announcing an indefinite hiatus in 2019 — fired through hits like “Before The Devil Knows We’re Dead,” “Long Hot Summer Day” and “Good Lord Lorrie.”

More Stagecoach Country Music Festival news

Stagecoach 2023: 5 fun non-music activities to do at the festival

Stagecoach 2023: Ready to party, yet stay sober? There’s a tent for that

Stagecoach 2023: See photos of performers and fans from Day 2

Stagecoach 2023: Kane Brown, Bryan Adams and Nelly close out Day 2

Stagecoach 2023: Guy Fieri, Jon Pardi toss barbecued turkey legs to hungry fans

Stagecoach 2023: Trixie Mattel slays Late Night in Palomino performance

Stagecoach 2023: See photos of performers and fans from Day 1

Stagecoach 2023: Luke Bryan keeps fans singing, Jon Pardi gets a surprise on stage during Day 1

Stagecoach 2023: Country music fans, performers brave the heat and cut loose during Day 1

Orange County Register

News Details

Stagecoach 2023: Chris Stapleton, Brooks & Dunn and Diplo wrap up the fest

News

CONTACT INFO

QUICK LINKS

SERVICES

CURRENT NEWS