The Stagecoach Country Music Festival takes place in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley. It always follows the weekend after Coachella concludes. This year, though, the festival took an unexpected turn. On Saturday, the audience was temporarily evacuated, and performances were postponed due to high winds. Weather services had already advised of strong desert winds earlier in the week, but Stagecoach decided that the show had to go on, and it eventually did.
The alert was sent out at approximately 7:45 pm. Screens across the festival grounds displayed messages telling audiences to evacuate immediately, and nearly everybody did. According to the National Weather Service, the wind speed hit up to 65 mph, peaking during the concert.
Fortunately, the alert concluded at around 9 pm, when the winds died down drastically. Headliner Lainey Wilson started the festival back up around 10:30 pm, thanking her fans for “sticking out the wind.” She went on to perform some of her hit songs, including “Country’s Cool Again,” “4x4xU,” and “Heart Like a Truck.” According to many of her fans, her set was amazing, and they are glad they stuck it out till the end, even if it was later than planned.
No performer or audience member was hurt during the concert, and no electronics or stages were damaged. The festival continued as normal on Sunday, with performances from Post Malone, Hootie & The Blowfish, and Brooks & Dunn. Overall, fans have stated that the weekend was still a success, no matter the incidents that took place.
