ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Stagecoach Country Music Festival is going to look a little different at the Empire Polo Club in Indio when it returns following both weekends of its big sister event, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, on April 28-30.
Stagecoach fans will notice that the layout has been shifted and there’s a new home for the Mane Stage and restaurateur and TV personality Guy Fieri’s Stagecoach Smokehouse.
“We had to move it to a new location just because his cooking demonstrations and even when he’s just barbecuing with his buddies and giving people samples, it’s been so popular and Guy is having so much fun with it, we decided to go bigger,” Stagecoach talent buyer Stacy Vee said during a recent phone interview. The new location is where the Indio Central Market is for Coachella.
The satellite SiriusXM stage, which was located closer to the soundboard of the Mane Stage and hosted early-day performances by rising artists in previous years, is gone this year. Instead, those early acts will be featured on the Mane Stage.
“We’re also keeping the Mane Stage in the same place where the Coachella Stage is so everyone coming to Stagecoach is going to be treated to an elevated viewing experience,” Vee added. “It’s going to look the same, but also brand-new again. We’ll be doing the SiriusXM Spotlight Sessions on the Mane Stage because we just have such an incredible stage being built this year and we wanted to give all of those artists an opportunity to play on it.”
Something for everybody
The heart of Stagecoach is and always will be country music. However, the festival is much more than just cowboy hats, boots and twangy guitars. The festival has successfully kept up with trends within the genre and mirrored the playlists of the majority of Southern California country music fans.
“As we do explore and push the boundaries at Stagecoach, we also celebrate artists like Marty Stuart, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Tyler Childers, Ryan Bingham, Turnpike Troubadours and Brooks & Dunn,” Vee said, calling out some of the more traditional country artists on the 2023 bill. “While we do push the edges of what is and what isn’t country music, we also lean very much into the people that got us here.”
While Friday headliner Luke Bryan and Sunday closer Chris Stapleton are more traditional, Saturday headliner Kane Brown has certainly made his mark on the genre, peppering in R&B and pop into his country sound. There’s also a lot of rock and alternative country on the lineup with acts like ZZ Top, Bryan Adams, Melissa Etheridge, Flamin’ Groovies and Elle King, and blues artist Keb’ Mo’ added to the mix.
There’s also a whole lot of dance music coming to Stagecoach, too.
Boot-scootin’ boogie
As Stagecoach continues to evolve, so does its partnerships with artists like EDM artist and producer Diplo. The L.A.-based DJ was brought into the fold in 2019 to perform the first official Stagecoach after-party on the Palomino Stage. It may have seemed an odd choice for a country festival — but it worked. Following the final Mane Stage headliner that year, thousands of fans checked out the performance, danced to an eclectic mix of music and Diplo surprised the crowd by bringing out Billy Ray Cyrus and Lil Nas X to live debut their crossover country hit, “Old Town Road.”
It went over so well that when Stagecoach returned in 2022, promoters kicked off the Late Night in Palomino series, which included after-party performances for each night of the festival. Last year, country, rap and gospel singer-songwriter Breland led the first night and masked country star Orville Peck hosted the second. The final evening was capped by Diplo. Late Night in Palomino is back in 2023 with a new lineup of artists including drag queen singer-songwriter Trixie Mattel on Friday, rapper and frequent country music collaborator Nelly on Saturday and Diplo will return with special guests on Sunday.
“Trixie Mattel is someone I’ve had my eye on booking for a long time,” Vee said. “She is an amazing, accomplished country music artist and she’s collaborated with several people who have performed at Stagecoach. She’s earned herself a spot and the visual creativity of what her set is going to look like is going to pair so perfectly with the vibe that we’ve created in those Late Night in Palomino time slots. And Nelly, he has toured and recorded with so many mainstream country musicians that he’s definitely earned his spot at Stagecoach. Having him here is also a dream come true and I think that’s going to be a sight to see.”
Diplo is pulling double duty and also curating the Honky Tonk Dance Hall and bringing in a few of his DJ friends including Girl Talk, Disko Cowboy, Dillon Francis, Blake Horstmann, Lost Frequencies and Cheat Codes. The Honky Tonk, one of the only air-conditioned escapes on the festival grounds, is a popular spot to cool down, learn how to line dance and grab a cold drink. Vee said she’s excited about the Honky Tonk this year and how Diplo’s role with the festival has flourished.
“He’s so creative and has such amazing relationships and he loves Stagecoach so much,” Vee said. “He’s really been at the forefront of a lot of changes in sounds in country music, producing a lot of mainstream country artists, so just his appetite, commitment and passion for Stagecoach is something that I love so incredibly much. I quite literally gave him the keys and then got out of his way.”
Barbecue is the thing to do
Guy Fieri’s Stagecoach Smokehouse has become an overwhelmingly popular attraction. Since 2018, Fieri has curated this area, which includes barbecue pit bosses from all over the country serving up their famous meaty dishes with all of the sauces and rubs. He hosts cooking demonstrations and hands out free samples — which is a serious perk, but bring your wet wipes because those sauces get messy.
The Mayor of Flavortown also teams up with Stagecoach performers for demonstrations. This year he’ll be joined by Jon Pardi, ZZ Top, Niko Moon, Old Dominion, Lainey Wilson and others on his stage.
“People go wild for those free samples and just to get a glimpse of Guy,” Vee said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Guy and I have become good friends over the years and he’s the biggest country music fan, so he wants to go out and watch a lot of sets together. Just walking around with him, I’ve never seen people react to someone like that. There’s just nothing more fulfilling than seeing his program and what he’s created out at Stagecoach just grow to what it has over time.”
Nikki Lane’s Stage Stop Marketplace also expanded last year and moved into the Yee Haw Tent (the Sahara Tent at Coachella). The area is filled with vintage-style and country-western wares from clothing-makers and shops from across the country. This vast marketplace also houses Lane’s curated Horseshoe Stage with up-and-coming acts performing throughout the day. In 2022, the stage saw a few surprise guests, including singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey showing up to play alongside Lane.
“I would say it’s one of the biggest success stories we’ve had,” Vee said of Lane’s contributions to the festival. “All of that comes from Nikki herself and, again, I’m smart enough to know when you have a partner like that, just to get out of the way. I’d never micromanage a thing Nikki does and she’ll surprise me with the things she’s able to pull off and people she brings in and how it’s all presented. She has such great attention to detail and it’s all done with such authenticity and playfulness and the esthetic is just beyond on-point.”
The Compton Cowboys will also be back at Stagecoach and doing demonstrations with their horses near the Yee Haw Tent. Passholders can check out more intimate performances by Stagecoach performers over in the Bud Light Backyard, kids can play inside the Half-Pint Hootenanny and guests can also personalize bandanas and pick up an exclusive Stagecoach poster over in the Toyota Music Den. Fans of the hit TV series “Yellowstone” can hang out at Dutton Ranch on-site, which will include photo moments from the show, a full bar and “Yellowstone” swag.
“Our lineup was already so action-packed and full of energy — we really are bursting at the seams — but it’s all of these unexpected extracurricular pieces that came online that’s just the most amazing special sauce,” Vee said of all the additional activations. “It’s everything you asked for from Stagecoach and everything you never thought you’d ask for at Stagecoach. Having a full-bodied experience is something that’s really important to me. The music, of course, we nail it and it’s amazing, but once people are inside, it’s important to check every single box. It’s a long day on-site and I want to keep it interesting and create opportunities for things people will never see anywhere else.”
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STAGECOACH COUNTRY MUSIC FESTIVAL
When: Noon-midnight April 28-30
Where: Empire Polo Club, 81800 51st Ave., Indio
Tickets: Three-day general admission passes are $429; three-day Saloon passes are $799; Corral Reserved Seating is $1,299-$1,999; any-line shuttle passes are $70. To purchase tickets or for more pass, parking and shuttle information, go to stagecoachfestival.com.
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