Recap: CountryMusicIsLove Goes To Stagecoach Music Festival

Thanks to our new friends at Toyota, we took a trip to the West Coast for the unveiling of the all new, redesigned 4runner at the Stagecoach Music Festival. Upon arrival at LAX, we were given a 2013 Toyota 4runner SR5 to drive from Los Angeles to Rancho Mirage, CA. The drive to the desert was beautiful, complete with a backdrop was full of mountains and palm trees.

Toyota, the title sponsor of Stagecoach, took the fan experience to an all new level. The festival featured several fan interactive booths in the Toyota “World of Wonders,” which ranged from photo booths to a rugged obstacle course to test drive your favorite Toyota SUV.

On Friday, the festival kicked off with RPM Entertainment recording artist, Maggie Rose. Rose took the stage and performed songs off her new album, Cut to Impress. After Maggie, Trace Adkins hit the stage and performed a number of songs, including a fan favorite, “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk.” The highlight of the night, however, was Hank Williams, Jr., where his long list of hits seemed to be endless. Starting his set off with “All My Rowdy Friends,” he got the crowd to their feet. He closed with an acoustic performance of “Country Boy Can Survive” and Southern California gave him every bit of their attention.

Saturday brought several exciting events from Toyota including the unveiling of the All New 4runner. Leading up to the unveil, Toyota took to the campgrounds to pass out breakfast to eager fans. When the time came for the big reveal, SiriusXM “The Highway” host, Buzz Brainard, gave the command to lift the curtain. Afterwards, Brainard introduced Dierks Bentley, who gave fans a 30-minute preview from his set later that night.

Saturday night’s lineup at the Mane Stage brought not only Bentley but also Jana Kramer, Phil Vassar, and Lady Antebellum. We got the chance to meet up with Lady Antebellum before their set. Gotta love them!

After Dierks got the crowd pumped with his repertoire of hits, Lady A hit the stage and took Indio, CA “Downtown.” The trio sustained their high energy throughout the entire set, but had a special moment for a special tribute to the late country legend, George Jones, by performing his song “Choices.” The super group included a cover of Travis Tritts’ “It’s a Great Day to Be Alive” before closing out with “We Owned the Night.”

On the last day of Stagecoach, the crowd started lining up early to get as close as they could to see the ACMs New Artist of the Year, Florida Georgia Line. The energetic duo started with “Party People” and took off into the general admission area where they continued the energetic set with several covers including Mackelmore’s “Thrift Shop” and Jason Aldean’s “Dirt Road Anthem.” They closed the set with their No.1 hit “Cruise.” The energy carried over through the night with performances by Lonestar, Thompson Square, and Darius Rucker. Rucker ended his set with his country rendition of Prince’s “Purple Rain.” All of this fantastic entertainment led up to the festival’s closing headliner, Zac Brown Band. The band showed off their musical abilities with strong guitar solos and solid vocal performances. The band got the strongest ovation from the festival by their string of covers that included Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” and The Charlie Daniels Band “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.”

The Festival brought nearly an average of 100,000 people a night even though temperatures hit a searing 110 degrees at the peak on Saturday. One thing is certain from this event, Country music is alive and well down in the desert of Southern California.

-By CMIL Contributor, Tyler Gann