This weekend, the biggest stars in country music descended on Indio, California for one of the biggest festivals of them all: Stagecoach.
Luke Bryan headlined Friday night’s show, one he’s been playing for more than a decade at this point.
“I’ve been doing Stagecoach for, I guess, probably 10-plus years now,” he tells ABC Audio, “and always am amazed, when I grew up in South Georgia that I could come all the way across the country and really play music that really speaks to people in all corners of the USA.”
“And the main thing is just being out there in front of the fans is what we do all this work for, and it’s pretty special,” he continues. “And to have watched this festival grow [to] 80-plus thousand people out there, it’s pretty special stuff.”
First-timer Riley Green was excited just to get to join the party.
“It was definitely sort of validating to even get invited to this, you know, regardless of where you play or what your time slot is,” he confesses. “But we’ve got such a great time slot on the main stage. And, you know, seeing all the other great artists that are playing here, it just, you can tell it’s a big deal.”
How much fun do the fans have at festivals like this? Well, Riley was prepared to go home with some new stories.
“This is my first Stagecoach, so I would imagine that that answer will change after the set tonight…” he predicted. “I’ve seen a lot of beer go flying at shows. And it’s just a lot of rowdy country music fans and, you know, this is kind of the first concert of the summer, so that’ll be pretty exciting.”
Kane Brown topped the bill on Saturday, while Chris Stapleton closed things out on Sunday.
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