The evacuation was triggered by high winds that intensified across the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, where the festival is held. An “emergency evacuation” message appeared on screens across the site, instructing attendees to “move quickly and calmly to the nearest exit,” while alerts sent via the festival’s official app directed festivalgoers to leave the area. (Rolling Stone Reports)
The disruption affected multiple stages, with the Mane Stage between sets at the time the evacuation notice was issued. Winds had been building throughout the day, with gusts increasing into the evening under a regional wind advisory.
Lainey Wilson Brings Out Riley Green After Canceled Stagecoach Set in Standout Moment
Wilson brought out Green as a surprise guest alongside Big Little Town to perform "I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink"
Top acts were cut from the Stagecoach roster on Friday after high winds forced thousands of fans to temporarily evacuate the grounds. The festival resumed an hour later, with headliner Lainey Wilson‘s set pushed back to 10:30 pm. Scheduled sets by Gavin Adcock and Pitbull were also delayed, while Journey and Riley Green had their performances canceled altogether.
When the “Watermelon Moonshine” singer finally took to the stage, she was welcomed by the roar of the crowd and she thanked fans who had stuck out the gusts of dirt to see her show. “Hopefully you sat in y’alls cars for a bit and drank some tequila,” she told the crowd. “We came to Stagecoach to have a damn good time and that’s what we gonna do,” she declared and launched into “Can’t Sit Still.”
Her followed up with the sentimental “Dreamcatcher” and “Things a Man Oughta Know,” while offering “Wildflowers and Wild Horses,” swaggering across the stage in leather chaps with fringe. As her Wilson’s fiddle player performed “Somewhere Over The Rainbow,” the singer sang “Somewhere Over Laredo,” Wilson’s single off her deluxe re-issue of Whirlwind, interpolating the melody of Garland’s hopeful ballad into its chorus.
Yet one of the most touching parts of her 90-minute set arrived when she invited Green, whose set had been nixed, on to the stage alongside Little Big Town (who performed earlier in the day). Together they performed a rendition of Merle Haggard’s 1980 hit, “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink,” which Green followed by his song “I Wish Grandpas Never Died,” which he wrote in tribute to his grandfathers (who he credits as cow-writers.
