Stagecoach!!!

Last weekend my parents and I went to Stagecoach in Indio, CA. If you've heard of Coachella, it's similar, except that it's country music. It's held in the same location as Coachella, but the weekend after. My Mom and I went to the 1st Stagecoach Festival 3 years ago and it was amazing! But it's also exhausting with 2 very long, full, HOT days in the desert. In the festivals following we just haven't been excited enough about the lineup to put out the effort in the heat.

But this year, we couldn't resist going to one day of the 2-day festival. The headliners were Sugarland and Keith Urban (my "boyfriend"... Matt hates it when I say that!). We've seen both acts before, but they are favorites and we could see them every year! Also performing were Phil Vassar, Billy Currington, Merle Haggard and many others (but those were the ones we cared about seeing!).

We drove out early Saturday morning and tried to check into our hotel, but since we arrived so early, our room wasn't ready yet. We decided to head over to the festival early, and thankfully we did. As soon as we arrived, Mom and I realized this had become a much bigger event than that first year we attended. By 10:30am several parking lots were already full and it took us awhile to get to a parking lot with space. Then we headed to the gate, where Mom and I were nearly at the front 3 years ago, but now arriving about 11:30am put us near the back! Once inside, we could see how much bigger then event had gotten... so many more vendors, bathrooms (thankfully they are great at having a tons of bathrooms!) and tons more food. The great thing about this festival is that you can bring chairs and blankets, set them on the ground to "claim your spot" and then just walk away. Everyone respects everyone's space. No one has to stay behind to protect your spot. So we walked around, checked out the vendors and grabbed some lunch. We also made our plan for the day of who we wanted to see and which stage (there were 3!) they were at.

Our first performer we were really interested in seeing was Phil Vassar. He was great... he's such a talented songwriter, not only writing a ton of his own hits, but some big ones for people like Tim McGraw ("My Next 30 Years") and JoDee Messina (she wouldn't have had a career without him!). We knew every song and he was a great, fun performer. Next up, Billy Currington. I really love two of his songs, which were big hits, so he sang those. But he's also got a couple of songs that I really can't stand. But overall people liked him, and I enjoyed seeing the songs I really loved played live. After Billy, we headed over to a smaller stage to see Merle Haggard. I don't know any of his music, but the man is a legend, so I appreciated the fact that I got to see him live. The place was packed and it was great to see so many people there cheering for him! Afterwards we grabbed some dinner and headed back to the Mane Stage for the headlining acts!

Merle Haggard still rockin' at 73!

I've seen Sugarland twice before. The first time was at the first Stagecoach festival that Mom and I went to. They were just getting popular then, but since then, they've just blown up and become a major act in country music. Jennifer Nettles (lead singer) had the most amazing voice and they just look like they are having the greatest time up on that stage.

Mom & I doing our "Settlin" moves!

Keith Urban has been one of my faves for many years now. I've also seen him live twice before, and I could easily see him in concert every year and not be disappointed. Besides being seriously sexy and Australian, he's immensely talented at both songwriting and guitar playing. We stayed until the last song of the night, which was at about 11:30pm... makes for a very long day when the gates opened at 12noon!

We had such a great day and thankfully the weather wasn't too awful... it was about 85, but thankfully there was a breeze that helped cool things off. I'm looking forward to seeing who is playing next year!!!