Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset, Repeat | Stagecoach Country Music Festival 2019
With a last name like Hickman, you know I love a good excuse to wear my boots. Wearing my boots explains no small part of my affinity for football game days, country concerts, and patriotic holidays, so when two of my closest college friends suggested spending three days in the desert with all of our favorite country artists, I bought my ticket on the spot.
A few months later, with plenty of sunscreen, our favorite road trip snacks, some carefully curated outfits, and all of our boots in our bags, we hopped in the car and queued up our favorite country songs for the eight hours of freeway between us and Indio.
Play it Again
Day One: Luke Bryan, Cole Swindell, Kane Brown
The following morning we were awakened by the excited voices of fifteen people sharing a two bedroom house. After a healthy breakfast of pizza rolls and pop tarts, we coated ourselves in sunscreen and headed to the RV park in search of an air-conditioned reprieve from the over 100 degree heat.
Once satisfied with our participation in the RV park shenanigans, we finally entered the festival grounds, finding the same venue of the Coachella festival to be dressed up with a little Southern flavor, now playing host to some of the biggest names in country music.
At the end of day one, having line danced in the Honky Tonk Dance Hall, enjoyed lobster mac and cheese and fresh squeezed lemonade, and sung our favorite songs at the top of our lungs, we were left equally as exhausted as we were eager to do it all over again the next day... and the next.
Leave the Night On
Day Two: Sam Hunt, Luke Combs, LANCO
Sustained by a balanced breakfast of Hot Pockets and fruit snacks (and at this point wondering if we would see even a single vegetable at any point throughout the weekend), we embarked on day two.
From boots on to boots off, I was in my element. The only thing that could have made this day better would have been a surprise performance of the most iconic rap/country crossover of all time.
Horses in the Back
Day Three: Jason Aldean, Old Dominion, Lil Nas X & Billy Ray Cyrus, Diplo
… and on day three, that’s exactly the surprise performance that Diplo made possible.
Yeah, you read that correctly, Diplo closed out a country music festival and did so by bringing everyone’s favorite TV dad out of nowhere to accompany the iconic yeehaw-agenda-pushing rapper, Lil Nas X, onstage. I won’t go so far as to say that the live performance of Old Town Road overshadowed Old Dominion’s set, but I will admit to screaming so loud for it that I lost my voice the next day.
That moment and this weekend with a couple of my favorite people would undoubtedly be a highlight of my junior year.
As the sun set on Stagecoach, and all that we had left were our tired sore feet, dust on our boots, and the lyrics of Old Town Road stuck in our heads, we headed home to face finals… and push our country music obsession on our Berkeley friends.
