! S T A G E C O A C H !
Hi all! SO I am totally not a writer but against my better judgment I wanted to share blogs with whomever cares enough to read them about my experiences at my favorite thing to do in the world – yep you guessed it, attend music festivals. I figured what better way than to take a break from all the regular and rather negative social media talk than to read about something that is becoming so popular. The point of my blogs is mostly for me, to remember my experiences when I’m old and grey and most likely getting wheel chaired into my next festival. But I thought why not share my thoughts and opinions and see if others can relate to yours truly. Most importantly I want to look back and see what a wild time I had.
My first blog is about is California’s biggest country music festival, Stagecoach, otherwise known as Ragecoach, yes I unfortunately was even guilty for writing that on an Instagram caption, once or uhm maybe twice. If you’ve never been you’ve most definitely heard that slogan on the radios from January until the last weekend of April every year. It can get pretty exhausting if you have zero interest in country music, but for every High School senior, it is truly the most exciting commercial to hear. I can relate because I was that High School senior.
I went to my first Stagecoach my Junior Year of High School. I had always gone to concerts and fun events before this, but never had I gone to 3 day music festival. I was through the roof. My pals and I chatted about what we wearing, what songs should be on our mix CD’s, what classes we were missing, what the weather was going to be etc. etc. etc. Our wristbands were pure gold to us and we kept them on for months after the festival ended. Rather disgusting now that I think about it, but I still have every wristband and every box it has arrived in. Oh and of course my Mom made me go to school that Monday, but that was always the golden rule – if you play you gotta pay.
Entering the polo fields whether it’s Stagecoach or Coachella, (hopefully my next blog), is truly a euphoric experience. Sounds so lame, but I get giddy just thinking about it. And if you’re with me, or anything like me, it is a scene and a half. Yes you are sweating, yes your buzz might be fading, yes you are tired, yes you are sore, but man you are stoked. You are so proud of your outfit, whether you’re wearing a cute country dress or an American flag vest with a matching doo-rag, you feel like the 10 that you are. You are stoked that the alcohol you poured in sunscreen bottles made it in safely, so stoked that you will literally high five any drunk guy that you pass by. The ferris wheel is spinning and the cops on horses are roaming around and you are ready, ready to get to that 4:00 pm artist who just happens to be Eli Young Band and you had already told yourself you are not going to miss them.
From babies with huge noise cancelling headphones, to adult men wearing nothing but a thong to cover their gentleman parts, stagecoach has it all. It definitely caters to every ones’ needs because, to be honest, not everyone that attends, are actually country fans. That thought never bothered me because the more the merrier in my opinion. Most people pregame to EDM or rap but luckily my friends and I have always kept it festive and pregamed to our favorite Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan songs – whether or not they were performing. We may or may not have thrown in the Tesoro Rap once or twice but hey gotta keep that Titan pride forever baby!!
Stagecoachs attendance has people on both ends of the spectrum, it definitely has those cute families that look forward to Stagecoach all year round and you best believe that they were making Jell-O shots the whole week before to prepare. It also has those girls that are just excited to wear their $100 cowboy boots for their first time and get that perfect boomerang with the caption saying “Yeeeeehawwww” or “Save a horse, ride Brad”. But my favorite type of Stagecoach goers are those older couples that bring their chairs and blankets and set up a cozy camp so far away from the stage, but you can tell that they are just as excited to see Blake Shelton as you are.
Now lets talk about something rather important. Food and Drinks. Holy Moly the lemonade. Even as an almost 22 year old, I would still prefer lemonade as my poison for the weekend. It is so refreshing and goes great with a nice slice of Spicy Pie Pizza, an all time Mamafred favorite! Getting a wristband to drink is definitely time consuming but most necessary, too many youngins have received MIP’s and MIC’s. A lil tidbit piece of advice would be to eat before you enter because yeah the food can be extremely expensive and if you aren't fortunate enough to have a best friend whose Mom makes a killer bbq chicken salad, then yeah please eat before. Oh and by the way, Stagecoach is actually one of those festivals that doesn’t have designated drinking areas and you can walk around with alcohol in your hands – clutch.
GA or VIP? Well I have been fortunate enough to experience both sides. I spent some time in VIP with my family and it was so fun, you are so close to the stage and it’s the perfect time for photo ops. The lines for drinks are so much shorter than in GA, I definitely took that for granted when I went back in GA the next day. In all honesty, it’s all about preference, I would have to say GA is more fun though, yes it’s more crowded but it’s the type of rowdy you signed up for and should expect. I would suggest you save your VIP money, get a GA ticket and have extra cash for some beer and/or lemonade. Shout out to Mom for buying me a $28 grilled cheese in VIP, I will always love you for that one.
Being able to attend Stagecoach has been one of my favorite parts of going away for college, being able to see your high school crew and your family all in one fun ass weekend is something I will never take for granted. The crew has added new friends over the years and the Freddy’s even got Brady to join in the most recent year. He doesn’t like country but like I said, as a High School senior he still had a grand ole time. My goal in life is to go to Stagecoach with my future daughter and with Mamafred. I have no doubt in my mind that Mamafred and I will be able to show her the ropes accordingly.
One particular pal of mine has been such a trooper and has made her way back to the west coast to attend Stagecoach with all of us. She even surprised us all and let me tell you, I blubbered like a baby, but hey ever since that day I have been so thankful for American airlines for letting me have her for the weekend - they truly helped make our round 5 that much better, together.
There is truly nothing more heart warming than thinking of you and your crew dancing to the Sunday night headliner, singing at the top of your lungs, telling each other how much you love them, and completing ignoring the fact that you have an 8 am in another state.
Thank you so much for reading and I hope everyone who attends Stagecoach this year has a blast, especially since Uncle Kenny’s hotter when the sun goes down.
P.S. meet at the boot ;)
