What Lainey Wilson Did After The Wind Briefly Shut Down Stagecoach

Lainey Wilson didn’t look excessively worried astir nan precocious winds that temporarily unopen down Stagecoach connected Saturday night.

Headlining nan festival’s main shape aft an hour-long hold — during which fans were ordered to evacuate Indio’s Empire Polo Club earlier being allowed backmost successful — Wilson looked retired astatine nan crowd successful beforehand of her and said of nan unplanned break: “I dream y’all sat successful your cars and drank immoderate tequila.”

Lainey Wilson performs.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

The whoops crossed nan section suggested that might’ve been what happened.

Only nan 3rd female to header Stagecoach successful nan past 5 years, Wilson offered a tight, punchy showcase of nan riff-heavy country-rock that’s made her 1 of Nashville’s biggest stars (after a decade-long come-up successful which she’s said she lived successful a camper trailer).

“Can’t Sit Still” and “Wildflowers and Wild Horses” were swaggering and Stones-y; “Country’s Cool Again” rode a funky down-home groove. To capable nan large shape — it evoked a benignant of godforsaken oasis pinch a sparkling horseshoe and a mates of prop cacti — Wilson brought on a horn conception and inheritance singers who turned “Dreamcatcher” into a psychedelic roots-soul fantasia.

Not agelong into nan show, Wilson welcomed Little Big Town and Riley Green for an appealingly sloppy rendition — complete pinch drinks successful integrative cups — of Merle Haggard’s “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink.” Then she fto Green, whose scheduled capacity was scotched because of nan wind, instrumentality astir to do his “I Wish Grandpas Never Died.” (Also called disconnected Saturday was Journey’s group connected nan Mustang stage.)

Wilson’s only different impermanent was nan small woman she ushered onstage and pronounced “cowgirl of nan night” during “Things a Man Oughta Know.” After that came nan singer’s dreamiest hit, “Somewhere Over Laredo,” and an particularly sultry return connected “Watermelon Moonshine,” nan nostalgia-drunk emotion opus from 2023 that’s astir apt still her finest moment.

Lainey Wilson performs.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)