Stagecoach festival attendees have expressed anger on social media after being evacuated from the site due to high winds on Saturday evening, only for the event to resume hours later, leaving many unable to return.
The country music festival, held at the same venue as Coachella in Southern California, saw an estimated 75,000 to 80,000 fans told to evacuate. At 7:46 p.m., the official app advised attendees to exit the site and move to vehicles or protected areas, with similar messages on screens. At 8:52 p.m., the festival announced the show would resume and doors would reopen, but by then thousands had already left and could not get back in.
On X, one user wrote: 'but I evacuated… like you told me.' Another said: 'You can’t ask 85k people to evacuate and then go Oops! UNO reverse, come back.' A third added: 'Staff were telling people the show was done for the night and cancelled. Not just postponed. I expect a lot of people will be asking for refunds.'
One attendee argued that Stagecoach knew high winds were expected, gave no contingency or re-entry instructions, and then issued a full emergency evacuation. For shuttle and rideshare users, complying meant entering a one-way exit system, making return functionally impossible when the site reopened.
After the show resumed, classic rock band Journey and country singer Riley Green were removed from the schedule, but headliner Lainey Wilson performed. Strong winds are forecast for Sunday, when Post Malone is expected to headline.
