Saturday, April 25, marked the second day of Stagecoach 2026, and it was just another fun day at the festival — until Mother Nature got in the way.
The day featured plenty of highs, but also a historic low that we’ll be recalling for years to come.
Here are a few of the high and low points of Saturday’s action, which included headliner Lainey Wilson and Teddy Swims among those on the Mane Stage and Bush on the new Mustang Stage.
THE WORST MOMENT
Historic wind storm-induced evacuation
We didn’t have to choose three of the lowest points of the day because this one takes the cake. The Desert Sun has been covering the Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals since their inception, yet nobody on the team could recall ever having to evacuate the event. That all changed Saturday when, after an otherwise lovely afternoon with absolutely ideal temperatures, the weather turned dangerous.
The wind began picking up in the late afternoon, and by the time Little Big Town hit the main stage at 6:30 p.m., the wind gusts were getting noticeably worse.
“This desert wind is so wild, so beautiful,” Bush lead singer Gavin Rossdale told the crowd of more than 25,000 as the heavy breeze whipped his hair into his face (before the wind quickly became the opposite of beautiful).
Bush concluded at 7:35 p.m. and an evacuation order came around 7:45 p.m. as the Mane Stage video screens flashed a red-and-white message: “EMERGENCY EVACUATION: THE FESTIVAL HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. PLEASE MOVE QUICKLY AND CALMLY TO THE NEAREST EXIT.” The gates were reopened at 9 and the music eventually resumed at 10:30 p.m., thankfully.
Hurriedly exiting the festival, waiting things out in our cars and then quickly turning around to make the long trek back in was not fun for anyone, so let’s skip to the best parts of the day rather than relive the bad.
THE BEST MOMENTS
Guy Fieri’s cooking demonstration
The Food Network star has been around all weekend, but Saturday’s demonstration seemed particularly cool. I’d call that among the “highs” of Saturday’s experience.
Fieri included performers Wynonna Judd, Billy Bob Thornton, Rossdale and Gavin Adcock for his cooking demonstration with Fieri’s son, Hunter, and fellow chef Eric Greenspan.
The demonstration became a cooking competition, with Adcock winning with his burnt-ends burrito. Greenspan said that he’s never cooked with a non-chef that had the same level of attention-to-detail as Rosdale, who is here performing with his band, Bush.
Thornton, Rosdale and Adcock each performed their music on Saturday. Judd took the stage on Friday.
Bush’s memorable set (or at least memorable for me)
Bush was the first big rock band I ever saw in concert, exactly 30 years ago, in the spring of 1996. I was just a boy and saw the band near my hometown, in Fairfax, Virginia, with No Doubt opening. So, it was a pretty cool full-circle kind of moment to see Bush again all these years later.
The set was really good, and was played with a ton of energy.
The post-grunge/alternative rock band opened up with “Machine Head,” the same song it opened with years ago. Bush also played “Everything Zen,” “Glycerine” and finished with “Comedown.” The British group played nine songs total during its 50-minute set.
It was a very entertaining performance, and the mostly Gen X crowd sang along to most of the songs.
Teddy Swims bringing out David Lee Roth
Teddy Swims, the 33-year-old singer who is known for his unique blend of contemporary pop, hip-hop, R&B and soul, drew a huge crowd to the Mane Stage Saturday afternoon — similar to the size of his Coachella crowds the two weekends prior. His set included his Thomas Rhett collaboration, “Somethin’ Bout a Woman” (sans Rhett), and a Shania Twain cover, “You’re Still the One.”
Swims also invited former “American Idol” finalist Devin Velez to the stage so the two could perform “Are You Even Real,” and for his big finish, he invited former Van Halen lead singer David Lee Roth onto stage to perform Van Halen’s “Jump” (the same song Roth came out to sing with Swims the past two weekends at Coachella, making this what’s got to be a historic three-peat on the guest front).
What did we think overall?
Evacuation aside, Saturday was a great day full of amazing performances. However, one thing that could’ve made the day pop a little more would have been more — and bigger — surprise guests. Although Roth was essentially the worst-kept special guest secret, his appearance was still really cool for all the rock fans in the crowd, and we needed more of that star power on Saturday.
Reporter Andrew John is covering Stagecoach for The Desert Sun and USA TODAY. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Stagecoach festival evacuation makes for memorable Day 2 of 2026 fest
Reporting by Andrew John, Palm Springs Desert Sun / Palm Springs Desert Sun
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