Coachella campers face festival traffic nightmare
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What’s enough to knock the focus off Luke Combs during his headlining set at Stagecoach over the weekend?
Try a surprise guest appearance by Garth Brooks to sing the country hit to end all country hits: “Friends in Low Places.” Yep, that’ll definitely do it!
And so, it was that Combs put a most thunderous finishing touch on what will surely go down as one of the most epic headlining sets in recent Stagecoach history.
Combs keyed up expectations as he told fans something special was on the way to help him close out an already-rousing festival set. Playing somewhat coy, he sang the first portion of “Friends in Low Places,” only for Brooks to quietly appear on stage and take over.
The crowd, at first shocked, and then raucously delighted, seemed unable to believe their ears.
What transpired over the next few minutes felt like a shot — or three — of pure Stagecoach adrenaline, stronger and more intoxicating than any of the varied liquors that had been guzzled all over the Empire Polo Club grounds over the previous 72 hours.
It felt like nearly everyone in the crowd was singing along as Brooks and Combs — both sporting big grins — drank in the moment, turning the vocal work over to the crowd for large portions of the song but interjecting just enough to remind us that we were witnessing country music lore in the making.
Finally, Combs yelled, “It’s Garth Freaking Brooks, everybody!” We didn’t need the explanation, but the crowd, of course, roared anyway.
It was Brooks himself who delivered what will probably be the most-remembered line of the night when he referred to Combs as a “future Hall of Famer.”
It’s a title that Combs earned through a grueling 90-minute set in the California desert, leading the crowd through a commanding barrage of his biggest hits.
The country music star headlined Stagecoach just three years ago, but his set this time around was strikingly different. Many of his most beloved hits, featured heavily during the April 27 show, had not even been released at the time of that last show.
It served as yet another sign that Combs’ career is as white-hot with success now as it was then.
While Brooks stole the show, he wasn’t the only high-profile guest to join Combs on stage. Pop punk band Good Charlotte also made an appearance to sing their hit “The Anthem,” alongside Combs and Bailey Zimmerman — an up-and-comer who appeared at Stagecoach in 2024 and 2023 — came out to perform a new song called “Backup Plan.”
Still, it was Comb’s voice that kept audiences captivating, his signature country croon ringing out over a rapt stadium.
While there was no shortage of highlights, it was hard to beat the sheer power of his “Hurricane” performance, or the cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” − a sleeper hit for the country artist. Then again, I’ll also have a hard time getting over the hard-charging spectacle of “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma.”
When he was finished wrapping up his own set, Combs hopped stages to lend his talents to the festival’s actual final act: the Backstreet Boys.
Showing up to sing “I Want It That Way,” he helped give the classic 2000s hit a country twang.
I have a feeling it won’t be the last time we see Combs show up to blow the doors off someone else’s set at Stagecoach.
Someday, an elder Combs might even have to come back to crown the next “Luke Combs” just like Brooks did tonight.
Contributing: Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY
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