Stagecoach attendees are up in arms on social media after they say they were evacuated from the festival site and were unable to return when the event resumed.
The country music-led event is taking place this weekend on the same festival site that Coachella uses in Southern California, headlined by Cody Johnson, Lainey Wilson and Post Malone.
It is estimated that around 75,000-80,000 fans were told to evacuate due to high winds.
Variety reports that at 7:46 p.m. on Saturday night, the official Stagecoach app shared an update: “Due to severe weather, please exit the event site and move to your vehicles or protected areas outside of the event site for safety. Stay tuned for updates.” Similar messages were displayed on screens at the festival.
At 8:52 p.m., the festival’s social media account posted a new message that read: “Show Update: The show will resume. We are working to open doors and prep the site for your safety. Stay tuned for updates.”
By then, thousands of fans had already departed the site and found themselves unable to return.
On X, one user responded to the announcement that the show was back on by writing: “but I evacuated… like you told me.”
Another wrote: “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.”
Another argued in a longer post: “The legal issue isn’t ‘weather happened.’ It’s that Stagecoach knew high winds were expected, let people in after a casual noon warning, gave no escalating contingency/re-entry instructions, then issued a full emergency evacuation saying the festival was ‘postponed.’”
He continued: “For shuttle/rideshare attendees, complying meant entering a one-way exit system. By the time they later reopened, return wasn’t just inconvenient — it was functionally impossible. Reopening doesn’t cure that. Stagecoach’s own communications and logistics denied access to the resumed show for a large class of people who followed official safety instructions.”
The Independent has approached Stagecoach for comment.
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After the show resumed on Saturday, both the classic rock band Journey and country singer Riley Green had been removed from the schedule. However, headliner Lainey Wilson’s set did go ahead.
Strong winds are also being forecast for Sunday, as the festival continues with Post Malone expected to headline on Sunday night.
