Stagecoach was briefly evacuated Saturday night (April 25) after the Empire Polo Club in Indio was hit with high winds.
The country music festival, this year headlined by Post Malone, Lainey Wilson and Cody Johnson, updated its schedule for Saturday night after a temporary evacuation due to high winds.
According to a report from Rolling Stone, the gusts grew to such a point that food vendors were forced to shut up shop early, until the festival itself was paused and performers were ushered offstage.
An emergency evacuation message showed up on screens on the festival’s Mane Stage yesterday, and read: “The festival has been postponed until further notice. Please move quickly and calmly to the nearest exit.”
However, about an hour after thousands had shuffled toward the parking lot and shuttles, the festival sent out a notification that it would be resuming, with headliner Wilson‘s set pushed back an hour to 10.30 pm.
“We’re back in the saddle,” the new update read, advising that the festival would go until 1am instead of the originally planned 11.55pm.
🚨| A tense day! Stagecoach had to cancel the performances for a few hours due to weather conditions. Unfortunately, @Marshmello's set, which was scheduled to happen minutes after the event's cancellation, will no longer take place. Stagecoach has just posted that they are back,… pic.twitter.com/GuNl0nkQsQ
— Portal Mellogang (@portalmellogang) April 26, 2026
— Stagecoach Festival (@Stagecoach) April 26, 2026
Scheduled sets by Gavin Adcock and Pitbull were also delayed, while Journey and Riley Green had their performances cancelled altogether.
Many fans took to social media to express their frustration, given many had already left the packed parking lot and has to scramble to turn back and re-enter the festival.
“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’, one fan fumed on X.
“For shuttle/rideshare attendees, complying meant entering a one-way exit system,” they continued. “By the time they later reopened, return wasn’t just inconvenient — it was functionally impossible.”
The third and final day of the 2026 country music fest commences today (March 26) with Post Malone scheduled to headline, with support acts on the final day including Third Eye Blind, Wyatt Flores, Brett Young, Ty Myers, Warren Zeiders, and Hootie & The Blowfish.
It comes after one of the final performances set for the opening night of Coachella was scrapped because of similarly severe weather conditions. American-Italian DJ and producer Anyma was unable to perform earlier this month because of strong wind conditions affecting his stage set up.