Luke Bryan, Jon Pardi and Melissa Etheridge were among the first-day Stagecoach performers.
If anyone can successfully close out a packed desert show on Stagecoach Festival’s opening day, it’s Luke Bryan, who’s been playing at the festival for more than a dozen years and previously headlined in 2014, 2016 and 2019.
On Friday night, he opened with a song that might as well have been written for the occasion, “I Don’t Want This Night to End,” and played a set that consisted of nearly all his hits, and a few surprise covers. In addition to his many party anthems — “Drink a Beer,” “Roller Coaster,” “Crash My Party” and “Play it Again” came all in a row — he also sprinkled in covers of Tim McGraw’s “Where the Green Grass Grows” and Brooks and Dunn’s “Neon Moon.”
As festival-goers danced the night away, many were clearly wondering if maybe a guest or two would pop out — especially since Brooks and Dunn are set to pay their own set on Sunday evening. But no such luck. Bryan paused momentarily before closing out the set with a cover of Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer,” and there appeared to be a touch of disappointment among the crowd that had gotten excited about possibly seeing a Jon Bon Jovi cameo, a la Axl Rose’s appearance during Carrie Underwood’s headlining show last year.
Still, the show went out on top, with Bryan grabbing a Marines jersey from one audience member and proudly wearing it for his last song, which closed out the festival just minutes before midnight — the grounds’ curfew.
