Do’s and Don’ts of Stagecoach
(From a Consecutive 8 Year Stagecoach Veteran)
THE DO’s:
1.) Take a bandana.
This is as important as sunscreen and water. You will need it!
During the day –
Wet it and tie it around your neck to keep your cool in the 100 degree weather (that feels even hotter in the thick crowds).
At night –
Tie it around your face bandito style before you set out for the long, dusty walk back to the parking lots + shuttle lines. The dust gets so kicked up by the thousands of people trudging through it that you can barely see. I find putting on sunglasses is also helpful.
You’ll still eat dust with all of this, but at least it’s only a fraction. Half a black lung? I’ll take it!
2.) Pick a meeting spot for your group.
Service at the Empire Polo Fields is notoriously poor. It’s just too many people in one area (which turns out to be a good thing because you’re in the moment, not on your phone!)
Your group will get separated (thank you Jose Cuervo and Dos Equis). It’s inevitable.
Pick a spot that is central when someone gets lost. Our favorite spot is “The Lions.” It’s by the main bar and pretty much in the middle of the venue. The Lions is where a lot of folks hang, so if you’re a lone wolf without service you’ll have the potential of finding some friendly faces to keep you company until your group comes to find you.
3.) Get a lift up onto someones shoulders.
Raise your cowboy hat and feel the desert wind lift up your hair as you belt your favorite song high above the crowd. There is literally nothing so carefree on planet Earth.
4.) Have water and snacks waiting for yourself in the car.
The free parking lots have taken me any where from 5 minutes to an hour + to get out of. You will be hungry, tired, and thirstier than you ever knew was possible. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
The car will get heat up like an oven while you’re in the venue, so don’t put anything in there that will melt (like trail mix with chocolate or something).
My favorite thing that I own and my MVP post Stagecoach item is my 25oz Swell water bottle. I’ve had it for years and am obsessed! I fill it with cold water in the a.m. and since it is designed to stay cold for 24 hours, it isn’t phased by the Palm Springs heat. It’s always ice cold when I get back at 10 p.m. and I think about it literally the entire walk to the car.
*IMPORTANT NOTE: Stagecoach doesn’t allow metal bottles into the venue (only empty plastic bottles). I leave my Swell in the car for the drive home and purchase plastic water bottles inside the venue so that I’m not stuck carrying a bottle around all day.
Psst… it’s free shipping!
5.) Go obnoxiously early!
You can party in a house literally any weekend of the year (and you probably do).
The best part of Stagecoach is the early sets of small time artists. Get a beer, sit yourself on a haystack, and relax to the sounds of world class fiddlers bump out folk, blues, and soul.
6.) Pull out cash ahead of time & bring your credit card.
ATMs are available, but have a really big service fee. If keeping track of cash isn’t your thing, every bar, food vendor, and retailer takes credit card.
7.) If you’re single, Get a Stagecoach Boyfriend (but don’t ditch your girls).
If you are single, honey, prepare to mingle. And if you’re not, but you LOVE to set up your girlfriends, prepare to have a damn field day.
The perfect Stagecoach boyfriend resume: can dance, offers to buy your drinks, and doesn’t want to take you away from your friends (but is happy to recruit his boys to tag along with your group).
Story time – My most fond “Stagecoach boyfriend” was a sweet Marine who drove up from San Diego the very next weekend after Stagecoach to help me move into a new apartment located in a different part of LA. He had a truck and wouldn’t hear of me hiring movers – SWOON!
THE DON’Ts:
1.) Don’t put your phone in your back pocket.
This is so so sad, but there are some gross people who go to festivals specifically to steal and turn a profit. This isn’t a Stagecoach thing, it’s just a festival thing.
One year, police caught up with a man at Coachella who had over 60 stolen phones on him that he had swiped throughout the day.
These baddies will steal phones, take out the SIM cards, and sell them the next week. A few years ago, as I was leaving the venue on the last song of the last artist, I let my guard down and put my phone in my back pocket. In only a few hundred feet, it was GONE!
Zip it up in the inner part of your purse, put it in your bra, put it in your boot. But never, ever put it in your back pocket.
Not all is lost… Here are some tips if you find yourself without your phone:
Know your Apple ID and password before you ever step foot into the venue.
Download the “Find My iPhone” app on everyone’s phones before the festival begins. Immediately sign into it on a friends phone using your info and lock your phone. Put a message on it offering a reward and your friend’s number to contact you.
Go to the Lost-and-Found located near the ferris wheel. They collect lost iPhones and keep them plugged in so they don’t die. You wouldn’t believe how many folks simply just loose their phones and how many good hearted humans are returning them to the Lost-and-Found.
2.) DON’T LET YOURSELF GET DEHYDRATED.
Start and end the day by drinking a HUGE water bottle. I like to alternate margaritas and water bottles once inside the venue.
3.) Don’t expect to be able to park and be in front of a stage 15 minutes later. Prepare at least 1 hour to get into the venue (from parked to listening to an artist)
Parking is free, but it is a long walk in. Plus pregaming in the parking lot, the sometimes very congested security lines, and getting your ID checked.
If you’re favorite artist goes is going on in 15 minutes and you’re just parking, you probably won’t make it in time for their last song. Sorry!
3.) Don’t wear brand new boots.
You’ll be walking 7-10 miles throughout the day. You literally will not have skin left on your feet if you wait to break in your boots at the venue.
4.) Don’t wear too many clothes. (cue 90s usher)
Temps are typically in the 95-100+ range so wear clothes you feel okay getting really sweaty in.
Practical Styling Tip –
I like wearing one piece swimsuits as tops, because there is something more comforting about sweating in a swimsuit than in a shirt. Make sure your shirt/dress doesn’t dry a weird color after sweating because pitting out will 100% be a thing this weekend.
5.) Don’t be afraid to two step with a stranger. Even if you’ve never two-stepped before!
Don’t know how to two-step? That’s okay! The boy is supposed to lead.
If you see someone friendly who is dancing with lots of different ladies, don’t be afraid to ask him to dance and just tell him that you don’t know much. (Catch a little clip of me doing just that from my Instagram Story of Stagecoach last year!)
At my favorite two-stepping bar in my hometown in Texas, everybody dances with everybody! You just go up and ask, and the same works at Stagecoach :-)
Just follow his lead! Promise it’ll be one of your most treasured memories of the weekend!
5.) Don’t bring in flags (or anything else from stagecoach’s restricted items list!)
Stagecoach security is strict about not allowing in a handful of things (some of which you might have brought into other festivals like poles and flags).
Be sure to check out their full list here to avoid having to take your belongings all the way back to the car or having to throw them away (yikes!)
HAVE THE BEST TIME Y’ALL!
