Cody Johnson, Lainey Wilson & Post Malone To Headline Stagecoach 2026

Now that’s a lineup.

The 2025 festival season has come to a close, and while some might be mourning the end of a great season filled with good music and good times, I always look forward to the end of festival season.

If you’re thinking that I’m an odd duck for that, hear me out. The best part of each festival season occurs long before the festivals, when all the lineups are announced.

There is nothing better than feeling like a little kid on Christmas Day and seeing who the artists are announced to play specific festivals. You can be filled with extreme excitement, knowing that a handful of your favorite artists will be in the same place. Next thing you know, your group chat is popping off with text messages from friends sharing that same excitement, and in the blind of an eye, you have bought a ticket and then are scurrying to book a hotel or Airbnb before prices skyrocket for the given location.

It’s a high like no other.

And so far, the festivals announced for the 2026 season are coming out of the gate hot. Two Step Inn shared their lineup yesterday, September 25th, which featured artists such as Brooks & Dunn, Chris Stapleton, the Red Clay Strays, Wyatt Flores, Muscadine Bloodline, Brent Cobb, Evan Honer, Cameron Whitcomb, and the Tedeschi Trucks Band, among others. Pretty stacked, right?

Well, buckle up because another premiere country festival just shared its lineup, and it is nothing short of stellar.

Stagecoach is California’s country music festival, which takes place shortly after Coachella at the Empire Polo Club in Indio. Each year, the festival brings the heat with the artists they choose to feature, and this year is no exception.

Your 2026 Stagecoach headlining acts are: Cody Johnson, Lainey Wilson, and Post Malone. But that’s just where the fun gets started. Other artists set to take the stage over the weekend include, the Red Clay Strays, Ella Langley, Riley Green, Journey, Brooks & Dunn, Hootie & the Blowfish, Treaty Oak Revival, Charles Wesley Godwin, Billy Bob Thornton & The Boxmasters, Gavin Adcock, Wynonna Judd, Ole 60, Wyatt Flores, Braxton Keith, Ty Myers, Jake Worthington and more.

And for fans who might not be the biggest country fans, but just like the atmosphere of a country festival, they have acts that appeal to you as well. Other performers include BigXthaPlug, Diplo, Pitbull, and Ludacris. And the Mayor of Flavortown, Guy Fieri, is also involved in the festival this year, getting his own smokehouse.

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Obviously, Stagecoach is going to draw a much different crowd than the weekends before, when Coachella attendees flood Empire Polo Club, but the Stagecoach crowd seems like a better time.

Over the years, it’s been reported that alcohol related arrests at Stagecoach are also higher than at Coachella. In 2016, KESQ reported that Stagecoach’s arrests related to alcohol were 37.7% higher than Coachella’s alcohol related arrests. In contrast, Coachella goers had more substance-related arrests when compared to Stagecoach goers.

Different festivals, different vibes, different ways to party… I mean, it doesn’t exactly take a rocket scientist to figure out that country music fans like to drink and EMD fans like to… do something else.

That being said, the beer-drinking crowd is more my speed.

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Stagecoach 2026 is scheduled to take place from April 24th through April 26th, and tickets will go on sale on October 2nd at 11:00 a.m. PST.

This is a full-throttle lineup, so if any names on this list have you amped up, grab your friends and get tickets sooner rather than later.The post Cody Johnson, Lainey Wilson & Post Malone To Headline Stagecoach 2026 first appeared on Whiskey Riff.