The Stagecoach Country Music Festival was a new player on the festival circuit back in 2007 when it premiered. So was North Carolina country singer and songwriter Eric Church, who had released his debut album less than a year before getting the call to be part of the inaugural lineup at Stagecoach.
So he might be forgiven if his memory of the day he delivered the first performance on the Stagecoach main stage is a little hazy.
“Someone was telling me I played that first one, but to tell you the truth, I don’t remember a whole lot about it,” Church said in an interview on his tour bus Friday, a few moments before he was to step on stage for the fourth time at Stagecoach.
“We did so many shows that year,” he explained.
Things are very different this time around, and he will probably recall the experience more clearly a decade from now. He’ll be able to look back on headlining the opening night of the 2016 edition of Stagecoach, a sea of some 75,000 fans spread out before him across Indio’s Empire Polo Field. This year’s other headliners are Carrie Underwood (Saturday) and Luke Bryan (Sunday).
He included the title track from his latest album, “Mr. Misunderstood,” a new collection that appeared almost without warning last November. It came so quickly that Church won’t even be launching his new tour to support it until January.
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“I didn’t want a new album, I didn’t need a new album,” he said with a smile, as he sat just a few feet from his wife, Katherine, who accompanied him for his return trip to Stagecoach. But as he has explained in other interviews, the songs on “Mr. Misunderstood” came to him quickly last year, and he wrote, recorded and released the album in just about one month.
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Brett Young performs on the Mane Stage during the second day of the 10th edition of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 30.
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Luke Bell performs on the Palomino Stage during the second day of the 10th edition of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 30.
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Rainey Qualley performs on the Mane Stage on the second day of the 10th edition of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 30.
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Country music fans dash out from behind gates to get the best concert viewing seats as they arrive on the second day of the 10th edition of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 30.
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Jana Kramer performs on the Mane stage during the first day of the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 29, 2016.
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Kieley Olenick of Corona dances with Nick Bryan of Riverside as Jana Kramer performs on the Mane stage during the first day of the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 29.
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The setting sun illuminates and casts shadows on the umbrella of Ashley Gonzales and William Quintero, both of Long Beach, during the first day of the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 29.
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A country music fan is silhouetted dancing by a vendor’s spotlight while Emmylou Harris performs on the Palomino Stage on the first day of the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 29.
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Marty Stuart performs on the Mustang Stage on the first day of the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 29.
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Chris Young performs on the Mane Stage on the first day of the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 29.
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Country music fans sing along during Eric Church’s headlining performance during the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 29.
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Country music fans Debbie Clark, of Fullerton, left, Kitty Borchard, of Costa Mesa, Caitlin Roberto, of Norwalk, Jenny Stevens, of Downey, and Nicole Ray, of Anaheim, pose with their phones by an illuminated American flag hanging on their RV at dusk in the RV Resort for the 10th anniversary of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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A country music fan waves to friends from the top of an RV at sunset in the RV Resort as she attends the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Thursday.
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Jamella Perkins, center, joins fellow country music fans line dancing in the Dance Dome at Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Country music fans dance at the KFROG Dance Party in the RV Resort at Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Country music fans dance at the KFROG Dance Party in the RV Resort at Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Fans dance at the KFROG Dance Party in the RV Resort at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Fans dance at the KFROG Dance Party in the RV Resort as they attend the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Fans dance in the Dance Dome at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Fans dance in the Dance Dome at Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club.
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Fans dance in the Dance Dome as they attend the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Spotlights silhouette and create shadows as country music fans dance in the Dance Dome as they attend the 10th anniversary of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Nick Michael, of Anaheim, checks his phone by an illuminated American flag hanging on an RV at dusk in the RV Resort at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Country music fan Vito Pace, of Calabasas, sports LED lights on his hat at dusk in the RV Resort for the 10th anniversary of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Tiffany Rancloes, left, of Yucca Valley, dances with Jen Halcrow, also of Yucca Valley, to country music in the RV Resort of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.
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Madisyn Recupido, 4, of Beaumont, who is attending her fourth Stagecoach festival, sports pink boots and hat while checking out plastic pink flamingos in the RV Resort at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.
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Country music fans ride bikes at dusk at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Two men arrive on a loaded tricycle full of beer and other drinks in the RV Resort for the 10th anniversary of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.
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Horse heads and bicycles are illuminated with LED lights, put on by Vito Pace, of Calabasas, at dusk in the RV Resort at Stagecoach Country Music Festival in Indio.
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Country music fans, from left, Vito Pace, Linda Vogel, Cassidy Vogel, Michelle Pace, all of Calabasas, sport LED lights on their bikes at dusk in the RV Resort for the 10th anniversary of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.
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A couple cruise on three-wheel bikes with flags through the RV Resort for the 10th anniversary of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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A private security mounted patrol keeps an eye on country music fans at dusk in the RV Resort at Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Country music fans dance at the KFROG Dance Party in the RV Resort at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Phillip Toczynski, and Alyssa Salinas, both of Simi Valley, pull their luggage as they arrive in the RV Resort for the 10th anniversary of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
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Crew members put up lighting at sunset on the Mane Stage on Thursday at the 10th anniversary of Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) He said a full-scale arena tour will be coming next year.
Recalling Church’s first performance almost 10 years ago is another story for Stacy Vee, director of festival talent for Goldenvoice who books all the acts each year for Stagecoach.
“Eric was the first artist who opened the main stage at that first year,” Vee said recently, “and to have him back for the 10-year anniversary is a big moment for us.”
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