Stagecoach rolls into Indio with a mellower vibe

For eight years, this tiny town in the low desert has endured an annual culture shock as thousands of young rock fans poured in for the Coachella festival. But on Saturday the tide of music tourists was a bit more in rhythm with the local landscape.

They favored barbecue pits over mosh pits, and their guitar heroes wore boots and Stetsons, not sneakers and tattoos. In their campgrounds, instead of scruffy teenagers passing joints, it was a sea of shining RVs stocked with Budweiser on ice.

The inaugural Stagecoach festival kicked off with George Strait, Alan Jackson and Willie Nelson on the same stages that last week held rockers such as Rage Against the Machine and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Kenny Chesney, Brooks & Dunn and Emmylou Harris will perform today.

But the young event will have to do some major growing to catch the three-day Coachella Music and Arts Festival. Coachella brought in 60,000 people per day. Stagecoach had failed to crack the 25,000 mark as of Saturday and probably will lose money.

Promoter Paul Tollett says that the event will be back regardless, and that he thinks it has a chance eventually to surpass its famous rock cousin.

Saturday’s show was markedly different from Coachella in vibe. There were far more children and senior citizens, and -- with lassoing lessons, clog dancing and cowboy storytelling -- it seemed more like a massive county fair than a concert venue.

“This is more like the spirit of our community and the rhythm of our community than the Coachella show,” said Cindy Torrez, 40, of Indio.

Her children are regulars at Coachella, she said, but it wasn’t until Alan Jackson was booked at the Empire Polo Field that she felt compelled to go through the turnstiles. “Coachella is great for the city, but it’s not my style,” Torrez said. “This is more like the music people really love.”

Southern California is the nation’s leading market for country music CD sales, and this weekend’s concert drew heavily from San Diego, Orange and Riverside counties.

Chris Morris, who has a Sunday morning country show on the L.A. radio station Indie 103.1-FM, said the festival’s lineup instantly established it as a national player in country concerts.

“It’s going to energize country music in and around Los Angeles too, and people will understand how much the music means here in Southern California,” Morris said. “Some people don’t really give the scene enough credit.”

There were only six arrests, all alcohol-related, at Stagecoach by sundown Saturday -- as compared to Coachella, which averaged 30 arrests per day this year -- and police seemed visibly relieved after dealing with the bruising crowd of Rage, the politically charged metal band that headlined the previous weekend.

Coachella made Tollett a major figure in West Coast rock circles, and he spent years in the L.A. alternative rock and punk scene. Over the last three months, he immersed himself in country music -- “I knew next to nothing about it, honestly,” he said -- and on Friday he began his education in country fans.

For six hours, Tollett wandered the campgrounds where 2,200 recreational vehicles were parked, many flying NASCAR flags. “I wanted to get to know the audience, and it’s amazing,” he said. “This is so relaxed and fun. I love Coachella, but this is just really easygoing.”

The previous weekend, about 16,000 rock youths were sacked out in tents and sleeping bags in the same lot, and at one point police had to march in when the late-night revelry got too crazed. Not this weekend.

There were some bumps. Electrical hook-ups for some RVs didn’t work -- and some fans, such as Jenna Hardin of Orange, grumbled about the long line of campers moving slowly Friday night. “They need to get better organized,” she said, “but we’re in here now and happy.”

The desert was also more gentle on visitors this weekend than last. At Coachella, temperatures hit triple digits, but a cool breeze and a thermometer showing a 15-degree drop from last week made Saturday a thrilling change of pace for staffers and security working both shows.

Moses the Clown, with a round, red nose and blue hair, was one of those double-duty workers. His job at both shows was to entertain the crowd with quirky bicycle rides. At Coachella, it was young adults on his rides.

“It’s all little kids now; it’s like a carnival,” he said. “This time the crowd has a lot of kids and older people. Last week, it was only the people in between.”

Tollett said the sparser crowd and the learning-curve challenges of Stagecoach reminded him of the early days of Coachella, which began small in 1999 and at first lost money.

“I think the word of mouth here today will make next year pretty fantastic -- and by everything I see, I think this will catch up to Coachella pretty quick,” the promoter said.

AEG Live, the concert industry giant, owns half of both festivals. Coachella made a name for itself with cutting-edge bookings of the critics’ latest darlings instead of the predictable bestselling acts. The show also minimizes the promotion deals and other corporate trappings that alienate indie rock fans. Not so with Stagecoach. The main stage acts performed next to banners pitching Toyota Tundra pickup trucks, and the roster was topped by platinum-sellers.

Still, on the second stage, “outlaw” acts such as Lucinda Williams, Neko Case and Raul Malo brought a bit of Coachella’s spiky spirit into the mix. Rhett Miller of the band Old 97s said the setting and excitement of seeing some of his country music heroes made it a memorable day.

“I think this is the beginning of something great here,” he said after walking off stage. “This is going to be special for a long time, I think.”

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geoff.boucher@latimes.com