Cowboys, cowgirls, dirt, and country music. What more could a southern soul ask for?

Stagecoach is California’s most famous country music festival, and this year it brought over 200,000 fans to the Empire Polo Field in Indio for a weekend full of great performances.

The headliners for 2015 were Tim McGraw, Miranda Lambert, and Blake Shelton.

Tim Mcgraw took the “Mane Stage” on Friday night as the first big headliner of the event. He was an incredible performer and played some of the older music that many country fans grew up listening to. The crowd fed off of McGraw’s energy and many had tears in their eyes dancing along to  “Live Like You Were Dying.”

ACM Album of the Year winner Miranda Lambert performed Saturday evening and sounded just as good as she does on the radio, which is very uncommon in today’s music industry. This was Lambert’s second time performing at the festival; she looked beautiful, sounded incredible, and the crowd went wild when she played her latest hit, “Little Red Wagon.”

Since Stagecoach first began in 2007, only three women have ever been booked as headliners. Lambert definitely embraced her time on the stage and proved that women can be just as strong performers as the men. Lambert’s set opened with her upbeat hit “Somethin’ Bad,” which pumped up the crowd and set everyone up for a great night.

Sunday was the hottest day out in Indio at around 89 degrees and many fans were hot, sleep deprived, and a little delirious. However, all it took to get the crowd going again were a couple of words from day three headliner Blake Shelton, and the crowd’s enthusiasm was back.

Shelton’s performance was a great way to end the incredible weekend, his lively energy on stage and his interaction with the crowd was truly amazing to see. His set was perfectly balanced with songs from his early career as well as some of his newer releases, and there was definitely a variety of style. Shelton played a few of his romantic slow songs such as “Sangria” and “God Gave Me You”, but also got the crowd excited with his upbeat “Ol’ Red” and “Boys ‘Round Here.”

The three headliners took up some of the time on the Mane Stage, but there were over 60 other artists and groups that performed over the 3 day weekend.

Well-known musicians such as Jake Owen, Dierks Bentley, The Band Perry, and Kacey Musgraves were major hits at the festival, but up-and-coming acts also performed on both the Mane Stage and the multiple side stages. Rock artist Eric Burdon and the Animals even made an appearance, adding variety to the country music festival.

Tickets to the festival gave fans access to all stages and performances, so individuals could customize their experience at Stagecoach to see every act they wanted to.

General admission tickets this year sold for just under 300$, while VIP were closer to 800$.

General admission gave visitors access to the standing pit, which although was not as close as VIP, still allowed fans to see and hear everything happening on stage. The VIP Corral Standing ticket gave fans access to the closest viewing area of the Mane Stage, and many VIP members even interacted with the performers when they walked through the front of the crowd.

“I touched Kip Moore’s hand! It made my day,” said VIP member, Amber Kellett (12).

Each ticket and wristband also gave visitors access to other features at the venue, such as the Honky Tonk Dancehall, petting zoo, ferris wheel, and rows of food and merchandise vendors.

The air-conditioned Honky Tonk Dancehall was a huge attraction for heat exhausted fans who wanted to escape the desert sun and break in their boots with some line dancing.

The food was somewhat expensive, an inevitable downside to most concerts and music festivals. Many people chose to eat before going to the venue, but for those who ate there, Stagecoach did not disappoint. There was an impressive variety of vendors; everything from southern BBQ to asian cuisine, and slices of pizza as big as your head.

Overall, the yearly festival brought country music lovers together and allowed for a great three day weekend.