The Five Biggest Surprises At Stagecoach Festival

This year’s Stagecoach Music Festival featured a good amount of unexpected events. Many fans were left disappointed by major wind storm warnings, temporary evacuations, and set cancellations — but the weekend’s performers made sure crowdgoers left satisfied. Surprise special guests are a tradition at Stagecoach, and this year was no different. Here’s a list of the top five surprises at this year’s festival.

Theo Von and Ella Langley, photo by John Shearer/Getty Images for Stagecoach

Ella Langley brings out podcaster Theo Von for a duet

For a majority of festival goers, Morgan Wallen was the obvious choice for Langley’s special guest. The duo just released their new single “I Can’t Love You Anymore,” and Langley is currently on the road with Wallen, opening for select dates on his Still The Problem Tour. Fans were right about one thing: Langley did perform the new duet on stage, but she brought out podcaster Theo Von to sing Wallen’s part. The unexpected duo comes just weeks after Langley joined Von on an episode of his 

podcast.

Public Enemy performs alongside Hootie and the Blowfish 

While Stagecoach is no stranger to random special guests, Hootie and the Blowfish may have everyone else beat for the most unexpected duo performance. During their set, frontman and country hitmaker Darius Rucker introduced icons Chuck D and Flavor Flav, two masterminds behind the prominent hip hop group Public Enemy. Together, the group began with a cover of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth,” which morphed into the iconic opening of Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power.”

Riley Green, Lance Bass, and Diplo join Sydney Sweeney in karaoke

Actress Sydney Sweeney unexpectedly took the stage at her SYRN pop-up saloon over the weekend, where she partied with a number of stars during a karaoke session. NSYNC’s Lance Bass joined Sweeney for a rendition of “Bye Bye Bye,” and she also paired up with Chase Rice to sing “Cruise.” In an ode to Garth Brooks, Sweeney performed “Friends In Low Places” twice — once with Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, and her boyfriend Scooter Braun, and another time with Riley Green. Following the stunt, the actress received heavy backlash online regarding her revealing outfit.

Cody Johnson honors Boyz II Men

During his headlining set, Cody Johnson introduced a huge surprise for the crowd. He kicked off the special set with a cover of Boyz II Men's “On Bended Knee,” during which the current members of the group, Nathan Morris, Wanyá Morris, and Shawn Stockman, joined him on stage. The R&B vocal group helped Johnson finish out the 1994 hit song, leaving the audience with the unexpected performance of a lifetime.

Riley Green, Lainey Wilson, and Little Big Town, photo by John Shearer/Getty Images for Stagecoach

Lainey Wilson joined by Little Big Town and Riley Green for headlining set

Country superstar Lainey Wilson rounded out her first Stagecoach headlining set in a big way. After kicking off her set late due to high winds, Lainey delivered hit after hit for the fans, including “Watermelon Moonshine.” Eventually, Wilson brought out Little Big Town, who performed earlier in the day, and Riley Green, whose set was ultimately cancelled because of weather evacuations. Together, the supergroup sang Merle Haggard’s 1980 hit “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink,” followed by Green’s performance of his original song “I Wish Grandpas Never Died.”