Stagecoach 2024: Morgan Wallen made me forget his many controversies in commanding set

I walked into Morgan Wallen's much-anticipated Sunday Stagecoach set with my eyes ready to be rolled and my mind already hard at work on the mocking jokes I was sure I would deploy in this review.

I even had the lead prewritten in my head: After a career spent covering murder trials, loose mountain lions and other mayhem, this journalist tackled his toughest assignment yet: keeping a straight face long enough to actually review Morgan Wallen.

I guess that's what happens when a Stagecoach headliner is arrested for throwing a chair off the balcony of another headliner's (Eric Church) Nashville bar less than a month before the fest, after a short career that has already seen him be involved in far more controversies and legitimately troubling situations than should be acceptable by most any standard (not that country music has ever been known for its high standards of behavior, a fact which Wallen's continued popularity has provided a particularly in-your-face reminder of).

But as soon as a grinning Wallen emerged from an offstage area and began a lengthy walk out to the stage that was shown on the video screens surrounding it, I forgot all about the controversy that has totally consumed Wallen's image in the eyes of many and the jokes I planned to tell about it.

Because here's the thing, it didn't take long for me to learn what the many Wallen fans who packed into what was clearly the most hyped crowd I have ever seen in my three years going to Stagecoach seemed to already know: there are now three Morgan Wallens.

There's the man, who throws chairs off bar balconies, famously used the n-word with his friends in a viral moment captured on video that many assumed would sink his career ... only to seemingly have the opposite effect, and who clearly continues to struggle with some serious inner demons.

There's the related Wallen character who has somehow become perversely celebrated as a symbol of country's rebel culture (or so I am left to assume because I don't totally get it) for his problematic and sometimes deeply harmful behavior – one only had to look around the festival where it seemed like every fourth t-shirt was bearing one of Wallen's mug shots to see how strange that dynamic has become.

But then, most important for Sunday night's purposes, there is Morgan Wallen the artist and performer, and boy what an artist and performer he turns out to be! From the moment he came out on stage during the aforementioned entrance that I thought of as something of "the anti-Lana Del Rey" given its simplicity in contrast to her memorable motorcycle Coachella entrance, it was impossible to look away from Wallen or deny what a true talent he is.

Although his first song ("Ain't That Some") came with plenty of bravado and some appropriately fiery pyrotechnics, this was ultimately a fairly understated show by music festival spectacle standards. But that actually felt right as it made it easier to appreciate what a great singer and charming guy the stage version of Wallen is.

Despite the overall lack of stage theatrics, this was the kind of show where seemingly every song seemed to create its own mini temporary universe with its own vibe, mood and experience.

And it's honestly ironic that Wallen's public image is that of the ultimate bro as this set hit me in the face with the revelation that he single-handedly pretty much ended "bro country" and has ushered in a softer, more emotional and often sentimental and sometimes even introspective (at least by the country standards) era of the genre with songs like "Thought You Should Know" and "'98 Braves."

Those songs were two highlights of a set that reached an early peak when Wallen journeyed into the crowd to perform a run of hits that included "Chasing You," "You Proof" and his Jason Isbell cover "Cover Me Up" after explaining that he was doing so in an attempt to approximate the experience of his early days in music when he could see the eyes of everyone watching him in smaller venues (incredibly those days were just a few years ago as he memorably reminded the crowd on this night).

But if the first half of the set was all about quality time with Morgan, his microphone and, more often than not, the feelings he explores in his lyrics, the second half was all about lighting up the stage with some serious star power befitting of the final night at Stagecoach. Hardy, who had performed his own set earlier in the night, was the first guest to light up the stage with more pyrotechnics and hardrock vibes when he joined Wallen for a raucous rendition of their collab "He Went to Jared."

Wallen then continued with the trend of playing with those who had he performed before him on the Mane Stage Sunday by welcoming Bailey Zimmerman, whom performed the band Florida Georgia Line's part on their song with Wallen, "Up Down."

Next up was friend and frequent collaborator Ernest, with whom Wallen performed "Cowgirls" after Ernest previously performed it without him during his Saturday night (and yes, Ernest's microphone actually worked this time after it memorably malfunctioned when he joined Jelly Roll on stage two nights prior). Then it was time for what was surely the most anticipated guest of all.

As Wallen began singing his part of "Man Made a Bar," I briefly wondered if we would be denied an Eric Church appearance that would carry added intrigue not only because of the incident at Church's bar but also the controversy that has exploded around Church's own Friday Stagecoach set, which saw him play a series of gospel songs and covers instead of his own hits to the frustration of many in attendance.

But then, sure enough, a smiling Church appeared, sang his part and perhaps somewhat redeemed himself in the eyes of many festival attendees in the process.

Church's appearance likely satiated many fans appetite for big name guests, but it would turn out Wallen wasn't done bringing out his fellow festival artists. During a rare Stagecoach encore, Wallen welcomed Post Malone to sing their new, officially unreleased but available online song "I Had Some Help" (evidently not enough in Wallen's case).

But, of course, this was ultimately the Wallen show and he ended it in epic fashion by playing two more of his own songs, "Last Night" and "The Way I Talk."

Wallen had seemed to add one more level of mystery to his set when it was announced just hours before he took the stage that it would not be livestreamed as Stagecoach sets typically are.

After watching it, I can't understand for the life of me why that decision was made as the online world missed out on one heck of a show. But for those of us lucky enough to be at the polo club, the lack of a stream should only serve to make it all the more special that we were able to witness a true star in his prime, one who somehow made the Mane Stage feel both grand and intimate. Now, if only Wallen, the man, could start living up to the high standard set by Wallen, the performer.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Stagecoach: Morgan Wallen brings out Hardy, Post Malone and Eric Church