Stagecoach 2016: From Carrie Underwood to Snoop Dogg, here's what happened

The Stagecoach country music festival had a little bit of everything, from traditional headliners like Carrie Underwood and Eric Church to RV camping and a petting zoo.

Oh, and a visit from Snoop Dogg.

In an unusual move for the country music festival, the rapper, along with hip-hop artists G-Eazy and Bebe Rexha, performed as surprise guests of country star Sam Hunt (in a segment sponsored by Bud Light). The unlikely but largely successful appearance of Snoop, who was also a guest of Ice Cube at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival during its first weekend, led some to wonder whether Stagecoach will begin incorporating more sponsored surprises such as this in the future.

• Photos: Best images from Stagecoach 2016

Outside of Snoop’s performance, the festival stuck with the tried and true (and sometimes dusty and windy) atmosphere Stagecoach attendees are used to, with a range of country, rock and side-stage performers who defy simplistic labels.

On Friday, Chris Young tued in a strong set with his own surprise guest Cassadee Pope while Eric Church’s headlining performance was marred for some by low sound levels.

Saturday got even better with a range of acts that showed the depth of the festival’s roster.

The evening’s headliner, Carrie Underwood, melded pop and classic country elements as she performed a charismatic and energetic headlining set with songs off her latest album “Storyteller,” as well as a stripped-down cover of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You.”

Underwood was also clearly comfortable in her element.

“I’m going to do something I swore I’d never do on stage,” the singer said as she slipped off her stilettos. “But I feel like these shoes are keeping me from getting down, and I waa get down. My feet are goa be nasty after this.”

Another big draw on Saturday was Grammy award-wier Chris Stapleton. Though a strong gust of wind knocked off his signature cowboy hat, he soldiered on with his hit “Nobody to Blame.” His wife and backup singer Morgane provided a sweet moment as she swept his long, stringy locks out of his face while he jammed out on guitar.

• More Coverage: All our Stagecoach 2016 coverage in one place

With their electrifying set, The Band Perry played their hits and even offered up a rocking cover of Queen’s “Fat Bottom Girls.” It’s not hard to imagine them retuing to the event soon: Vocalist Kimberly Perry and her brothers, Neil and Reid, definitely seem ready to headline Stagecoach. The siblings even wrote the song “In It Together” at the country music festival last year on the bus.

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“We’ve done music our whole lives,” the band said on stage. “All we wanted was to play big stages and have big sing-alongs our whole lives and Indio, you made that dream come true.”

Less-mainstream acts found a receptive audience as well.

Emmylou Harris played a transcendent set in the Palomino Tent Friday night that included “Sweetheart of the Rodeo,” a cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Boxer” and ended with Neil Young’s “After the Gold Rush.”

On Saturday night, John Fogerty had perhaps the best set of the festival by playing a slew of Creedence Clearwater Revival hits that culminated in the set-ending “Fortunate Son” and an encore of “Bad Moon Rising” and “Proud Mary.”

Not only a terrific performer, the 70-year-old Fogerty was a rootsy reminder for those baby boomers in the crowd who listened to rock as young ‘uns and now prefer country. Perhaps in recognition of a crossover with fans of hard rock, or simply to show off his still-formidable skills, he performed the blistering Van Halen guitar solo “Eruption,” to boot.

• Photos: Stagecoach 2016 musical performances, fashion and more

The wackiest performance of the weekend might have come late Saturday afteoon, when Langhoe Slim and the Law blended organ-heavy Southe soul with Americana indie rock and some country flair to captivate a small but appreciative audience at the Mustang Stage. Leader Langhoe Slim got close to the crowd early in the set, but for closing song “Past Lives” he sang on top of the hay bales separating the stage from the audience before climbing over them and taking the crowd with him to the middle of the tent to sing the song from the soundboard in the middle of the tent.

The festival is also a social event, and the RV Resort offered everything from bike riding to beer pong. When people weren’t lounging on lawn chairs at the resort, many could be seen carrying those same chairs through the festival grounds to catch the acts in the relative comfort of a seat.

There were families in attendance too, and some went to the Half-Pint Hootenay, where youths could embrace miniature donkeys at the petting zoo, get their face painted or listen to acts like A. Rae & The Rescue Dogs or EmiSunshine (an 11-year-old who also performed on the Mustang stage) play.

And when it was time to eat, attendees had choices of grabbing something from the traditional Spicy Pie pizza stand to new vendor Chipotle or barbecue from Bub City BBQ (in Chicago) or Poutine Your Mouth (Salt Lake City).

Vanessa Franko and Kelli Skye Fadroski contributed to this article.