The Greencards Playing at The Mint on Tuesday July 5

The other day I got a friend request on Facebook from Kym Warner and at first didn't recognize the name. But I qucikly realized that this was Kym from The Greencards who I had seen back at Stagecoach 2008 and had included them in my blog post for ExperienceLA.com back then. Now I suspect the reason he friended me was that I might then discover that The Greencards were coming to play in Los Angeles at The Mint on Tuesday, July 5.

I had a chance to make it to another concert at The Mint several years back, and I did a blog post on that concert featuring Broke Down Cadillac and opening act Smith and Pyle. So in honor of the Greencards coming to The Mint, I uploaded some of these The Greencards Stagecoach 2008 pictures to flickr for this blog post.

LA Live Promotes Stagecoach 2008

Last November, the Nokia Theater at LA Live opened with the Eagles and the Dixie Chicks and were followed by Sugarland and Little Big Town. LA Live in Downtown Los Angeles which is owned and operated by AEG is also the co-promoter with Golden Voice of the Stagecoach Country and Western music festival set for the first weekend of May in Indio.


This European style festival with a family emphasis is out in the desert at the Empire Polo Grounds. It opens on Friday night May 2 and continues all day on Saturday and Sunday, May 3rd and 4th. If you were priced out of the market when the Eagles opened at the Nokia, Stagecoach offers the opportunity to see them and many other big named country and western influenced artists. Single day tickets are available along with those for the entire 3 day weekend. A year ago, I wrote about what the first year of Stagecoach was like.

As many followers of American Idol now know, the LA Live Nokia Theater will be the location of the final competion for season 7 switching from the Kodak Theater at Hollywood and Highland. A side note - In years past when the contestants went to Hollywood, they found themselves on Broadway at the Orpheum. Although this current season it was Pasadena, but the Orpheum hopes to have American Idol return next season. Anyway, this AEG American Idol connection is going to Stagecoach with Grammy award winner Carrie Underwood being one of the main headliners and also appearing will be Kelly Pickler who has been making a name for herself with her first CD and music videos.

Other major headliners include: Rascal Flatts, Tim McGraw, The Judds, Trisha Yearwood, Dwight Yoakam, Big & Rich, Trace Adkins, Dierks Bentley, Taylor Swift and Gretchen Wilson. All of which will be on the big stage with crowds that will be around 25,000 people. But there are other stages that you can see many other lesser names who are well known in their own country western genre, and it is here that you can see them perform in more intimate settings. Several days before the event, Stagecoach will announce the exact time slot of the already announced day for each performer. Stagecoach will also benefit this year from an additional 20 acres that have been added to the site to create a more open feeling for Coachella Music Festival which is this weekend (needed for its much larger audience).

Just like last year, the Stagecoach festival is reaching out to families. Kids that are 14 and under are free to the festival. There are many activities geared for children, and there are water misting machines and shade as it might get really hot. They even have a camping area set up for families setting them up far enough away from the other 2 camping areas, so that sleep is possible. There is a separate fee for camping, and they have established a separate area for tent camping away from all of the RVs.

Nokia plaza at LA Live has featured a huge banner promoting Stagecoach. With AEG's cross promotion of venues, expect to see other Country and Western acts at the Nokia and other AEG venues, as they work to develop and promote the various forms of country music which in turn will help to grow the Stagecoach Festival in Indio and country music in Southern California. You can also look forward to the Grammy Museum in Fall 2008 at LA Live.