Inside my cursed trip to Kid Rock’s country festival – Celebrity News – | Music News

This weekend I flew out to Kid Rock’s MAGA country fest Rock the Country in Bellville, Texas, and let’s just say it was a cursed experience from start to end.

Rock the Country 2026 kicked off its tour at the Austin Country Fairgrounds on May 1 and a pair of, the place I caught live performances from country stars Jason Aldean, Ella Langley, Kid Rock, and more. But unluckily for me and all the other festival-goers who traveled states away to attend the event, we had been met with an limitless stream of inconviences, leaving many of us stranded in the rain and chilly for hours on end.

While this festival was marketed as celebrating “hard working Americans,” many of us had been left ankle-deep in the mud, consuming overprized $13 beers, and lacking out on seeing a gifted line-up of country stars. This comes as many attendees demanded refunds after the festival was hit with “excessive rainfall” and “nasty” situations.

After touring all the means from New York City to Houstin, Texas, and driving an additional hour-and-a-half to make it to Belville, I used to be more than let down by the poor group on Friday. As soon as I received to the festival grounds on the first day, I used to be instructed to drive to Belville High School the place I used to be told shuttles would take me to the venue, which they after all never did.

After parking in the high college parking zone round 2 p.m., I stood my place in line, the place I used to be surrounded by households and country followers all decked out in ponchos, umbrellas, and layers of garments making an attempt to keep heat and dry in the depressing Texas climate. As wait occasions grew longer and longer, me and my fellow festival-goers had been pressured to crouch behind the dumpsters to use the restroom in the downpouring rain while we waited for the alleged shuttles to arrive.

After the festival start occasions had been pushed again 3 times, we had been lastly informed that the live performance would kick off at 6.30 p.m. Due to this sudden change, many acts had been slashed from the line-up including Josh Meloy, Josh Ward, Gannon Fremin & CCrev, Gracee Shriver, and Tommy Acker.

After rentlessly refreshing the Facebook and Instagram pages, we realized that the shuttles had been never going to come, despite being promised by organizers. At this point, I made a decision to just park randomly on the avenue shut to the venue, the place I had zero cellular phone service.

Simply hoping for the best, I received out of my automotive and just began following the crowd. After about 20 minutes of strolling in the rain, I lastly discovered will name to choose up my wristband – just to uncover that it was about 2+ hours lengthy and wrapped round the complete fairgrounds into the avenue.

Thankfully, my fellow country followers knew how to have an excellent time and had been playing Ella Langley from their telephones and passing round whiskey pictures to keep heat. But as Ella’s set time inched nearer, many had been left upset and pissed off (and tried to bribe bouncers) for an opportunity to get a glimpse of the country singer after hours and hours of endurance.

Luckily for me, I made it just in time to catch the end tail of Ella’s set and get to hear Choosin’ Texas live. While she was every part I wanted for and more, the mud was deep and disgusting and I might really feel it pooling up inside my boots the complete present (in addition to during Jason Aldean’s set).

Another major criticism I had for the festival venue was basic admission entry. I’ve never been so distant from the stage paying basic admission before, despite having been to dozens of music festivals across the country.

In addition to this, the festival didn’t cater to small city Americans as promised, as they’d astronominal costs for each meals and drinks.

For one singular beer with tax, I ended up paying a whopping $13, while I might in all probability purchase the same actual beer for $5 down the avenue. For the one meal I handled myself to the complete festival, I purchased myself fried hen on a persist with fries, which was common tasting at best and totaled to $28.15.

On the subject of unfair pricing, merch at the festival was also overly costly, with Kid Rock promoting his T-shirts for $45, dad hats for $40, and hoodies for a staggering $65.

And the elephant in the room after all was Kid Rock’s headlining performance on Saturday. The complete present was arrange to have a good time America’s 250 anniversary of independence, which he took very critically. From shows of his friendship with President Donald Trump, a helicopter experience with the Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and obnxiously ringing the liberty bell 15 occasions, Kid Rock’s present was every bit as obnoxious and in-your-face as anticipated.

In addition to the shows of patrioism which felt out of place in our current political local weather, Kid Rock placed on fairly a weird present altogether. Two hours felt like an eight-hour fever dream as I watched Kid Rock break out in dance, DJ, rap, sing country music, lead a pair’s proposal, give away a saxophone, rant about the Grammy Awards, and more.

All this being said, to give credit score the place credit score is due, I’ll say I used to be blown away at how shortly festival organizers had been in a position to recuperate the grounds. While stuffed with mud the evening before, by Saturday the complete venue was lined in mulch and hay and for the most half was unrecognizable to the evening prior. Another big shout-out to the random festival-goer that told me I regarded like Ella Langely – after all my troubles I wanted that one.

Overall, the experience was as cursed and as exhausting because it will get, and I’m praying Kid Rock’s future Rock the Country reveals do not torture their festival-goers like this one did to us.