Wild Horses Can Drag Me Away To A Country Music Festival In San Diego

Outriders, the Wild Horses promoter puts on a number of festivals and shows in San Diego and Whitefish Montana. Wild Horses concluded this year with a one day event at Petco Park. Petco is a baseball stadium, so it is large place which can hold a lot of people. The stands were open as was the field. It was once challenging to fill a stadium with anything other than the most popular acts. Now, it’s almost commonplace to have a stadium event in which the tickets sell because of the ability to gather rather than because of the lineup.

Weather is rarely an issue in San Diego. It’s the perfect place for outdoor shows. However, weather for an outdoor show in late December even in San Diego can be challenging. Last year there was quite a bit of rain and this year it was unseasonably cold. Still, the people came in droves.

Wild Horses is a newer festival with a country theme which took place on Monday December 30^th, just in front of the New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day Proper EDM festival. As the name suggests, Wild Horses is a country tinged festival which featured Post Malone as this year’s headliner.

Wild Horses delivered a set of performers which provided for a very entertaining evening. The lineup was diverse and thoughtful: Dan Spencer, Vincent Neil Emerson, Zach Top, Paul Cauthen and Post Malone. The show ran from 4:15 pm until 11pm. Each artist brought their own special elements to the performance. In particular, Paul Cauthen brought an authentic cowboy feeling to his vocals. Cauthen has a deep classic country style. Zach Top was more akin to the current country trends. These acts were quite a contrast from Post Malone’s closing set which was more of a surprise. Many people expected Malone would play a country set, like he did last year at Stagecoach. Instead, it was a more mixed performance surveying songs from across his catalogue.

The audience experience was excellent. This year’s stage was large and backed by excellent video monitors. The entire space in front of the stage was reserved to the VIP guests who also had the benefit of standing space heaters there to offset the unusually cold evening. Country music currently has a broad appeal. The audience reflected that, as there was diversity among them. Only later in the evening, when those fans who came only for Post Malone entered late did there tend to be a surge of attendees as the longtime Malone fans kept coming in waves.

Malone was humble during his show. He constantly expressed his gratitude to the crowd as the show played. Also, Malone’s set integrated extensive pyrotechnics throughout his set almost making them another element of the band. It seemed like something exploded during almost every song. This is an expensive way to hold attention, but it sure is fun.

As Post Malone wrapped his show there was a fireworks display so large as to be if the Fourth of July married New Year’s eve. They were a whole other show within the Wild Horses event.

After two consecutive years Wild Horses is likely to continue their position as San Diego’s stadium scaled country element at the end of the calendar year. It seems that two genres continue to grow in popularity: Country music and Electronic Dance Music. Wild Horses has established its beachhead at the end of the year in Petco Park. Go ahead and mark your calendar for next year.