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Stagecoach music festival keeps the Indio wagon train rolling
On the second day of the Stagecoach country music festival in Indio, authorities estimate the crowd is 85,000 people strong. That's down from the approximately 100,000 people who attended the Coachella Music Festival.
Sergeant Dan Marshall is with the Indio Police Department tells KPCC that Stagecoach requires different tactics.
"Staffing is different... At Coachella, the beer gardens are just that, beer gardens. While at Stagecoach, you can take your alcohol with you. So we put a larger emphasis on the inside, sometimes with different deployments than we do at Coachella," he says.
He adds that Stagecoach usually has less crime than Coachella.
One thing about the two festivals remains consistent: the heat. Marshall warns concert goers to come prepared for high temperatures.
"Not only is it warm out here but the sun is pretty intense," Marshall says. "And I think people might replace water for alcohol so they get dehydrated. And we get a medical condition going on there. And that's not what we want to see."
Saturday's headliners include Shania Twain, Kip Moore and Willie Nelson. Travis Tritt and Wynonna Judd are among Sunday's big draws.
Over the previous two weekends, Coachella saw 277 arrests, mostly for alcohol and drug-related crimes.