Jelly Roll gave the biggest crowd he’d ever played to their money’s worth, with a cavalcade of starry cameos.
Jelly Roll for Stagecoach
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Stagecoach
On Saturday night (Apr. 26), crossover country star Jelly Roll played what he said to be “officially the biggest show I’ve ever headlined” when he closed the second day of the Stagecoach Festival in Indio, Calif. And he made sure it was one to remember for the many thousands in attendance — not only with his usual high-energy, hit-heavy setlist, but with a seemingly non-stop parade of big-name guests showing up to offer their support.
Starting with mgk, who offered tremendous love and respect for his “Lonely Road” collaborator, Jelly Roll welcomed one big name after another to join him on the stage — sometimes to play his songs, sometimes to play their collaborations with him, sometimes to play their own songs that Jelly just said he wanted to hear. Some folks were already in town for their own Stagecoach sets, but plenty of other folks were enlisted from totally separate corners of the music world — pop, hip-hop, rock, even CCM. Every time you thought the cast was complete, a new name got added to the set’s credits, right down to Jelly Roll’s closing song for the evening, which ended up featuring perhaps the biggest surprise guest of the entire night.
If you weren’t in Indio and missed the live stream, Billboard‘s got you covered. Here’s a chronological list of every artist who Jelly Roll brought out on his Saturday headlining gig — check it out below, and be sure to check back after tomorrow night to see if Sunday’s fest-closer Luke Combs will respond in turn with his own star-studded set.
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mgk
The artist formerly known as Machine Gun Kelly made the first surprise appearance of the night, seemingly materializing on stage from out of nowhere as Jelly Roll began to sing the chorus to John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” Jelly then pivoted to his and mgk’s Denver-interpolating “Lonely Road,” which they played in full. But before his buddy Colson could get out of there, Jelly requested that he perform his Tickets to My Downfall smash “My Ex’s Best Friend” — and mgk had no choice but to oblige.
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Shaboozey
Shaboozey had graced the main stage (ahem, the “Mane Stage”) at Stagecoach just hours before, but he got the call from Jelly Roll to reprise their “Amen” collab, which was released the previous day (Apr. 26) as part of ‘Boozey’s Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going: The Complete Edition deluxe reissue. And then once on stage, Shaboozey had to hang out just a little bit longer to help greet…
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BigXthaPlug
…BigX, who showed up open-shirted to perform his 2022 single “Texas” while the two country stars partied alongside him. After that, Jelly Roll pressured BigX to also perform the song he called “my theme song” — the rapper’s 2024 hit “The Largest,” with the two big men having a mini-danceoff to the song.
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Jessie Murph
With all these “brothers” of Jelly Roll making their presence felt, it was time for his “little sister” to get in on the action — prolific hit collaborator Jessie Murph, making her second Stagecoach appearance of the day, after popping into Koe Wetzel’s set to perform their 2024 Country Airplay No. 1 “The High Road.” Murph of course also had a 2024 hit duet with Jelly, and the two performed their “Wild Ones” together.
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Bunnie Xo
The only non-performer of the evening to be welcomed onto the stage by Jelly Roll was of course his longtime wife Bunnie Xo, who he gave a glowing tribute to and greeted warmly, before telling the crowd to give it up for “Mama Bear.”
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Alex Warren
After his wife’s brief cameo, Jelly Roll said he needed to “confess his love” for her in front of the festival crowd — but lamented that he had been unable to write the perfect love song for his life partner. To help with that, he brought out rising pop-folk singer-songwriter Alex Warren, who performed his current smash “Ordinary” in Bunnie’s honor — then stuck around to help both announce and debut his and Jelly Roll’s not-yet-released collaboration, “Oh My Brother.”
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Wiz Khalifa
After actually playing a couple solo songs, Jelly Roll embarked upon a mini-covers set, performing bits of Nickelback’s “How You Remind Me,” 2Pac & Dr. Dre’s “California Love” and Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers,” before ending on Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa’s “Young, Wild and Free.” To help with that last one, Wiz himself appeared on stage — and once he was there, Jelly Roll also asked him to play a song of his own, with the Pittsburgh rapper delighting the crowd by launching into his 2011 smash “Black & Yellow.”
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Brandon Lake
With Jelly Roll spending much of the evening preaching all glory to God, it was unsurprising he would ultimately call upon one of his most recent collaborators: CCM star Brandon Lake. The duo performed the Jelly-featuring redo of Lake’s breakout hit “Hard Fought Hallelujah,” which seemed like it would be the climax of the evening. But there was one big moment still to come…
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Lana Del Rey
…with one of the biggest stars of the entire weekend, Friday Stagecoach performer Lana Del Rey. The singer-songwriter, who Jelly Roll called his “favorite crooner of all time,” stuck around Indio for at least one more day to help Jelly with his closing number: “Save Me,” which originally featured the unavailable Lainey Wilson. And after that final unforgettable duet, there was officially nothing left but the closing fireworks for Jelly Roll’s stunningly star-studded set.
