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

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 finish.

Rock the Country 2026 kicked off its tour at the Austin Country Fairgrounds on May 1 and 2, where 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 were met with an endless stream of inconviences, leaving many of us stranded in the rain and cold for hours on end.

While this festival was advertised as celebrating “hard working Americans,” many of us were left ankle-deep in the mud, drinking overprized $13 beers, and missing out on seeing a talented line-up of country stars. This comes as many attendees demanded refunds after the festival was hit with “excessive rainfall” and “nasty” conditions.

After traveling all the way from New York City to Houstin, Texas, and driving an extra hour-and-a-half to make it to Belville, I was more than let down by the poor organization on Friday. As soon as I got to the festival grounds on the first day, I was instructed to drive to Belville High School where I was told shuttles would take me to the venue, which they of course never did.

After parking in the high school parking lot around 2 p.m., I stood my place in line, where I was surrounded by families and country fans all decked out in ponchos, umbrellas, and layers of clothes attempting to stay warm and dry in the miserable Texas weather. As wait times grew longer and longer, me and my fellow festival-goers were forced 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 times were pushed back three times, we were finally informed that the concert would kick off at 6.30 p.m. Due to this unexpected change, many acts were 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 were never going to come, despite being promised by organizers. At this point, I decided to just park randomly on the street close to the venue, where I had zero cell phone service.

Simply hoping for the best, I got out of my car and just started following the crowd. After about 20 minutes of walking in the rain, I finally found will call to pick up my wristband – just to discover that it was about 2+ hours long and wrapped around the entire fairgrounds into the street.

Thankfully, my fellow country fans knew how to have a good time and were playing Ella Langley from their phones and passing around whiskey shots to stay warm. But as Ella’s set time inched closer, many were left upset and frustrated (and attempted to bribe bouncers) for a chance to get a glimpse of the country singer after hours and hours of patience.

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 everything I wished for and more, the mud was deep and disgusting and I could feel it pooling up inside my boots the entire show (as well as during Jason Aldean’s set).

Another major complaint I had for the festival venue was general admission access. I have never been so far away from the stage paying general admission before, despite having been to dozens of music festivals across the country.

In addition to this, the festival did not cater to small town Americans as promised, as they had astronominal prices for both foods and drinks.

For one singular beer with tax, I ended up paying a whopping $13, while I could probably buy the same exact beer for $5 down the street. For the one meal I treated myself to the entire festival, I bought myself fried chicken on a stick with fries, which was average tasting at best and totaled to $28.15.

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

And the elephant in the room of course was Kid Rock’s headlining performance on Saturday. The entire show was set up to celebrate America’s 250 anniversary of independence, which he took very seriously. From displays of his friendship with President Donald Trump, a helicopter ride with the Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and obnxiously ringing the liberty bell 15 times, Kid Rock’s show was every bit as obnoxious and in-your-face as expected.

In addition to the displays of patrioism which felt out of place in our current political climate, Kid Rock put on quite a bizarre show 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 couple’s proposal, give away a saxophone, rant about the Grammy Awards, and more.

All this being said, to give credit where credit is due, I will say I was blown away at how quickly festival organizers were able to recover the grounds. While filled with mud the night before, by Saturday the entire venue was covered in mulch and hay and for the most part was unrecognizable to the night prior. Another huge shout-out to the random festival-goer that told me I looked like Ella Langely – after all my troubles I needed that one.

Overall, the experience was as cursed and as exhausting as it gets, and I’m praying Kid Rock’s future Rock the Country shows don’t torture their festival-goers like this one did to us.