Stagecoach 2023: Guy Fieri, Old Dominion serve up nachos; band teases new bar in Nashville

It doesn't matter who's playing on the Mane Stage at the Stagecoach country music festival when the Mayor of Flavortown, Guy Fieri, is cooking up a meal with a few famous friends.

The Food Network star returned to the annual festival to whip up a few interesting concoctions at Guy Fieri's Stagecoach Smokehouse. The cooking demos have become a staple at Stagecoach, allowing festivalgoers to get a glimpse of their favorite spiky blond-haired chef, while also enjoying food from barbecue pitmasters around the country.

Joining Fieri for his Saturday evening slot was Nashville band Old Dominion, who was set to hit the Mane Stage at 8:30 p.m. Already 15 minutes ahead of the demonstration, fans were huddled up trying to get the best spot to see the celebs.

In true rock-star fashion, Fieri's demo was about 10 minutes late, but it didn't seem to matter to fans, who got to enjoy a bit of rock music and be treated to free swag.

If you didn't get a good angle to see the show, you could instantly tell when Fieri was out and about due to the crowd's excitement. An onslaught of cheers was followed by hundreds of phones raised in the air trying to get a picture of the "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" host.

Fieri, holding a cigar, knew how to get the crowd pumped up with just a few words.

"Who's been drinking? Who needs to get drinking?" he asked, which was met with cheers and applause.

Once he welcomed the five members of Old Dominion to join him, Fieri revealed they would be serving up trash can nachos for the crowd. The musicians all looked excited to be at the demo, even Matthew Ramsey, who came out on crutches after he recently fractured his pelvis in an ATV accident.

Fieri decided to craft up trash can nachos with the band "in honor of the enthusiasm and energy" that the musicians were going to bring to the Mane Stage later in the day. He also made the nachos vegan to appease Ramsey's dietary restrictions.

At various stations, cooks, band members and even Fieri's sons pitched in to create the dish. One station was dedicated to cutting up juicy barbecue meat, which would be served on the side, while another consisted of making TVP (textured vegetable protein) that essentially mimicked sloppy joe ground beef.

In the meantime, Ramsey shared that the band would be opening its own bar in Nashville next summer, and ground has already been broken at a location in Midtown.

"There's going to be more (expletive) broken at that bar than ground," Fieri joked.

Though few details were shared, Ramsey said a lot of tequila and music could be expected once the spot is up and running, likely in spring 2024.

When it came time to assemble the trash can nachos, all bets were off as it seemed like everyone got a little slap-happy from taking tequila shots. Fieri explained to band members that they first needed to lather a thick layer of vegan cheese at the bottom of the bucket that they were utilizing to build their nacho stack. Then, they would layer chips, beans, TVP and cheese and repeat until all of their food was used up. Fieri topped things off with a layer of guacamole, Takis rolled tortilla chips, sour cream and a little more tequila, because there's clearly no such thing as too much liquor for this group.

Then came the moment of truth. Fieri and the band slowly pulled the bucket up to reveal their creation: A roughly 20-pound stacked nacho tower that was gooey and somehow still mostly standing.

Even if things got pretty sloppy and messy — "what a complete (expletive) show," Fieri announced at one point — fans could tell everyone was having a good time in Flavortown.

Old Dominion band members rated the creation 10 out of 10 stars, and even teased that it could make the menu at their bar.

If you've missed Fieri's cooking demos so far at the festival, you still have a couple of chances to see one on Sunday:

• Brandon Shepard and Operation BBQ: 3 to 3:15 p.m.

• Lainey Wilson and Taylor Sheridan: 4 to 4:15 p.m.

• Bailey Zimmerman: 5:50 to 6:15 p.m.

Ema Sasic covers entertainment and health in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at ema.sasic@desertsun.com or on Twitter @ema_sasic.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Stagecoach 2023: Guy Fieri, Old Dominion serve up trash can nachos