– Stacy Vee

The Deciders

Stacy Vee found her passion for booking Stagecoach at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, Calif. – or, more accurately, by seeing Sturgill Simpson perform at the 500-capacity nightclub in 2014.

“I fell so hard and long in love with him and realized what the possibilities could be,” said the Goldenvoice festival buyer, whose stock has skyrocketed since taking on Stagecoach booking duties after starting out as Paul Tollett’s assistant and working on Coachella.

Discovering those possibilities and creating a vision for Stagecoach and the other festivals she works with has been recognized by Vee’s peers, who voted her Pollstar’s Talent Buyer of the Year for the last two years running.

“Stagecoach is a living, breathing animal,” says Vee. “It bucks the trends and as we see country music making and adapting to changes, we can bring it. Being creative and trying new things enables us to have moments like we just did, with Lil Nas X, Billy Ray Cyrus and Diplo all together.” 

Stagecoach attendance broke records in 2019, with Friday drawing an estimated 80,000 according to the Palm Springs Desert Sun. But the concert life can be a hard one, with late nights and long weeks onsite.

“What’s been most impactful to me has been figuring out a work/life balance,” Vee says. “Keeping that balance makes it possible.”

Maintaining a positive and helpful attitude helps, too.

“I like to shine the spotlight on my team and empower them to make great decisions,” she says. “I want my work and shows to reflect that.”

Vee credits mentors like Tollett, Artist Group International’s Marsha Vlasic and Messina Touring Group’s Louis Messina, as well as her team at AEG Presents. 

And she’s looking forward to working more with Diplo agent Sam Hunt of Paradigm, who helped Vee create “Old Town Road” magic with Stagecoach’s most bonkers set. “Sam Hunt and his people have access to music and I think people are just hungry for something new and are super open-minded,” she says. “They live for music from all different genres. We have to work to keep things different.” 

Hot Takes

Favorite laminate: 

What’s a laminate?

The show that changed your life?  

Sturgill Simpson at the Troubadour. I hadn’t been coaching Stagecoach very long and at that show I fell so hard and long in love with him and realized what the possibilities could be.

Best advice you were ever given?  

Recently from Louis Messina: Be yourself. I think about that all the time.

Where can you be found during the show?  

It depends. Sometimes I’m at side stage with agents and managers or sometimes in the crowd. And sometimes on somebody’s shoulders as was the case with John Fogerty a few years ago!

Artists to watch in the next year:  

Colter Wall, Nikki Lane. 

Pet peeve: 

People who don’t care.  More than anything, I appreciate it when people care so much about their artist, venue, event, etc….when people bring more work on themselves to push things over the edge. I am surrounded by people like this and fortunately it doesn’t happen often.

Technology that has impacted your work:  

With social media, we are able to be the voice of the festival. We can say what we want to say exactly so we can 100% guarantee to control the message.

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