Florida Georgia Line to Ruin 12 Country Fests After Reunification
Ready your rape kits, local municipalities. As if things weren’t bad enough in America with massive inflation, rising interest rates, record high gas prices, and the impending onslaught of AI exterminating us all, Bro-Country pioneers Florida Georgia Line have officially reunited with intention of ruining 12 upcoming “country” festivals in 2027. I’m pretty sure there’s a parallel to this from the Prophet John in the Book of Revelations.
Stagecoach in Indio, California was the first to announce that due to a lack of available talent or any sort of artistic standards whatsoever, they would shove Florida Georgia Line onto their lineup. But it’s interesting that even though this will likely be the very first date the reunified duo plays, they couldn’t even knock Zach Top out of a headliner spot, and are instead playing the afterparty with 3-time accused rapist Diplo, and chef Guy Fieri.
Stagecoach is the first to be hoodwinked by the band’s promoters into thinking there’s any significant public appetite for this. Why is FGL playing festivals instead of going on a big reunification arena tour? Because this bullsh-t has blue dot fever written all over it. You think the scenes of empty seats and Ticketmaster’s blue dot seating charts from this year’s Post Malone/Jelly Roll tour were bad? Wait until they tried to roll this out coast to coast.
There’s a bit of irony in how the promo shot for this festival “tour” shows tweedledee and tweedledum sitting in a row of empty blue arena seats. Because that’s what would await them if they tried to do this without being bolstered by the rest of a festival card. Even many Morgan Wallen fans are over it, and this duo and their songs aren’t old enough to be graced by the 25-year retro cycle yet.
Not to say there isn’t any nostalgic appetite for what this duo does among methed-out parents who’ve lost custody of their kids and can pay for tickets via a Medicaid scam. Sure, some people with a level of dental hygiene also have a hankering to hear Tyler Hubbard bray through an Autotuner about jacked up trucks and bikini lines because they don’t know any better. But the world has moved on to music that actually means something, and actually sounds country.
Even the Tyler Hubbard solo career can’t sell tickets. He’s literally opening shows for Dan + Shay at the moment. Talk about a fall from grace. The Band Perry, eat your heart out.
Carolina Country Fest in June of 2027 has also announced them for the lineup. Super weak
Hopefully Florida Georgia Line is a pox on every festival that books them.
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September 16, 2026 @ 10:56 am
Headline of the year Trig
September 16, 2026 @ 5:58 pm
Exactly what I was thinking. You may have topped even your piece on Lee Brice’s Kiss My Fish with this one.
September 16, 2026 @ 11:16 am
It is absolutely incredible news to hear that Florida Georgia Line is reuniting for the upcoming festival season. Their energy and hit-making ability have been deeply missed on the big stage, and their return is exactly what the genre needs right now.
For many fans, this reunion feels like a massive win for traditional, high-energy country music at a time when outside political influences and leftist factions seem to be shifting the genre away from its roots. Having FGL back together brings a sense of authenticity and pure entertainment back to the forefront, helping to protect and preserve the core spirit of country music that audiences truly love. Festivals are about to be unforgettable with them back on the lineup.
And as much as I love the Triggerman like he’s my own brother, he wants it both ways. He likes to piss and moans about yankees like Stella Lefty being industry plants, all without directly addressing the fact she’s a yankee, while also complaining about two guys from Florida and Georgia playing music that was embraced by the industry of country music , as well as the biggest names in the industry (see anti-2A Tim McGraw), for the better part of a decade. Maybe it’s a not-from-Texas bias, that many of us have experienced around here by the way, that drives Rigg’s hatred for the boys? As I’ve said before, at least Florida Georgia Line are out there trying and giving it their best effort, while there are plenty of country music artists, including country music pontificators, that have hung it up and you hardly ever hear from at all, such as Fuzzy Two Shirts, RD and King Honky that he rarely if ever get the pleasure of reading.
September 16, 2026 @ 3:29 pm
Trigger has reasons to be averse to Stella Lefty:
https://socialitelife.com/stella-lefty-plagiarism-allegations-fifth-song/
September 16, 2026 @ 5:59 pm
This is satire, right?
September 17, 2026 @ 7:01 am
Serious as a heart attack, doll face. I want to know what’s happened to the greats like Fuzzy Two Shirts.
September 17, 2026 @ 12:26 pm
You think FGL is high energy COUNTRY music? Huh???
Also, who used the term yankee?
September 16, 2026 @ 11:23 am
The rape joke at the top is significantly out of touch here. And say what you want about the music, I tend to agree, but to say FGL couldn’t sell tickets is laughable. Love em or hate em the demand is there and you’re kidding yourself to think otherwise. Not saying it’s a good thing by any means, but just because it isn’t your cup of tea doesn’t mean there isn’t public demand for this reunion. Look at Wallen.
September 16, 2026 @ 12:28 pm
Obviously it was a joke.
But the rise of Bro-Country paralleled a dramatic rise in the amount of violence, arrests, fights, and specifically rapes at country music festivals. This became a national narrative in 2014 with major publications all across the United States covering it. Specifically, rapper Nelly was accused of rape while on tour with Florida Georgia Line, and they refused to remove him from the tour while he faced the charges.
Some links:
https://savingcountrymusic.com/from-checklist-to-bro-country-the-subversion-of-country-music/
https://savingcountrymusic.com/rapper-nelly-arrested-for-rape-on-florida-georgia-line-tour/
https://savingcountrymusic.com/gang-rape-reported-at-michigans-faster-horses-festival/
https://savingcountrymusic.com/man-accused-of-rape-at-keith-urban-concert-while-others-watch/
I agree that the appeal for this reunification is not nothing. And even though this was supposed to be a sarcastic article, I still acknowledged that. But I also very firmly believe that the reason they’re reuniting for a “festival” tour is because they know this tour could be a disaster if they tried to put it in arenas or even amphitheaters. Festivals usually pay 125% over a artist’s boxscore in a given market. Florida Georgia Line can cite their previous tour stats and draw large guarantees without taking a big risk on a major tour. It’s kind of a genius move to be frank. But make no mistake about it, if they felt like they could fill ampitheaters, that’s what they would be doing.
September 16, 2026 @ 12:43 pm
Agreed. I think the best way to summarize “demand” (quotes intentional) in 2026/2027 is that there are still enough people nostalgic to listen to “Cruise” or one of their other major hits, but those same people are not plopping down money for an entire night of it. Which leaves FGL in the spot they are in – can still sell a 30- 45 minute greatest hits set to festival organizers, but can’t sell a 90 minute set to the paying public.
Dudes and ladies in their 30’s and 40’s want to hear “Cruise” or “May We All”, but scratch much deeper than that in their discography and people are like “no thanks”.
September 16, 2026 @ 3:04 pm
Yeah, bro country is so rapey that they bring a black rapper on tour to do the raping, or at least to be accused of raping.
The charges were dropped. Good on FGL for not kicking him off tour based on a deceitful accusation.
Trigger apparently wants him removed from country music entirely because of allegations, not a conviction. Clearly, it is a big part of why so vehemently he hates FGL.
https://savingcountrymusic.com/after-sexual-assault-claims-why-is-nelly-still-accepted-in-country/
September 17, 2026 @ 7:36 am
Yes, I have a problem with thrice accused rapists that aren’t even part of the genre being accepted into the country music community. Diplo and Nelly are great examples. Guilty as charged.
September 17, 2026 @ 5:56 pm
Did you vote MAGA
September 17, 2026 @ 7:30 pm
I don’t vote in national elections unless it’s for 3rd party candidates. I reject the two-party duopoloy and would never want it weighing on my conscience voting for any of the recent major candidates for President, all of whom are corrupt and probably deserve to be in prison. I refuse to legitimize this broken system with my participation.
September 16, 2026 @ 1:43 pm
I enjoyed the joke, and I’m sort of a snowflake. You seem to come from the Jezebel 2015 perspective that rape jokes are never ok. I happen to disagree. I think this particular one was making fun of the perpetrators, not the victims, which make it in good taste as far as I’m concerned.
September 16, 2026 @ 11:23 am
Here they come, 2027 CMA Duo of the Year Nominees!!!! LOL
September 16, 2026 @ 11:24 am
“Ready your rape kits, local municipalities.”
I mean, if that doesn’t win you a Pulitzer Prize, there is no hope for any of us.
September 16, 2026 @ 11:38 am
Someone launch the nukes.
September 16, 2026 @ 12:49 pm
What a year for country music. Losing Dolly Parton, and now this.
Their breakup was one of the few good things that resulted from the political divide in this nation.
September 16, 2026 @ 1:25 pm
Their undeniable irrelevance while active and existing is actually great for country music, in my opinion. Let them fade into distant memory while trying to recapture the dark magic that once gave them fame. Their utter failure to do so will be the final nail in bro country’s coffin.
Then figure out how to forever kill boyfriend country, too. Who needs to try make a comeback from that era of vomit-inducing deifying of partners and fail spectacularly?
September 16, 2026 @ 1:43 pm
I honestly believe this is the reason they’re doing this via festivals, to insulate themselves from the blue dot fever that would invariably hit any tour, at least in certain markets. They know it might be the coffin nail for the entire franchise.
September 16, 2026 @ 2:05 pm
I cannot stand Dan + Shay, and the tipping point for me was their song “Say So”. For a song that is about suicide awareness and the death of a close friend, it sounds like every other piece of boyfriend country slop they have ever put out. You would NEVER know the song had such a deep meaning or serious message behind it, and it’s a shame. So, the permanent end of both boyfriend country and bro-country would be fantastic.
September 16, 2026 @ 4:45 pm
I heard a song by a Canadian country artist by the name of Gord Bamford called “Leaning On A Lonesome Song,” written about his brother-in-law’s suicide. Talk about deep and emotional. Wow.
September 17, 2026 @ 1:25 pm
Pulled that song up now. Thanks for the recommendation!
September 16, 2026 @ 9:11 pm
Man…..I pulled up that Dan + Shay song and it’s terrible. Idk what you would call that sub genre of music but it’s what a majority of modern Christian music sounds like and I absolutely hate it. Sonically it’s music for dumpy housewives who only want to hear upbeat-sounding music. It’s adult children’s music.
September 17, 2026 @ 1:26 pm
I would suffer through another 15 years of bro country if it meant the death of boyfriend country. Boyfriend country is the worst iteration of “popular” country in the genre’s history. It was basically sexual coercion put to music.
September 16, 2026 @ 4:36 pm
Bro Country never died. Morgan Wallen is as big as ever. Luke Bryan is having this weird anti-fan-driven resurgence.
September 16, 2026 @ 4:52 pm
Morgan Wallen is not Bro Country. He’s the afterbirth of Bro Country, sure. But few of his songs are the kind of listicle party songs FGL was known for. Most Morgan Wallen songs are about heartbreak or self-reflection, irrespective of how shallow they still are, or how formulaic the production is.
September 16, 2026 @ 8:12 pm
Maybe not technically but I consider his music and his fanbase to have filled the place where Bro Country fans went next.
September 16, 2026 @ 8:35 pm
I wouldn’t disagree with that.
September 16, 2026 @ 1:38 pm
Such a huge event; I’ll celebrate by playing those early Moe Bandy records.
Life is good.
September 16, 2026 @ 1:39 pm
Hey if Florida Georgia line wants to start a throwback tour I know a certain white rapper who also hasnt been relevant in 12 years who was just kicked off a tour for acting like a fool who could join them. They could call it the “Nobody Asked for This Tour”
September 16, 2026 @ 1:40 pm
This article is unnecessarily vitriolic. I enjoy a good rant as much as anyone but this is just nasty.
September 16, 2026 @ 1:45 pm
This is probably one of the most tame “rants” I’ve ever written even if you want to characterize it like that. But I agree, pointing out that Tyler Hubbard has had to resort to opening for Dan + Shay is the mother of all low blows to the point of almost being inappropriate to point out in public.
September 16, 2026 @ 2:00 pm
Yes, quite. The rant had no essential point beyond “I really really really HATE FGL!!!”, which we already know. In fact you sound like a 13 year old girl with a crush raging against unrequited lust. Is that what this is? Have you bought tickets?
September 16, 2026 @ 2:21 pm
FGL’s publicist has entered the chat, apparently.
September 16, 2026 @ 2:41 pm
My criticism relates to the virulent nature of the article/rant not the act it is about. Yes FLG suck ass, no there’s no need to be nob jockey about it. Retard.
September 18, 2026 @ 4:56 am
@GM Slack
Virulent nature of the article is your gripe and then you call me a retard.
Make it make sense, limey.
September 18, 2026 @ 7:54 am
Andrew, the sense of it is simple. You made a flippant comment falsely linking my statement to support of the band.
If you are unable to distinguish between criticism of content versus criticism of form then you’re evidently a bit slow. That combined with the flippancy resulted in me calling you a retard.
Also, we Brits aren’t particularly offended by name calling, we call each all kinds of unprintable words as forms of endearment. In fact in the reals I’d call you a f***ing retard, you’d says piss of limey, then we’d have a scrap. Following this we’d be best mates for life. Alas this form of communication has killed our friendship before it could even truly begin.
September 16, 2026 @ 10:58 pm
And that’s the great thing about taking the time, money and effort to run your own website, you can write whatever you please, and no one is forced to read.
September 18, 2026 @ 8:29 am
And the great thing about taking the time, effort and money to learn an instrument and then form a band is you can then play whatever you please and no one’s forced to listen.
If your statement is true then so is mine, it follows that no one should criticise anything, ever. That includes Florida Georgia Line.
September 18, 2026 @ 9:53 am
People are so sensitive. Don’t be a puss
September 16, 2026 @ 3:30 pm
“I’m pretty sure there’s a parallel to this from John The Baptist in the Book of Revelations”
You have this mixed up a bit.
September 16, 2026 @ 9:49 pm
Attending an FGL show is equal to being baptized in the fire of the mayhem brought on by the Four Horsemen?
September 16, 2026 @ 3:44 pm
I’ve been reading this blog for a long time. I found so much good music here and your writing and analysis is really spot on. These sarcastic rants are below you. FGL sucks. We know that. This entire article was a waste of time IMHO. It reads like some of the worse types of comments. You’re better than this.
September 16, 2026 @ 4:06 pm
Lighten up Francis. Trig’s rants are the frosting on cake. Are they healthy eating? Not really. But they are damn tasty and always well deserved. And I’m guessing he ripped this one out in 10 minutes so doubt it got in the way of any good music stuff.
September 16, 2026 @ 6:03 pm
Trig’s rants are what we live for. They keep bringing us back time and again.
September 16, 2026 @ 6:20 pm
Amen. And for me personally it’s more than good clean fun Linda. The music of these bro country era bands like FGL and D+S and Sam Hunt were the very reason I despised country music and never ventured out to see that there was an alternative. I didn’t grow up listening to the greats, I was a rock kid. Until about 2015 I didn’t know all this great music Trig highlights existed because I thought bro country was the only country and it sucked. So screw FGL and the rest of them for costing me a decade’s worth of hanging onto classic rock and never finding the good stuff until much later. So when Trig rags on these dipshits I pump my fist from the sideline.
September 16, 2026 @ 4:50 pm
Upstate Deadhead,
I appreciate the feedback. I honestly do. But I remain a bit stupefied why it’s this particular article that has touched a nerve with some. On the scale of my rants, this one was probably a 2.5 to a 3 in the viciousness of it, or the amount of time spent on it. This was more just my way to illustrate the absurdity of Florida Georgia Line’s return by being absurd myself. As Rich said, this doesn’t impinge on the time or energy to create any other content. It’s fluff, and meant to be fluff. I’d love if just as many people were paying attention to the Katrina Cain review that I poured my guts into.
September 16, 2026 @ 5:01 pm
Any way we could get a top 10 rants ranked lowest to highest in viciousness article?
September 16, 2026 @ 6:48 pm
I think for me, the rants in general are a waste of time and effort on all our parts. I do usually skip these myself as I don’t get much out of the sarcastic humor. Others may and that’s ok.
September 19, 2026 @ 9:09 pm
As a courtesy to easily offended readers (mostly FGL fans, apparently), maybe rant articles could start coming with a warning notice at the top, saying that the articles’ tone and language might be triggering (no pun intended) for some readers. But a lot of us — probably even the majority of us — love the rants (and the snarky award shows live blogs), so please don’t stop the occasional ranting.
September 17, 2026 @ 10:08 am
Exactly how much of your time was wasted?
To me, this website is about one thing and the name of it spells it out perfectly. Trigger is gonna write about the things he likes, industry news and the music he mostly recommends…but on the flip side of that coin, he’s going to tell you what’s bad, too. There’s nothing wrong with that.
September 16, 2026 @ 4:44 pm
It would be one thing if Florda-Georgia Line could follow in the lineage of people like Sammy Hagar and occasionally write thoughtful, meaningful songs, but they’ve consistently proven that they can’t. This is kind of a problem for them because if they were being smart about it, they’d market their return as a reprieve from the constant negativity seen in music and culture at the moment (which I kind of like honestly, but that’s not really the point). The fact that they can’t even pull that off, unlike, say, every disco/dance record that being made these days, is probably the truest indictment of just how little “artistry” actually went into their music. People can say what they will about them of course, but there are good reasons why they can’t even headline a festival these days.
September 16, 2026 @ 8:19 pm
Writing thoughtful, meaningful songs is hardly a job requirement for today’s country artists. On the contrary, it gets in the way of churning out the radio friendly dreck the labels insist that they record.
September 16, 2026 @ 4:55 pm
I think this is what they call “gonzo journalism”
September 16, 2026 @ 5:36 pm
I thought that Brian’s “Kiss My Grits” single, sorry, “Kiss My Boots” (2024) ended FGL. Or GFR.
September 21, 2026 @ 6:08 am
I’m guessing they both need money. Especially what’s-his-*ss with the stupid hats.
September 16, 2026 @ 7:11 pm
Stories like this one from Trigger make my day.
September 18, 2026 @ 9:56 am
Seriously. Need these more often. A bunch of sensitive 2 buck cucks in the comments.
September 16, 2026 @ 8:18 pm
I wonder if the 1990’s was departure of the normal lifespan of a major artists career to where it was now expected that artists could headline for multiple decades. This is my own theory but it seems like it was normal for artists with only a few hits to die out after 5 years and then they were replaced with the new thing. George Strait, Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks, Tim Mcgraw and others broke the mold by maintaining their careers at the highest level and after that the industry treated artists like FGL who should have flamed out after 5 years as a major act that will never lose steam. I mean George Jones nearly didn’t have a career resurgence in the 70’s. It’s easy to look at pop culture and see how we are in a nostalgia loop. Holding up artists like FGL who should be a one-hit wonder is stealing attention from who should be the next big thing. I’m not sure who is more responsible for this; the industry or the consumer.
September 16, 2026 @ 8:55 pm
Yep. It seems like we have some artists holding onto stardom way past their expiration dates. I blame reality TV for some of them
September 16, 2026 @ 9:40 pm
I blame the internet. The internet is what killed regional sub-cultures and led to everything devolving into a monoculture. The internet helped kill physical media sales which in turn changed what kind of movies were made. It was soon after high speed internet and social media that nearly every blockbuster movie was a superhero movie remake. Now almost every major movie is a remake of some kind. The internet replaced the radio and the importance of regional DJ’s. (The Clear Channel buyout was another factor of that)
Prior to the early 2010’s it felt like music kept evolving and changing. After that, and this is my opinion, it felt like music creatively ended up in creative deadzone unless it was from artists who creatively re-did older genres of music. None of the new sub-genres post 2010 felt artistically valid to me. (Red Dirt Country and alt Country existed prior to 2010) It’s fatalistic to think the creative forces in the arts peaked and then started to decline with the proliferation of social media and high speed internet, but something changed. Obviously there are still great artists that came up since then but socially and creatively something changed and the rise of nostalgia culture without the simultaneous rise of other cultures in the mainstream makes it feel like we are in a cultural creative deadzone. I’m here for the artists effectively doing the traditional Country sound, it just doesn’t feel like it’s going to sustain in the mainstream. I’m sure others can point to exceptions to what I said. I’m just stating a general feeling I have of the direction of the culture.
September 16, 2026 @ 10:55 pm
Literally the only good thing this administration did was cause these two to split, and now it was all for nothing!
September 17, 2026 @ 6:02 am
Ha ha! My favorite lines: “Talk about a fall from grace. The Band Perry, eat your heart out.”
September 17, 2026 @ 5:30 pm
For those who are complaining about Trig ranting or saying he’s too hard on FGL, do y’all know what website you’re on?
September 18, 2026 @ 7:11 am
Absolute Gem of an Article Trig, even if the news reported was the most vile and sick shit to come our of 2026.
September 18, 2026 @ 11:01 am
Greatest news article I’ve seen all day! FGL are the poster boys for what’s wrong with so-called modern country. They should start their own festival and call it Crap-Pop Country Hoe-Down.
September 19, 2026 @ 1:21 am
The song “Up Down’ by FGL was legitimately one of the worst things ever to happen to my ears.
September 19, 2026 @ 8:46 am
Brantley Gilbert and Jon Pardi weren’t available? Where’s Cowboy Troy now that we need him ?
September 19, 2026 @ 8:46 pm
So they are both broke and need money? ‘Nuff said.
September 20, 2026 @ 8:12 am
Lots of folk are broke.They also aren’t allowed to ruin Country fests.
September 21, 2026 @ 12:47 pm
I hate their music, but I don’t see how they’re any worse than Jason Aldean or Blake Shelton.
September 22, 2026 @ 5:47 pm
Revelation is singular.