For Cross Canadian Ragweed Fans Mad About Their Mile 0 Fest Debut

On Thursday, January 23rd in Key West, Florida, Cross Canadian Ragweed officially reunited on stage and played their first songs for people in 15 years. The performance was completely unannounced. It just happened to be that all the Cross Canadian Ragweed members were on Key West Island at the same time since Cody Canada and The Departed were playing Mile 0 Fest, as was the up-and-coming band The Smokin’ Oaks, which happens to be the band of Grady Cross’s son Slaid Cross.
Mile 0 Fest planned a tribute to Cross Canadian Ragweed to toast their impending reunification as the festival is known to do for legendary Texas/Red Dirt bands and artists. Ragweed first announced the reunification of their most legendary lineup on on September 30th, 2024. Cody Canada (lead guitar/vocals), Randy Ragsdale (drums), and Grady Cross (guitar), and Jeremy Plato (bass) announced a reunion show in Stillwater, Oklahoma at T Boone Pickens Stadium for April 12th, 2025.
Demand for that first show was so insane, it ended up getting expanded to four shows, with folks feverishly buying up tickets to experience what they believed would be the first opportunity to see Cross Canadian Ragweed together since 2010. 183,000 tickets were eventually sold.
Now that the band appeared together at Mile 0 Fest first, some fans feel misled, or otherwise disappointed that they didn’t get the opportunity to see them first. But as someone who personally witnessed the moment at Mile 0 Fest—and has witnessed similar band reunifications on stage before—I can attest that your disappointment should be minimal at most, or non-existent.
Is it understandable if you did everything you could to secure tickets and lodging for the reunification show in Stillwater (especially for the first day) that you feel slightly disappointed? Of course it is. But what happened in Key West didn’t feel like “the moment.” Not to take away anything from it, because it did feel like “a moment” as everyone there will attest. But if anything, it felt a little impromptu, if not anti-climactic. It was the dress rehearsal.
First, Ragweed only played six songs, and having seen the set list, their original intention was to only play four. The way the Key West Police were barking at patrons trying to shuffle everyone out after the last song, they went well over their time.
There was no “big moment” when they all walked out on stage together. Since it came at the end of a tribute concert, there were folks moving on and off the stage. Then all of a sudden you just realized that all Ragweed members were there on stage together before Mile 0 Fest owner Kyle Carter introduced them.
Their first song was “Number,” which maybe is symbolically important as the first song on their album Soul Gravy, but isn’t exactly one of their hits, or one of their most recognizable songs. Again, there is no reason to take anything away from the moment at Mile 0 Fest, but it also felt like a moment that shouldn’t take away from what folks will experience in Stillwater.
When it comes to this situation, there is almost a near perfect comparable involving another legendary Oklahoma band, and one who will be participating in the official Cross Canadian Ragweed “Boys In Oklahoma” reunification shows in Stillwater. We’re of course talking about the Turnpike Troubadours.
Similar to Ragweed, the Turnpike Troubadours reunification was leaked out before the band was supposed to reveal it officially in a Rolling Stone “exclusive.” Everybody knew it was coming. Similarly, Turnpike first announced a show at Red Rocks before adding multiple Red Rocks nights due to unexpected demand. Then the Turnpike Troubadours eventually announced a few warm up shows just to make sure they had their feet beneath them before the big Red Rocks reveal.
Turnpike eventually played shows at Cain’s Ballroom, at Billy Bob’s Texas, and Floore’s Country Store before those Red Rocks shows. Granted, there were never any hard promises that Red Rocks would be the first opportunities to see them. But even with the warm up shows, Red Rocks still felt like their big reunification debut.
When the Turnpike Troubadours played their first official show back at Cain’s Ballroom, they did all walk out on stage at once. They opened with “Every Girl,” which is one of their most iconic songs. Having witnessed it personally, it might be the most singular, most emotional moment I’ve ever experienced in music. Cross Canadian Ragweed didn’t even get together after the Mile 0 Fest set to take a bow at center stage. They just waved individually and walked off.
In truth, if you’re a ticket holder for one of those Stillwater shows, you should be glad Cross Canadian Ragweed got their dress rehearsal in. You want to know they’ve worked out all the hiccups before they step out on stage to a packed stadium to play their first full, two-hour set since 2010, and the butterflies start flying around in their stomachs. Let’s not forget it didn’t end well for this band. You want to make sure this plane can fly.
Sure, it’s easy for someone who saw Cross Canadian Ragweed in Key West to say this. But many of those fans tried to get tickets to Stillwater, and didn’t. If you’re one of those Stillwater ticket holders, you’re still sitting in the cat bird’s seat.
Cody Canada addressed some of the naysayers in a video, saying in part,
“Last night, we played six songs. Six songs. We had four songs on the setlist. We weren’t going to play at all, but everyone got up and played our songs last night. Guys, Adam Hood did ‘Anywhere But Here.’
How can I not? How can I sit on the side of the stage and hear Adam Hood doing that song, Jason Eady doing ‘Jenny,’ Courtney doing ‘Alabama.’ Oh, hang on, Jamie Lin Wilson taking time out of her vacation year to come here for eighteen hours to sing ’17’ in front of people.
That’s a love fest. And I’m in love with my friends very much. I was going to get on here and be very mad about things; people are saying there could be lawsuits, people are saying blah blah blah, this is bullsh*t. But guess what? It’s not bullsh*t.
We sold 183,000 tickets for 183,000 people that want to see us play music. Last night, we stood on the side of the stage as our friends played our songs, and it got to us to the point where we said, ‘You know what? F**k this. We want to get up and give people what they want to hear. We want to play songs for people.’ And we did six songs. It’s not like we did a two-hour show.“
Again, is being slightly disappointed understandable? Sure. But so is understanding how the moment unfolded in Key West. And don’t worry, if you’re one of the 183,000 souls with tickets to Stillwater in April (considering some might have multiple day tickets), you’re going to get the full, unfiltered, un-truncated Cross Canadian Ragweed experience yourselves. And there will probably be some more shows afterwards for folks who can’t be in Stillwater either.
These are the moments true music fans live for. And there are plenty of them to go around.
January 26, 2025 @ 11:30 am
I have tickets in Stillwater and I’m not slightly disappointed in the least. You know why? Because these guys were a large part of my time in Stillwater and if you genuinely care about other people you want this kind of stuff to happen.
Nothing about Mile 0 is going to change how much joy I feel as a now old showing my wife around Stillwater and spending 4 hours waiting for a table at Joes. The guys in the band are humans and these humans have patched things up and are leading happier emotionally healthier lives to be able to do this. It’s a giant thing to celebrate.
January 26, 2025 @ 11:44 am
I do not get wanting to see them “first.” That’s some bizzare, selfish, narcissistic behavior. A true fan would just be happy CCR are uniting and and performing again. And like you said, this was a well attended dress rehearsal.
January 26, 2025 @ 11:54 am
The only solution is for them to play a free outdoors show in Stillwater for like 75,000 people.
Seriously, I doubt any folks will be mad after the first ten seconds of the first song.
January 26, 2025 @ 12:38 pm
The Canada’s seem to focus on the on the extremely small vocal minority in internet comments and make these stories bigger than they need to be. No serious fan cares about them playing 6 songs in Key West.
I’m sure there were fans upset that thought they had tickets to the first show back on Saturday when it was initially onsale, then Friday, then Thursday. It’s going to be an awesome weekend – there’s just always going to be people that bitch online about anything.
January 26, 2025 @ 12:44 pm
I did worry while writing this if too much was being made about it. But all of my feeds where I covered this did have commenters with Stillwater tickets complaining. What I decided is that as someone who both was in Key West, and who saw the Turnpike Troubadours return, maybe I could offer some context and reassurance to those folks who are disappointed. As hoptowntiger says above, there is a lot of focus on being “first.” We do this a lot in the media especially.
January 27, 2025 @ 11:02 am
Trigger, I have a feeling many of these fans are Turnpike fans. I’ve noticed Turnpike has won over some of the bro-country fan base. This wouldn’t be a big deal for most fan bases, but you got the TikTok-ing, Instagraming, never-in-the-moment crowd upset because now they can’t put their special little caption on the video they recorded instead of being in the moment for the performance.
January 27, 2025 @ 11:52 am
You might be onto something there. You add Koe Wetzel fans who got turned onto them from his song Ragweed song, and you get a good cross section of people who might not exactly “get it.”
January 28, 2025 @ 8:45 am
Bingo, it’s just something I’ve noticed recently. Several folks I went to high school with are wanna-be influencers, and recently, they are all big fans of bands I’ve been a fan of for years. They go to all the festivals but seldom small solo shows before an artist is popular. I’ve been lucky enough to see Charley Crockett three times before he was headlining.
I am just happy we have this great live music these days. My wallet isn’t happy but I am.
January 26, 2025 @ 12:51 pm
Of course, they would play something unannounced in a smaller venue before the big show. This is like being mad at a long beer line at a festival.
January 26, 2025 @ 2:42 pm
A non issue. It just happened, it was impromptu in nature and like you said Trigger “dress rehearsal” of sorts. To get some brief stage time with a live audience is not a bad thing for the guys. It should only enhance the Stillwater shows. Folks need to chill this is not a big deal, at all.
January 26, 2025 @ 4:08 pm
Aside from a handful of songs like Fightin For, their cover of Rock n Roll by Ray Wylie and a few others, my knowledge is limited on the band. I’m interested in digging in now. What’s the best gateway album to start with? Is Carney still relevant to the fans or is the later work more interesting?
Soul Gravy?
January 26, 2025 @ 4:14 pm
Garage and Live at Billy Bobs
January 26, 2025 @ 4:45 pm
Garage is a solid start, Soul Gravy was where everything clicked into place for what their “sound” was.
I’m personally partial to the self-titled “Purple” album, it had 17, Broken, Constantly, Don’t Need You, on it and is what first drew me to the band.
Carney and Highway 377 has it’s moments for sure, but the production is lacking for sure.
Their live album – “Back to Tulsa – Live and Loud at Cain’s Ballroom” will give you a great feel for them, because in all reality Ragweed is a live band more than a studio band.
January 27, 2025 @ 11:13 am
Live and Loud at Billy Bobs is awesome but i prefer Live & Loud At the Wormy Dog Saloon. Their cover of Amos Moses, Rainy Day Women, and the best version of Boys from Oklahoma.
January 26, 2025 @ 9:33 pm
Don’t we also expect them to do a warm up at Grady’s too? Anyone upset isn’t a fan.
January 27, 2025 @ 10:45 am
“Entitled”, that the describes the folks upset about this. You think I was mad, that I didn’t catch Jonny Blue Skies Outside Lands performance live? No, because later in the tour I got to hear a superior setlist and the band was more dialed.
You think I am mad I didn’t catch Childers first show of the year? No, because I got to see a 10 song impromptu acoustic set.
You are essentially mad because a band you supposedly love is getting back together and now that YOU don’t get to see the first reunion show are upset? That is the definition of entitlement.
For me, I can’t wait to see them when they are dialed and in synch. Real CCR fans are very excited because we know we get to see them more than once and it opens the door to new music. Win, Win!!!!
January 28, 2025 @ 2:58 pm
Not to make a big deal of this, because I agree nobody should feel too put out. But I don’t know if Cody’s explanation adds up either. Or at least, it conflicts with JLW saying she flew out because there was a “surprise” set planned.
January 30, 2025 @ 9:24 am
Happy to buy anyone’s ticket who feel they’ve been cheated. You have tickets to the show we’ve all been waiting years for.. many of us don’t.