Concert Review: Country Calling 2026 Review Chris Stapleton, Lainey Wilson & Rascal Flatts
There’s something about live music on the Ocean City boardwalk that just makes sense.
Maybe it’s the sound of the waves mixing with guitars. Maybe it’s cowboy boots trading pavement for sand. Or maybe it’s watching thousands of people turn a place built on summer memories into one giant country music party.
Whatever it is, Country Calling understood the assignment.
On October 2 and 3, Country Calling returned to Ocean City, Maryland, bringing two days of country music to the beach and boardwalk. And after the previous weekend’s Oceans Calling Festival was canceled when a nor’easter battered the coast, seeing stages filled, music playing, and crowds packed onto the sand felt a little more special this time around.
Mother Nature may have won round one.
Country Calling came ready for round two.
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The Music
The 2026 lineup stretched across two days and three stages, blending some of country music’s biggest names with rising artists, familiar favorites, and enough nostalgia to make just about everyone in the crowd say, “I remember this song!” at least once.
Friday set the tone early with Elijah Scott opening the festival on the Scoot Stage. Kaitlin Butts brought her signature storytelling and traditional-country-meets-modern-edge sound to the Boot Stage, while Mitchell Tenpenny turned his performance into something of a musical time machine.
Tenpenny worked several unexpected throwbacks into his set, including pieces of Sugar Ray’s “Fly” and Montell Jordan’s “This Is How We Do It.”
Country music on an Ocean City beach suddenly turning into a ’90s and early-2000s sing-along?
No complaints here.
But Rascal Flatts delivered one of the most memorable performances of the entire weekend.
There are certain songs that don’t just remind you of a time in your life - they take you directly back to it. Watching Rascal Flatts perform, that connection was visible everywhere.
Fans sang along word-for-word. Friends wrapped their arms around one another. And more than a few people in the crowd wiped tears from their faces.
Their performance was nostalgic without feeling stuck in the past, and emotional without ever needing to force the moment. For many of us who grew up with Rascal Flatts songs playing through car speakers, school dances, breakups, weddings, and everything in between, hearing those songs live again hit a little differently.
Then came Dierks Bentley, who apparently didn’t get the memo that we had just been emotional.
Bentley brought the party back almost immediately, delivering the kind of energetic, playful performance that makes him such a natural festival artist. The crowd danced, sang, laughed, and seemed perfectly happy to follow wherever Bentley wanted to take them.
Friday night ultimately belonged to Lainey Wilson.
Wilson closed the Boot Stage with the confidence, personality, and unmistakable energy that have helped propel her to the top of modern country music. Her performance felt big without losing the authenticity that has made fans connect with her in the first place.
By the time Friday ended, Country Calling had already given us nostalgia, tears, throwbacks, and one hell of a party.
Not bad for Day One.
Saturday brought something else with it:
Rain.
But if Oceans Calling 2025 taught us anything, it’s that a little rain isn’t enough to scare music fans off the Ocean City beach.
Ponchos appeared. Boots got dirty. The boardwalk got wet.
The crowds stayed.
Saturday’s lineup continued with performances from Carter Faith, Charley Crockett, Jackson Dean, Clay Walker, Dustin Lynch, Miranda Lambert, and more, but one of the day’s most fitting performances came from Maryland’s own Brothers Osborne.
There’s always something special about watching Maryland artists perform for a Maryland crowd, and brothers TJ and John Osborne received exactly the kind of hometown welcome you would expect.
Their rock-influenced country sound felt perfectly suited for the festival setting, with big guitars, big vocals, and an audience more than willing to match their energy.
As the evening continued, Miranda Lambert reminded everyone just how deep her catalog runs. Songs that have soundtracked nearly two decades of country music gave the crowd plenty of opportunities to sing along before the weekend reached its final act.
And what a final act it was.
Chris Stapleton doesn’t need much.
He doesn’t need elaborate choreography or over-the-top production to command a festival crowd. Give him a guitar, a microphone, his band, and that voice, and the rest seems to take care of itself.
Stapleton closed Country Calling with a performance that felt less like a giant festival finale and more like tens of thousands of people collectively stopping to listen.
After two days of dancing, singing, rain, sunshine, nostalgia, and more country music than you could possibly squeeze into one playlist, Stapleton gave the weekend a beautiful ending.
Sometimes you don’t need fireworks.
Sometimes you just need that voice.
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The Flavor
Music may have been the main attraction, but anyone familiar with Oceans Calling would have recognized plenty of familiar sights (and smells) throughout the Country Calling grounds.
The food offerings followed a similar festival formula, with vendors spread across the beach and boardwalk providing plenty of opportunities to refuel between sets.
And honestly, part of attending a festival in Ocean City is accepting that you’re going to eat like you’re on vacation.
Because you are.
Festival food, boardwalk favorites, cold drinks, and the unmistakable smell of Ocean City fries (#TrashersFries) drifting through the air made food just as much a part of the experience as it was during Oceans Calling.
The familiarity felt particularly bittersweet this year. Just one weekend earlier, these same stretches of beach and boardwalk were supposed to be filled with Oceans Calling fans before a nor’easter forced the festival’s cancellation.
A week later, the grills were hot, the drinks were flowing, and music was finally coming from the stages again.
Ocean City was back in festival mode.
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Layout, Comfort, & Care
One of the biggest strengths of both Country Calling and Oceans Calling continues to be something no other festival can easily recreate:
Ocean City itself.
Where else can you watch one of country music’s biggest artists with your feet in the sand, walk a few steps onto an iconic boardwalk, grab something to eat, see amusement rides spinning nearby, and then head back toward another stage?
The festival’s three-stage setup helped spread performances throughout the grounds while still keeping everything walkable. And because the festival incorporates the existing boardwalk, businesses, and surrounding attractions, Country Calling never feels completely separated from Ocean City.
It feels like an extension of it.
Saturday’s rain obviously added another element to navigating the grounds, but it did little to diminish attendance or enthusiasm. If anything, the sea of ponchos and rain jackets became part of the experience.
Country fans are apparently waterproof.
Who knew?
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The Takeaway
Country Calling 2026 wasn’t simply two days of country music.
It was nostalgia.
It was watching Rascal Flatts bring grown adults to tears and then watching Dierks Bentley have them dancing shortly afterward.
It was Mitchell Tenpenny unexpectedly transporting an entire beach back a few decades.
It was Lainey Wilson proving why she has become one of the defining voices of modern country music.
It was thousands of fans refusing to let Saturday’s rain ruin their weekend.
It was Maryland’s own Brothers Osborne playing for a hometown crowd.
And finally, it was Chris Stapleton’s voice carrying across the Ocean City night as another festival weekend came to an end.
Perhaps most importantly, Country Calling was a reminder of just how naturally live music belongs here.
After a nor’easter forced the cancellation of Oceans Calling only days earlier, there was something particularly meaningful about seeing the stages standing, the boardwalk crowded, and fans once again singing along beside the Atlantic.
Ocean City has always had its own soundtrack.
For one October weekend, it just had a little more twang.
And Country Calling? We’ll answer again next year!
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For more information on Country Calling, visit https://www.countrycallingfestival.com/
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