It was supposed to be at 7:30 p.m., a half-hour after he finished at the Mustang Stage. At 8 p.m., the staff at the Borders booth turned away a dwindling line of 30 people, offering them refunds on their CD purchases.

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Half-way through his set he became much more recognizable, switching out a University of Texas Longhorn hat for the black cowboy hat fans know and love.

All-beef hot dog: $4
Corn dog: $5
Pizza slice: $6,and a wait is likely for pepperoni.
Garlic fries: $6, $8 with crab topping
Tri-tip sandwich: $8
Chips and cheese: $50 (comes with vegetables)
Bottled soft drinks: $3
Orange slush: $5

In the VIP area, a booth called Burgerrito's has gotten a lot of attention all weekend. A burgerrito is a hamburger patty wrapped in a buritto with lettuce, tomato, cheese and the usual condiments. It will run you $10. You might want to wait and grab a double double later.

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He performed with two musicians he said were both named "Gord" after Gordon Lightfoot, a fellow Canadian artist he helped launch.

Tyson, 75, sang some of his compositions about cowboy life from the 1980s and '90s in a voice tempered by 50 years in show biz. He was competing with the over-miked Chuck Wicks on the Mane Stage, which he called "the rock 'n' roll show over there."

A real rancher, Tyson asked if there were any cowboys in the audience and when people raised their hands commented that he didn't notice any stockyards in Rancho Mirage.

Near the end of the 45-minute set, he performed one of his big hits from his folk music days in the early '60s, "Someday Soon." Several audience members called out for his other standard, "Four Strong Winds," but he didn't sing it. Nevertheless, he got a standing ovation and came out for an encore.

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Mitchell was introducing Wylie and the Wild West, fronted by Wylie Gustafson, the guy who does the yodel on the Yahoo! Internet commercials. But in addition to his yodeling, he delivered a number of low-key, romantic numbers in his set, including Buddy Holly's "Everyday."

Gustafson is tall and rail-thin. He wore stovepipe jeans, white shirt, red tie and cowboy hat, a wardrobe that contributed the striking effect when he showed off his dance moves in several numbers, kind of a combination of moon walk and two-step. In "Yodeling Fool," about his Yahoo! experience, he threw in a Mick Jagger parody.

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She and her big group of friends - who came to last year's festival as well, said they've really enjoyed Dierks Bentley, Rascal Flats, Craig Morgan and Dwight Yoakum.

"I'm ready for Gretchen Wilson," St.Clair said. "I've heard she gets wild."

Alex Wahl, age 10, and Allissa Wahl, age 12, of Rancho Cucamonga got up this morning and told Mom and Dad, "Lets just go home this morning," said Mom, Kendra Wahl.

She and her husband Robert elected to stay and when asked if they'd do the full three day trip again, she said, "Sure. It would just be better if it started on Wednesday next time." That way, they'd have the weekend to recooperate before back-to-school and work time.

Chino Hills resident Janet Fahilga and Buena Park resident Marcia Johnson said they crawled into their Palm Springs hotel at about 3 a.m. last night (all the closer hotels had no vacancies, she said) and it was tough getting going this morning.

But after scoring a shuttle ride in from the parking lot (and the driver's phone number for a ride back out late tonight), they were ready for another long day.

Gustafson is the yodeler who sings "Yahoo!" in the Yahoo commercials. His set, which the Hills came to Stagecoach for, starts at 2 p.m.

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The people who were first at the gate Sunday morning had fallen into a routine. They had their camp chairs. They had their bottled water. They had their paper fans, and were working them furiously.

Still, when the staff that let people in arrived in their yellow shirts, eveybody got up, closed their chairs and closed the gaps. Simon says.

Lines were longer, but initially there were fewer of them. At 11:30 a.m. the staff opened a couple of extra lanes. People in the back of the crowd surged forward, causing flashes of anger among the people who had been waiting longest. A few minutes later, a couple more lanes opened.

The staff began letting people in at 11:48 a.m. Many began dashing toward the headliner stage. Guards yelled not to run. The warning worked for a few seconds.

No performers are scheduled to go on before 2 p.m. But by noon the grass in front of the Mane Stage was filling up with blankets and chairs. Loud speakers popped on with Patsy Cline, "Walking After Midnight."

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Almost, but not quite. The Mustang is the Stagecoach festival's most intimate stage, decorated with bales of hay, wagon wheels and horns off of steers. Some spectators in front tried to toss their cowboy hats onto the tips of the horns.

Audience members inched as close to the stage as they could and sat on the ground during the hour-long set, as if at Scruggs' feet. With the band led by two sons, he sat out some of the numbers but pulled off some nimble banjo solos.

The set ended with a classy rendition of "The Ballad of Jed Clampett," from the sitcom "The Beverly Hillbillies," and "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," made popular in "Bonnie and Clyde."

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