LIVE REVIEW: COUNTRY CALLING 2026 - THE VIP STAGE - STELLA LAIN

Making the absolute most of the Country Calling 2026 was Stella Lain, #TEAMw21 bumped into her very early after doors opened on the Friday, and then multiple times throughout the weekend until quite late on the Sunday. How can we be so sure? - well - every time we saw her on stage or off, she was dressed head to toe in pink, it is no wonder she is known as the "Country Barbie". She was present for last years Country Calling, even though not an actual artist on the bill and could be seen playing her guitar on the back of a truck - this year she was back in her own right.

With her latest single "All Dolled Up" being a well produced creation, for some reason we had mistakenly assumed that she would be playing with an array of supporting musicians - au contraire!

For all her pinkness, underneath lies a serious musician, a smart cookie and one we seem destined to be hearing much more from. Her songs may be well produced but they originate from one girl and a guitar and Stella Lain is more than able to distil them down back into their original format without losing any of the essential pop sensibilities of her creations.

As #TEAMw21 approach the VIP stage, there is no doubt as to who Stella is, the pink hat sits atop blonde hair, there is a pink dress and sparkling pink boots. As Stella opened with "Get Out Of My Hair" she immediately displayed that she was a confident solo performer and that her songs had a lot going on in them lyrically. The title of the song somewhat cuts short the title as sung at one point in the chorus

"Get you out of my perfectly blow dried hair!"

Stella was also able to inject a lot of personality in the lyrics, raising a smile with just a change in her inflection, we were barely through the opening tune yet already we were hooked.

Moving onto the power ballad "Boy Bye", Stella's opening vocals were so loud, some must have thought that the Main Stage had opened early.

"He's gasoline and he's going up in flames" seemed to be sent out across the whole festival, sung to just the gentlest of occasional guitar strums. This would continue for the whole of the opening verse

"And now I tell you why - you better tell that boy - bye" with each hyphen representing a delicious tiny gap left in Stella's delivery.

From thereon in, things would speed up, with Stella playing as fast as the lines she was sassily delivering - it was no wonder that come the end she would gulp in a big breath of air and require a drink, saying her lips were a little dry, as this performance was truly something special.

Next it was the single "All Dolled Up", but not before warning everyone to stay hydrated. Once again subtle changes in Stella's delivery and playing, maintained the humour of the single without losing the essence of the song. It remained intensely good fun, in fact if anything the message came across clearer.

An unreleased song from her forthcoming EP, "Friends Like You" was sung with some of the friends sitting in the audience supporting Stella. A positive message attached to a copper bottomed chorus, it did somewhat start to whet the appetite for the forthcoming EP, it even brought tears to the eyes of one of her supporting friends. Moving to the other end of the spectrum, the next song was about "mean people", and Stella had many wise words to impart to the gathered audience.

The song "The Problem", correctly puts the light back on the offender as being the person with the issues that need resolving.

The pressures of having to be covering another act meant that we had to leave a highly entertaining set, just as Stella started playing a single from earlier in the year, "Moving On". Slower and more intense, it showed that she had a number of strings to her bow and was a warning not to second guess what she might do next.

One thing was for sure this Barbie is not plastic and manufactured - she's the real deal!

Additional pictures courtesy of DC Brown