Aussies Blake O'Connor & Peking Duk's Reuben Styles Share Footage From Surprise Stagecoach Set

30 April 2024 4:00 PM

"Playing Stagecoach has always been a massive goal, and to play it with my good friend Reuben makes it all the more special."

Blake O'Connor with Reuben Styles(Source: Supplied)

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Australian country singer Blake O’Connor and one-half of electronic duo Peking Duk, Reuben Styles, made a surprise appearance at one of the world’s biggest country music festivals: Stagecoach.

Joining DJ-turned-country star Diplo for a set that brought line-dancing, blood-pumping country-inspired remixes to the Stagecoach audience, O’Connor and Styles—the latter performing under his new solo project, You’re Only Great Always (Y.O.G.A)—took the stage.

O’Connor was Styles’ special guest vocalist and harmonica player. The DJ set looked like tons of fun, with Styles writing on his Instagram: “THESE ARE THE PARTIES THE WORLD NEEDS MORE OF.

“Thank [you] Stagecoach and the goat Diplo for having us at the hoedown. Can’t say enough how fun that honkytonk was. Also cheeky bonus, got roughly 30 new edits up the sleeve from Johnny Cash to Elvis to Dolly to Trace Adkins, gonna give them all away soon. Also thank you my gorgeous guests Blake O’Connor and Kyra Jete and most importantly happy birthday to the most beautiful KWEEEN that has ever walked Jimi The Kween”.

On his own Instagram account, O’Connor added, “STAGECOACH you were something else!! Massive thanks to [Styles] for having me out for it! Nothing beats playing to a crowd like that and then watching Willie Nelson’s show side of stage!!”

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In a press release, O’Connor said about the Stagecoach experience, “Playing Stagecoach has always been a massive goal, and to play it with my good friend Reuben makes it all the more special.”

The singer also recalled watching Willie Nelson’s headline set, adding that “Willie Nelson songs were the soundtrack to my childhood; he and The Highwaymen were my first musical heroes, so to be watching Willie’s show from the side of the stage at a festival I was also playing was incredibly special.

“To see so many artists at the top of their game just standing right next to me for Willie’s set shows just how much of an icon he really is,” O’Connor said. The fun didn’t stop there, as he also met Mickey Raphael, best known for playing the harmonica with Willie Nelson and Chris Stapleton following Nelson’s set.

“Mickey has always been my favourite harmonica player so to be talking to him right after he left the stage with Willie was a real ‘pinch me’ moment,” he added.

While O’Connor’s friendship with Styles seems random, that’s not the case. The pair met in 2022 during APRA and CMA Songhubs writing camps in Brisbane, in which O’Connor developed five commercial singles, including the CMT #1 single, Time To Kill.

Last year, Countrytown’s Ellie Robinson listed Blake O’Connor as one of the must-see acts at the tenth anniversary of Groundwater Music Festival.