See these photos and relive the Cow Country Festival

Sometimes you just try something new, right? That's why I decided to go to Gonzalez, Texas Niu Country Festival.

The annual three-day event celebrates country music (with some reward genres), camping and Texas culture. The 2025 event held along the Guadalupe River a 400-acre ranch, although it was held on December 10th, although I ended up only participating in the festival day.

Rice

I went mainly because my good friend’s husband played in Chase Rice’s band. Scream to Jeremy Roberson! It was a great scene, with George Strait and Lennyrd Skynyrd plus his biggest hits like “Eyes to You” and “Drink' Beer. Chat. What we love the most, though, is his latest music. In 2024, Rice left the record label and decided to play solo, giving him the freedom to make the music he wanted to make. We talked with him before the show.

People really really dive into these more real, deeper story albums, and that’s the first thing I want. If I never play one of my own hits again, I would be fine because we are releasing an album, and that's what I want people to listen to.

Apart from the Loving Chase scene, we were meeting people all day long, chatting with vendors like Zyn, feeling good, and really experiencing the cowboy culture.

Nickel back

While almost everyone is seeing Nickelback there, we are even more excited about Ghostland's late night performance (more will be available later). We tried to move on to the VIP section as the crowd was there watching Chad Kroeger and the boys. That was a solid no-go. So we hung back until everything was cleared, and the Ghostland Observatory began the final performance of the night on the adjacent stage.

Ghostland Observatory

I've never seen such a small ghost show. Only a few people must even know about the band. To be sure, most late night crowds think they are just regular old DJs. The guy next to me telling my girlfriend “These guys are terrible” is obvious to me. Then he continued to yell at the band “Play as some bulldogs!”

Anyway, it's worth waiting to see the band in such an intimate setting. When they ended we headed to the exit and we thought we would be easier to leave time because more than 90% of the population stayed behind after Nickelback. Boy, we were wrong. For an hour we jumped to the electronic beat and everyone else was parked in the parking lot. Apparently, no car has moved since Nickelback ended.

Then we continued to sit in the car for an hour and a half, and we were not ready. Obviously, we should entertain us with water, snacks and anything else. Since our phones are on SOS, we did nothing and could only sit in the dusty air and wait. We finally drove to the ranch at 2am because we were the last one, because we were the last one.

So you went. Insiders see our experience in the country of cattle. Overall it was a fun day and it felt a little OG and I've always been that fan. That way, I mean, the festival is calm, plain, maybe a little stroll, full of good atmosphere-like in Austin. Lack of reward points from partners.

I wish I could come back on the last day Central region and Parker McCollumbut I am becoming more and more aware that I am too old to support my lifestyle. Two days later, I was still soothing my ankles. Iykyk.