Singers Eric Church and Brantley Gilbert battled through technical problems and strong winds on Friday (25Apr14) as they headlined the 2014 Stagecoach Country Music Festival in Indio, California.

The opening day of the annual event was a blustery affair, and Gilbert, who bounced back from recent hernia troubles to perform, had to contend with sound issues too as he belted out hits like Bottoms Up, Kick It in the Sticks, You Don't Know Her Like I Do and Dirt Road Anthem.

The technical problems had been resolved by the time Church kicked off his set, but the brewing dust storm caused some fans to leave early and even prompted the country star to curse the winds after having to wipe off a layer of dirt and sweat from his face, saying, "This wind is p**sing me off!"

However, he refused to let the chill rush him offstage and treated his diehard fans to renditions of tracks including Drink in My Hand, These Boots, Give Me Back My Hometown and Jack Daniels.

He even defied his producers' advice to cut his encore due to the weather conditions, revealing, "They said it was too windy, but they can kiss my a**!" before launching into Creepin' and his smash hit Springsteen.

Despite the winds, an estimated 50,000 people, including celebrity couple Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, turned out for Friday's events. The weekend line-up also included performances from Jason Aldean, Hunter Hayes and Jennifer Nettles, while Lee Brice, Florida Georgia Line and Luke Bryan closed out Sunday's (27Apr14) festivities.