Photo: Getty Images
Riley Green caught everyone’s attention when he took the stage at the 2026 iHeartCountry Festival presented by Capital One.
The award-winning country star kicked off his set with a duck call.
Green closed out the star-studded festival on Saturday night (May 2), performing a few of his biggest hits on the Moody Center stage in Austin, Texas. He kicked off his set (after the iconic duck call) with “Different ‘Round Here,” and went on to perform his first-ever No. 1 single at country radio, “There Was This Girl,” “Change My Mind” and a heartfelt rendition of “I Wish Grandpas Never Died.”
Green surprised the Moody Center crowd with Grammy-winning artist Carly Pearce, who performed her own set earlier in the evening. The two artists performed the title track of Green's latest studio record, “Don't Mind If I Do.” Their iHeartCountry Festival performance arrives shortly after the pair teamed up on “If I Don't Leave I'm Gonna Stay,” a sultry single that arrived in March as Pearce prepares to release her next studio album. The two artists recently performed the duet during Green’s headlining show at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee: “If I don't leave, I'm gonna stay/ If we don't stop, we're gonna start all over again/ And if I bend, I'm gonna break/ We're gonna blame it on the rain or on the wine/ We're getting close to losing clothes/ I should go, look at the time, it's getting late/ If I don't leave, I'm gonna stay.”
Green closed out his set — and the entire iHeartCountry Festival — with his steamy single, “Worst Way.” Green said in a behind-the-scenes look after he released the NSFW music video, “I definitely knew people would be excited about the video, especially after the love ‘Worst Way’ has already received. I didn’t think we’d break the internet, but it’s been so fun to watch everyone’s reactions online. …The restaurant scene was one we had a lot of fun with. The background actors were so perfect, especially the little grandma. We wanted to create a romantic, yet ridiculous storyline and I think we absolutely nailed it. …We had a lot of fun on set and didn’t take ourselves too seriously. This video had a lot of steamy moments, but it also had a ton of comedy.”
Luke Bryan, Kane Brown, Parker McCollum, Riley Green, Carly Pearce, Shaboozey, Dylan Scott, Russell Dickerson, Gretchen Wilson, Chase Matthew and Lauren Alaina, plus special guest George Birge, made up the star-studded lineup of the 2026 iHeartCountry Festival. It was all hosted again by iHeartRadio’s Bobby Bones.
The 2026 iHeartCountry Festival is streaming live on Disney+ and Hulu. If you missed the show (or just want to relive the experience), you can replay the festival for 23 hours on Sunday (May 3) only on Hulu.
Check back with iHeartCountry for a photo gallery of red carpet looks, more performance recaps, backstage moments and other unforgettable highlights from this year’s iHeartCountry Festival.