Sorry for the delay in getting this 2nd half of Boots & Hearts info out to you. Hope you enjoy!
After such a great kick off party for Boots & Hearts 2014 I was pretty excited for the rest of the weekend. Friday morning I was able to take in the grounds via foot and boy is there a ton of walking to do. However it is Food Truck Heaven with what i counted over 10 food trucks on the grounds. Along with the food there were plenty of places to get your Country Apparel including a large tent that had just the Boots & Hearts branded T-Shirts, Hats, Koozies and many other items to choose from ranging from $5 to $55. The Boots & Hearts tent had line ups most of the weekend and they sold a boat load of swag. In a separate tent they had all the Artist Merchandise which was a bit more limited. With so many artists on the roster for the weekend all the headliners had a couple shirts to choose from but the other acts were limited.
After wandering around I stopped in at the Front Porch Stage and caught an Oshawa based band by the name of The Stables (https://www.facebook.com/herecomethestables). This Trio made up of Poor Pelly, Blind Billy Blasko, Darren ‘Choo Choo Clarke is something that MUST be seen and heard LIVE. However the fellas deserved a larger audience, with the band starting at 11:00 and doors opening shortly there after, it made for a small crowd. Those that were in attendance (150 or so) were treated to something that I personally had not witnessed in all my concert going days and trust me that is a lot. They took the stage and played it like they were playing to 20’000 people. From the unique instrument choice of a wash tub with a vintage wooden hockey stick with strings and the quirky drum kit that includes an old beat up suitcase as the kick drum, these guys knew how to play! With a short set they were able to capture the audience and have the feet stompin and the arms pumpin at 11:10 in the morning. I would strongly suggest catching these guys if you ever get the chance. I ran into the guys backstage and we will have a feature interview with them later in September along with a CD giveaway.
The Stables Performing @Boots&Hearts
After I was done with the interview I rushed down to catch One More Girl ( http://www.onemoregirl.com) on the Main Stage. I was also able to catch up with the girls, post performance for a chat and we will have that later next month. I hadn’t had the pleasure of seeing the girls perform live before, and was happy to see them at Boots & Hearts. This sister duo of Carly & Britt McKillip hail from beautiful Maple Ridge, BC and had the honor of kicking off the Main Stage entertainment that would later see the likes of Toby Keith, Luke Bryan & Blake Shelton. The performance that the girls put in at Boots & Hearts was fantastic. Playing to a growing crowd as the set moved along , they sure knew how to get the crowd going and singing along. The songs that stood out and are now playing regularly on my phone were “Love Like Mine” & “Maybe” but the girls definitely left me wanting to hear more. One More Girl are one of Canada’s top duo’s and I am sure we will hear more from them in the coming months.
One More Girl @ Boots & Hearts
I ran back up to the Front Porch Stage as the girls were finishing off their set and caught Carlton Place, Ontario’s own Jordan McIntosh (http://jordanmcintosh.ca). I had the pleasure of seeing and meeting Jordan earlier this year when he opened for Brett Kissel in Toronto so I didn’t want to miss his performance and he didn’t disappoint. Not sure even how to describe this amazing young talent. Jordan hit the stage and just seemed to be at home the minute his voice echoed over the PA. Watching him work the crowd and really get the audience moving which I find these days there are a couple artists that seem to be just putting in time. Not Jordan, he worked that Front Porch Stage from side to side and giving the odd wink and acknowledgement to one of the female dominated audience members. With songs like “Grew Up In A Country Song” and his more current hit “That Girl” it seemed the crowd knew every lyric of each of the songs he performed and you can feel the connection that he has with his audience and that is rare in a younger artist. I also caught Jordan on the main stage later in the weekend and he nailed that performance to.
Jordan McIntosh @ Boots and Hearts
Due to interview’s with One More Girl & The Road Hammers I missed Deric Ruttan on the Main Stage but was able to hear the set from the location that we did the interview’s from and have to say, he truly is a song writing genius. After the interview’s wrapped up the rain hit HARD and Boots and Hearts had to cancel The Road Hammers Main Stage performance. I was personally looking forward to seeing Jason, Clayton & Chris put on a thunderous set that they are so well known for but guess we will have to wait till Lucknow (August 22-23). Other acts that were either canceled or cut short included Jess Moskaluke and Chris Stapleton. Chris came out with his acoustic and sung at the top of his lungs for those that were at the Front Porch Stage (I didn’t witness that one). The sky seemed to close up shop around 7:30 pm just in time for Paul Brandt (http://www.paulbrandt.com) to hit the stage. Paul moved his set over from the Main Stage to the Front Porch Stage just in case the rain started again. Paul is one of those performers that has been doing it a long time but seems to take each show as if it were his last. Giving it his all and playing Hit after Hit. My favorites from Paul’s set were “Convoy” & “My Heart has a History” Paul is truly working into Canadian country legend status and have to say he showed why during his performance. This was my first time seeing Paul and was very happy to have caught his set along with meeting later in the weekend it was a real unexpected favorite of the weekend. As Paul finished his set I hauled ass back down to the main stage to see the headliner of the night.
The night was to be laid to rest by non other than the true American Toby Keith (www.tobykeith.com), I can’t say I was overly excited to see Toby, he has an endless number of hits and sometimes when you see a guy like Toby you don’t realize how many hits he actually has. When Toby made his way to the stage the place was ready to PARTY. Toby sang hits such as his most recent smash “Red Solo Cup” , “Made In America” and “Whiskey Girl” But I would have to say staying as patriotic to Canada as I am his cover of the Gordon Lightfoot song “Sundown” was the highlight of my night. Especially when Toby brought the Canadian icon on stage for a wave to the crowd. The technical issues due to the earlier rain stopped Toby’s set for about 5-8 min as they fixed the sound system just as the show was winding down. Toby was very professional and took a bottle of Tequila and shared it with a few lucky front row fans. Day 2 was in the books and Day 3 was only 12 hours away! It’s coming….
Corey Kelly / @CoreyKelly76
