After a prolonged period of predictions, anticipation, and attempted patience, Boots & Hearts has released the 2020 lineup for the biggest weekend country music festival in Canada.
The list includes big-name headliners, Eric Church, Dan + Shay, Jon Pardi, Granger Smith, Dustin Lynch, Brothers Osborne, and Alessia Cara. And will also bring Canadian talents including Meghan Patrick, Jojo Mason, Aaron Goodvin, and more to Burls Creek Event Park from August 6 to 9.
There's no denying that the wait for this announcement was starting to get under the skin of some fans. But what that showed us was 1) Those fans are super invested in this festival being a good time with great talent. 2) The late great Tom Petty was right, the waiting is the hardest part.
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Let's get really honest for a second, there are going to be people that say they are disappointed with this lineup. We get it, it's easy to fantasy book a festival in your head, filled with artists that you've seen and love or that you hear on the radio and hope to catch live. However, a look at this list of 35 names and you'll see that there's a lot of talent in the names you know. And if you look at the reputation of the festival, or do some digging, you'll find that the names you don't know are pretty dang good too.
Yes, it would be great to see some more of the Canadian talent that we're loving and is making splashes right now. But, it's awesome that some rising talent is going to have the chance to share a festival stage with names like Church and Dan + Shay. And yes, we wish there were more women on this lineup. At this point (with the potential for a couple more names to be added) we're at 37.5% and only one of the top six headliner names.
Here's what we're excited about, Eric Freaking Church is coming back and we know what he can do in a headlining set. It's going to be loud and awesome and if you haven't seen him live, go to Spotify now and choose a live album to listen to just get the smallest taste of it. Dan + Shay have earned the chance to run in the headliner spot as well, and the last time they were at Boots & Hearts, they got rained out so we know they're going to want to put on a show to make up for that.
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And for anyone that is clutching their pearls about Alessia Cara's name on this list, take a breath, it's going to be okay. Let's remember that Boots & Hearts original DNA includes sets by Sheryl Crow, Lionel Richie, and a headlining turn by Kid Rock. Think back too to the music that gets played between sets at the main stage at night. There's a lot of pop in there, and it never slows down the singing and dancing. And, if you are worried that Alessia's set will have no country and have nothing to do with country music, we'll gladly tell you that we aren't worried about that. She LOVES Shania Twain so much that she presented her with the Generation Award at the 2018 Canadian Country Music Awards. If you were hoping for a Carrie Underwood or Kelsea Ballerini, we understand that you didn't get that. We don't know exactly what Alessia Cara's set will sound like, but we're excited to see the six-time 2020 JUNO nominee do her thing.
You want more highlights, more folks we're excited for? How about Cam! How about Sykamore, Riley Green, Granger Smith, Jillian Jacqueline! And, how about the possibility of Toronto's favourite cover band, Dwayne Gretzky playing a late-night dance party set that includes all of of your favourite 90s and 2000s country jams!
There's a lot of country music in this lineup. There's a lot to like about this lineup. There's a lot to question about this lineup if you don't know some of the emerging talent that are going to get their chance to shine. We'll learn more as get closer to the festival and get the day-to-day lineups and stage assignments. That's when we'll start planning who we're going to see and when and how we're going to make the hard decisions that music festivals always give us.
Stay tuned... we'll have a lot more to share with you!
Boots & Hearts 2020 Lineup!
