Dean Brody, Tim Hicks, Carly Pearce and Special Guests Take Over Toronto

~Photos by Trish Cassling, Alan Doyle, Budweiser Stage, Carly Pearce, country music, Dallas Smith, Dean Brody, Madeline Merlo, Shevy Price, Tim Hicks, Toronto Music

On a summer Thursday night down by the lake, Toronto embraced Canadian country music at the biggest homegrown show in our memory. Dean Brody & Tim Hicks put their Canadian names on the tickets, with U.S. rising star Carly Pearce as their opener, and special guests promised - and everyone, from the start to the finish - delivered a night that thousands of fans are glad they were a part of.

Before the show on the big stage got started, Leah Daniels hit the River Bar for a pre-show set as the gates opened. We talked to Leah for a minute and she told us that there are some exciting things coming soon. So stay tuned for more news from the Canadian country singer.

The Budweiser Stage show started with Kentucky native, former Dollywood performer, and Top 20 charting, Carly Pearce. The Big Machine artist, preparing to drop her debut full length album this fall ( October 13, 2017) made her first Canadian performance count, wowing the crowd from start to finish.

With songs including her single, (and the title track to her upcoming album) Every Little Thing, and songs that we'll hear on the new record including, Careless, Doin' It Right, and If My Name Was Whiskey, Pearce showed that she's ready for that release.

The tracks offered an opportunity for Carly to ____ her voice, and it's impressive. The notes, inflection, and emotion that she's able to share through the words in her songs are strong, and those qualities are exactly why there's hype from outlets like Rolling Stone for her young career.

Be ready to hear a lot more about Carly Pearce here and everywhere.

After Carly Pearce finished her Canadian debut, the true north country show started with Tim Hicks and his band hitting the Budweiser Stage... hard. The moment Hicks and the boys hit the stage, it got loud. The Toronto country fans love this dude, accepting him as one of their own over the last few years as he's put out hit after hit.

Hicks made a point of telling everyone in the crowd how special this show was to him. Making the journey in his career from fronting the house band at Grace O'Malley's to playing the amphitheatre by the lake is big for him, as it would be for anybody.

Note: Many thanks to Tim for hanging out with us for a little chat and catch up session before the show. It's always a good time.

Hicks also made an announcement at the end of the set, just before playing his last song, that the track, Forever Rebels, will be released as his next radio single. And, having listened to the track, and having seen the reaction of the fans to it, we're pretty comfortable telling you that we think Tim Hicks has another Canadian Top 10 on his hands.

We should also tell you this... Tim Hicks had the second loudest singalong we've ever heard at the Budweiser Stage. When Stronger Beer was being belted out by thousands of voices we could feel it just as much as we could hear it. It was special. It truly was. And the only time we've heard it louder was when Florida Georgia Line stripped it down to perform H.O.L.Y in 2016.

Even though it's only a 15 minute drive, Tim Hicks has come a long way from playing covers in downtown Toronto. And every stop along the way has been a hell raisin' good time.

Tim Hicks Setlist Budweiser Stage, Toronto

🍻 Shake These Walls
🍻 Burn
🍻 Hell Raisin' Good Time
🍻 Slide Over
🍻 She Don't Drink Whiskey
🍻 I Got A Feelin'
🍻 Stompin' Ground
🍻 Get By
🍻 Stronger Beer
🍻 Forever Rebels

Dean Brody headlined the Thursday night concert in every sense of the word. With a boatload of energy, and more special guests than we could have predicted, the B.C. native took over the Toronto stage and showed everyone what he's got.

It was immediately clear, from the moment he walked on stage and started playing Bush Party with the band, that the crowd was in love with him. They were loud, attentive, out of their seats, singing and dancing at every opportunity. And that was before the surprises started popping out onto the stage.

Note: Dean told the crowd that he's a Toronto resident now, so if you see him walking around reenacting the Mountain Man video, say hi.

Six songs into the show the first special guest came out to play - and Toronto got loud for Dallas Smith as he partnered with Brody on Undone, and then borrowed the band to play Somebody Somewhere. Then, just a new moments later, Madeline Merlo (fresh off the bandshell stage at the Canadian National Exhibition) came out to sing Lindi Ortega's part on Bounty. Next, after Dean pulled on our heartstrings with acoustic versions of Time and Brothers, his duet partner, Shevy Price, came out to hammer home a high energy performance of Beautiful Freakshow.

And just when we thought that had to be it, Alan Doyle, a repeat partner in Dean Brody's career, came out on stage to collaborate on both Soggy Bottom Summer and It's Friday, before borrowing the Brodeo for Great Big Sea's classic, Ordinary Day.

It was highlight after highlight. But don't be fooled into thinking that the special guests were the only high spots. Dean Brody worked the stage, commanded the crowd, danced, smiled, and rolled through his biggest hits for the Toronto crowd. He headlined the hell out of that concert, proving that he was more than ready for that big city spotlight on the Budweiser Stage.

Dean Brody is a stud and a homegrown star. And he showed that Canadian talent can not only compete, but can put thousands of butts in seats, get them back out of those seats to sing and dance, and headline shows for country music fans.

We're glad we were there to see it. And we can't wait to see Dean, and a whole crop of Canadian artists follow in those footsteps.

Dean Brody and Special Guests Setlist, Toronto

🍻 Bush Party
🍻 Dirt Road Scholar
🍻 Upside Down
🍻 People Know You By Your First Name
🍻 Roll That Barrel Out
🍻 Monterey
🍻 Undone(with Dallas Smith)
🍻 Somebody Somewhere(Dallas Smith)
🍻 Love Would Be Enough
🍻 Bounty (with Madeline Merlo)
🍻 Time
🍻 Brothers
🍻 Beautiful Freakshow(with Shevy Price)
🍻 Soggy Bottom Summer(with Alan Doyle)
🍻 It's Friday(with Alan Doyle)
🍻 Ordinary Day(Alan Doyle)
🍻 Canadian Girls
Encore:
🍻 Mountain Man
🍻 Bring Down The House