“This is Sunday night?! This feels like a Friday night!” – Dierks Bentley

That was exactly the sentiment of tens of thousands of country music fans when curly haired hunk, Dierks Bentley took the stage and took over.

If there was a theme to Bentley’s set at Boots & Hearts it was PARTY. That’s what he was there to facilitate from the intro video and first notes of Free and Easy. And that’s what the audience did, with enthusiasm.

Like many of the other performers at the festival, I hadn’t seen Dierks live before. But I have loved his music for years. Heck, I’ve sung What Was I Thinkin’ at karaoke more times than I care to remember. But man, he does it way better than I do. And I’m sure glad that I was there witness it and hear him ask the ladies in the crowd if any of them were wearing little white tank tops – some were and they cheered to let him know. It also turns out that he’s a huge fan of girls sitting on dude’s shoulders. Remember that when you go see him play.

More than once he remarked to the crowd that he couldn’t believe he was playing for this audience on a Sunday. And he won the crowd over even more when he told the masses that they partied harder on a Sunday night than the American fans do on a Friday. The connection with the fans didn’t end there. Bentley leaned into the crowd at the side of the stage while a young lady snapped a selfie of the 2 of them on her phone, he stopped in the middle of Lot Of Leavin’ Left To Do to ask another female fan her name and introduce himself before jumping back into the lyrics and finally, right at the end of his set, Dierks Bentley signed an electric guitar and handed it to one lucky girl in the front row.

Note: Dierks Bentley almost made me cry when he sang Home.

I’ve read more than one review that says Dierks Bentley stole the show at Boots & Hearts – and while I loved so many of the acts – it would be hard to argue. His energy was high. His show was tight. He played great country music. Dierks Bentley was the 2nd last act we got to see in Bowmanville at Boots & Hearts 2013 and he was awesome.

Here’s hoping that I get to see him again!

Work Hard, Play Harder, Be Awesome.

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Joshua Murray

creator of content, daddy blogger, writer, coffee drinker, fan of the Batman. proud mo bro. prouder dad.