It’s been 2 weeks since we stood with 30,000+ country music fans at Boots & Hearts 2014 – and we’re still thinking about it.

From Thursday night’s start with The Reklaws, Natalie Stovall & The Drive, Brett Kissel, and Dallas Smith to Saturday and Sunday night’s headliners Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton the music was hot, the crowd was into it and everyone had a great time!

We would love to thank Republic Live, the Boots & Hearts staff, volunteers, security and all of the vendors for helping us have an awesome time and making us want to come back again in 2015.

We also want to thank Brett Kissel, The Reklaws, and Trinity Bradshaw for being awesome off stage when we chatted and laughed and took pictures together. It was a great addition to covering the music and we appreciate it.

I’ve been at Boots & Hearts each of the first 3 years, and I can safely tell you that 2014 was the biggest, loudest, most electric atmosphere yet. We had performances from newcomers and legends and artists that are littering the charts with their hits right now. And all of them gave their fans awesome sets.

Highlights

I had no idea Dan + Shay were going to be as HUGE as they were at Boots & Hearts. When they came onto the Front Porch stage it was packed with young fans (mostly young ladies who were very vocal in their support) who knew every word to every song those 2 dudes sang. It was a pretty great surprise for me as a fan of live music.

Trinity Bradshaw – SiriusXM Emerging Artist Showcase Winner! We had the chance to meet Trinity backstage and do a little interview and get to know you session after her Saturday performance in the Emerging Artist Showcase contest – and we pretty much fell in love with her instantly. Not only does she have a killer voice and stage presence, and forget the fact that she’s gorgeous, Trinity was funny and at ease and lovely to talk to about her career, the music she loves and even her Canadian country music crush.

Tim Hicks x 2. Trish is a big Tim Hicks fan and getting a chance to see him and shoot him on stage twice on Saturday was a great treat. The acoustic set he played at his album release party was a fun way to start the day, and Tim did not disappoint when he took his turn on the main stage later in the afternoon.

The Headliners. Truth: We skipped out on Toby Keith because of the weather situation on Friday night – but the combination of Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton on Saturday and Sunday totally made up for it. If you get a chance to see either or both of these dudes in a big concert setting where they can put on a show like they did in Bowmanville, take it.

Lowlights

Friday night’s weather was a bummer and really severe with the wind and rain and hail. And while it’s true that it rains every year at Boots & Hearts, this year was heavier than the others. Here’s hoping that 2015 breaks the trend.

Thanks to the weather we lost out on seeing The Road Hammers in 2014. That sucked.

2015 Predictions

If I had to guess about any 2014 acts returning to Bowmanville in 2015 I would choose The Road Hammers and Tim Hicks.

The Road Hammers become an easy choice because of their washout this year. I don’t know if they’ll be able to fit Boots & Hearts into their schedule next August – but it would sure be cool if they did.

Tim Hicks has been at Boots & Hearts all three years that the festival has been running. He finished 2nd in the 2012 Emerging Artist Showcase, came back in 2013 to play at the Kick Off Party, and has now graduated to the Main Stage. When he says that he looks forward to Boots & Hearts all year, I believe him. And it’s hard to imagine the festival without him.

A couple days before this year’s festival I made predictions for the 2015 headliner announcement – but then we didn’t get an announcement. However, the predictions are still pretty solid in my mind.

Lady Antebellum: With a brand new album, 747, coming at the end of September it’s fair to think that Lady A will be touring for a while to support it. And a crowd pushing 40,000 strong has to be a tempting audience to pitch an album to.

Keith Urban: Mr. Urban is a superstar, and in 2014 he added the Calgary Stampede to his list of the big shows he’s got under his belt. It’s not unreasonable to think that the Aussie would make an appearance in Bowmanville on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday night. Plus, I know he puts on a great show and would be a big ticket seller.

Eric Church: When I was making predictions for 2014 I had a choice to make – Eric Church or Luke Bryan. I chose Luke Bryan and I was right. So it makes sense that I would add Eric Church and his new brand of outlaw country music to my list of 2015 predictions.

It would also be easy to predict that there will be a bigger crowd at Boots & Hearts 2015. The only. only thing working against it is the fact that August 6-9, 2015 isn’t the long weekend. However, this festival is gaining momentum – and as announced after this year’s weekend wrapped up, has now become Canada’s largest camping and music festival. It’s hard to argue against those kinds of facts.

Final Word

Boots & Hearts continues to be one of the highlights of my summer – and I can’t wait for the 2015 festival lineup to be announced piece by piece.

Stay tuned for more predictions and coverage of Boots & Hearts announcements as we get count down the next 11.5 months.

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.