Festivals
Boots & Hearts Festival 2025 – Day Three Recap & Photos
By the time Saturday rolled around at Burl’s Creek, lightning and thunder was a thing of the past and the sun was back in full force, already claiming its victims. Red shoulders, parched throats, and hats lost the battle against dust. But that did not slow down the fans. Day Three of Boots & Hearts Festival 2025 sold out before the gates even opened, and the Burl’s Creek grounds felt like every country fan in Ontario had shown up with one mission: make it a day worth losing your voice over.
While we didn’t manage to catch all the amazing artists performing that day, here are the highlights of the ones we saw:
Kelsi Mayne wasted no time firing up the Front Porch stage, jumping between country grit and surprise genre shifts. One minute she was tearing through her own songs, the next she was blending Kings of Leon with Coolio. It was the kind of set that makes early arrivals grateful they skipped sleeping in.
Right after, Karli June kept the energy glowing in the mid-afternoon sun. Warm, conversational, and with vocals that could carry across the field without a mic, she turned her set into something intimate, even pulling in Justin Legacy for a duet that felt like a small-town porch jam with a few thousand friends watching.
Hailey Benedict was the first act on the Main Stage and proved why she’s being called one of country’s fastest-rising stars. She balanced high-energy confidence with the charm of someone who still looks genuinely grateful to be there. Her cover of “Sweet Child O’ Mine” got the crowd belting so loud you almost forgot it was still daylight.
As evening crept in, Chase Rice rolled in with swagger, striding down the catwalk like it was his own front driveway. His set jumped between party anthems and heart-tugging moments, with “Eyes on You” sending the crowd into one giant, swaying chorus of couples and friends.
At one point, he cracked open a bottle of Jack Daniels, tossed it into the pit, and promised the band wouldn’t stop until the bottle was drained. It was reckless, and perfectly on brand.
The night’s closer, Sam Hunt, took the stage like a man ready to finish the festival in style, but fate had other plans. A sudden power outage hit early in his set, halting the momentum. Hunt shook it off, came back swinging, and had the crowd screaming even louder… until it happened again. Unfortunately, this time the lights stayed out, cutting short what was shaping up to be an incredible headline set.
That didn’t stop the after-hours chaos. Down With Webster turned the late-night party into a full-body workout, with a spin on “A Thousand Miles” that somehow had more energy than any daylight set all weekend. By the time the last beat dropped, the festival grounds looked less like a tired crowd and more like a second wind had just kicked in.
Saturday at Boots & Hearts had it all: heat, hiccups, and a whole lot of music worth remembering. The only question now is how Sunday could possibly top it!
Stay tuned for our review of Sunday and our artist portraits!
Check out our favourite photos of the day below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
SAM HUNT
DOWN WITH WEBSTER
CHASE RICE
HAILEY BENEDICT
KARLI JUNE
KELSI MAYNE
All Photo Credit: Kieran Delport
Festivals
FIFA Fan Festival™ Vancouver – Simple Plan & JJ Wilde
The weather did everything it could to keep people away from the the FIFA Fan Festival™ in Vancouver on July 2, but fans had other ideas. Heavy rain lingered throughout the day, yet by the evening the amphitheatre at the PNE Grounds was packed with concertgoers ready to enjoy live music alongside the excitement of the FIFA World Cup.
The day’s schedule featured Round of 32 matches on the big screen between performances from local and international artists. Vancouver’s own JJ Wilde took the amphitheatre stage in the early evening, bringing her trademark mix of gritty rock vocals and confident stage presence. Her performance gave the crowd plenty of energy before the night’s main attraction, and showed everyone why she became the first woman in 25 years to win Canadian Rock Album Of The Year prize at Junos Awards.
Closing out the night was Montreal pop-punk veterans Simple Plan, who showed exactly why they continue to be one of Canada’s most reliable live bands more than two decades into their career. Rain-soaked fans sang along from the opening notes of “I’d Do Anything” as the band wasted no time getting the audience involved. Their set moved quickly through fan favourites including “Nothing Changes,” “Shut Up!,” “Jump,” “Jet Lag,” and “Welcome to My Life,” with nearly every chorus echoed back by the crowd.
The setlist balanced nostalgia with newer material, featuring songs like “Nothing Changes,” “Loser of the Year,” and “Million Pictures” alongside classics that have become staples of the band’s live shows. “Summer Paradise” brought a welcome reminder of sunnier days, even if the skies over Vancouver refused to cooperate.
One of the night’s most entertaining moments came during “What’s New Scooby-Doo?” Better known by fans simply as the Scooby-Doo song, the band continued its long-running concert tradition by inviting several people dressed as Scooby-Doo onto the stage.
The energy never dipped as the band powered through a party medley before closing with “Where I Belong,” “I’m Just a Kid,” and, fittingly, “Perfect.” Thousands of voices filled the amphitheatre, creating one of the loudest singalongs of the festival so far.
July 2 served as another reminder of what has made the FIFA Fan Festival such a success throughout the tournament. Football may bring people together during the day, but the nightly concerts have become just as much a reason to gather. Even under grey skies and persistent rain, Vancouver fans turned out in force, and Simple Plan rewarded that dedication with a high-energy performance that left the crowd smiling long after the final note.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full galleries of Simple Plan and JJ Wilde!
SIMPLE PLAN
JJ WILDE
All Photo Credit: Caroline Charruyer
Festivals
Montréal Jazz Festival 2026 – Naïka
If you caught Naïka at MTelus just a few months back, you already know how incredible her live energy is. But seeing her step onto the huge outdoor TD Stage at Jazz Fest on June 29th was something else entirely. She went from playing an intimate venue to looking out at a sea of about 30,000 people. You could tell she was genuinely moved by the turnout, and how could she not be, considering the crowd was more than ten times the size of her last show in the city.
She started the set in this beautiful, draping white dress that paid tribute to her French-Haitian roots. It looked amazing, but right after the opening track, she shed the layers for a short skirt and a white top so she could actually move around, dance, and really own the massive stage.
The setlist felt like a perfect journey through her catalog. She hit some of her biggest tracks like “Ma Chérie” and “1+1,” and then completely flipped the mood by playing a gorgeous, soulful cover of “Killing Me Softly” that had us all swaying and singing along to every word. The absolute highlight, though, was when she surprised everyone by bringing Jessie Reyez out to perform “One Track Mind.” The chemistry between them on stage was so cool to see live.
Beyond the music, just standing in that crowd felt special. Looking around, it was a massive mix of people from every background and culture imaginable. It really reminded me of why Montreal’s melting-pot vibe makes festival season so unique. For an independent global artist like Naïka, the whole night felt less like a standard festival set and more like a major milestone moment in her connection with the city.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
NAÏKA AT JAZZFEST MONTREAL
All Photo Credit: Andres Amaya