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 – Walk Off The Earth, Fionn, Felix Cartal, and France Fans
The FIFA Fan Festival™ at the PNE kept the World Cup excitement rolling on Saturday, July 4, as fans gathered for another full day of football, live music, and celebrations. With two Round of 16 matches on the giant screens and a lineup of Canadian artists filling the Amphitheatre Stage, the atmosphere remained lively from morning through the evening.
The day had already delivered plenty of drama before the concerts began. Morocco had stunned host nation Canada earlier in the day to book a place in the quarter-finals, ending Canada’s historic World Cup run after its first-ever appearance in the Round of 16. A few hours later, France defeated Paraguay to secure the final quarter-final spot, setting up a meeting with Morocco in one of the tournament’s most intriguing matchups. As the final whistle blew, fans quickly shifted their attention from the football to the music just a few steps away.
Vancouver-based band Fionn, consisting of twins Alanna and Brianne Finn-Morris, was first on stage, offering an engaging performance that fit the late afternoon perfectly. Their warm vocals and heartfelt indie-pop songs gave the crowd a chance to catch their breath after another emotional day of World Cup action. Many fans who had spent hours watching the matches stayed put, creating an attentive audience that truly enjoyed the show.
Right after, Walk Off The Earth took over and instantly changed the pace. The Ontario group has built its reputation on creative arrangements and infectious energy, and they delivered exactly that. Their performance blended pop, rock, folk, and plenty of crowd interaction, turning the Amphitheatre into a giant singalong. The band’s playful chemistry and multi-instrumental approach kept fans engaged from start to finish, with many dancing along and singing every word.
At the Park Stage, Vancouver-born DJ and producer Felix Cartal took over. A familiar face on festival lineups across the country, Cartal delivered a polished electronic set that kept fans dancing until the festival closed. His mix of melodic house, upbeat remixes, and crowd-pleasing drops provided the perfect soundtrack to cap off a day that had already been packed with football drama and live music.
The FIFA Fan Festival has consistently shown that it offers far more than football. Saturday’s schedule paired knockout-stage drama with live performances that gave supporters another reason to stay long after the matches had ended. Even with Canada’s elimination still fresh in many minds, the festival remained a welcoming place to celebrate the global game, discover Canadian talent, and enjoy a summer evening surrounded by thousands of fellow fans. With the quarter-finals now set, anticipation continued to build for another unforgettable week at Vancouver’s Fan Festival.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
WALK OFF THE EARTH
FIONN
FELIX CARTAL
FRANCE FANS
All Photo Credit: Caroline Charruyer
Festivals
Montréal Jazz Festival 2026 – Patrick Watson
July 3, 2026
If you thought the outdoor main stage at Jazz Fest was packed earlier in the week, it had absolutely nothing on the sea of people that squeezed into the Place des Festivals for Patrick Watson. The site was packed right to the limit. The last time he played the festival back in 2021, it was to a strictly limited, socially distanced crowd, and he actually took a moment to contrast that eerie, quiet landscape with the overwhelming wall of faces looking back at him this time around. The massive turnout made it feel like the city had just been waiting for the perfect moment to properly welcome him back.
The whole night felt like a massive, curated homecoming celebration with his favourite people on earth. By the third song, he already had the crowd cheering when he brought out Montreal’s own Martha Wainwright, who has been heavily involved in the local scene and festival circuit this year, to share the stage. Right after that, he raised the bar even higher by bringing up a string quartet for a stunning performance of “Ode to Vivian.” He took a second to tell the story behind the track, explaining how it was inspired by the street photographer Vivian Maier, who secretly kept her incredible work to herself until she passed, only to posthumously become an inspiration to thousands of photographers worldwide.
The emotional peak of the set came during “To Build a Home.” Watson talked about how deeply the experience of growing up in Montreal shaped him both as a person and a musician, noting that his music could only ever be written in a city with this exact type of creative spirit. As the song played, vintage 1960s video footage of Montreal rolled across the massive backdrops, which gave the whole performance an incredibly nostalgic, cinematic weight. He kept the collaborations rolling through the night, too, pulling the brilliant November Ultra onto the stage for “Silencio,” and later bringing out the rising indie-folk artist Solann.
The years might be passing, but Patrick Watson proves every time he steps on a stage that he remains an absolute force of nature. He doesn’t care about shifting trends; he just cares about his craft. A few people floating around the crowd might have been a little disappointed not to hear some of the older classics like “Lighthouse” or “The Great Escape,” but honestly, what better setting is there to test out your newest material than the Montreal Jazz Festival in front of your home crowd? Besides, when the performance is that stunning from start to finish, you really can’t be mad about it.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
PATRICK WATSON
All Photo Credit: Andres Amaya