Keith Urban Shines on Stormy Saturday at Boots and Hearts

Saturday’s lineup kicked off in the early afternoon with Graham Scott Fleming and Raquel Cole performing on the SiriusXM Front Porch stage and those were the only 2 artists to get there sets completed before some weather rolled in.

Just as the main stage was getting ready to start my phone went off with the familiar noise of the emergency warning system for a Tornado warning for the Barrie area, the grounds were evacuated and people were told to take shelter as the storm was getting closer. It rained for a good hour or so before they got things going on both stages at the same time. This made it impossible for me to see every artist perform but the ones I did get to see were all very good and full of energy. Devon Cole, Seaforth and Breland finished off the Front Porch stage for Saturday performances while Adam Doleac kicked things off on the main stage followed by Blanco Brown and his #1 song “The Git Up” Near the end of his set he walked down the stairs onto the floor to see the fans and sing to some of the ladies in attendance he handed out about a dozen roses before going back on stage to close out his set.

Danielle Bradbery was up next and some of the crowd I heard talking about how she was added to the lineup late and some were kinda mad that Lauren Alaina was originally announced but then later removed, but I told them that’s how the business works. But after Danielle’s set they were happy she was added to the lineup because her performance was awesome. She squeezed in 13 songs by my count into her hour she had and played “Runaways” “Sway” and “Stop Draggin’ Your Boots which kicked into Shania Twains hit “Man! I Feel Like A Woman” which sent most of the crowd into a frenzy and a big loud singalong. She wrapped up with her song “Messy” and the crowd was all warmed up from Danielle Bradbery’s set and ready for the rest of the night with Dallas Smith and Keith Urban lined up to finish off the Saturday night.

Dallas Smith took the stage next and he’s no stranger to the Boots and Hearts main stage last appearing in 2018 opening up for Eric Church. Dallas had the crowd singing along with all his hits like “Lifted” “Slow Rollin’ ” “Tippin’ Point” and “Wastin’ Gas” the singalongs were now getting louder and louder by the minute as fans ventured in from their campsites. Dallas did a bit of talking in the middle of his set as he setup his next song which was “Autograph” he said he’s seen people tell him this was their wedding song and there’s even been a few lucky couples who Dallas has brought up on stage only for the male to get down on one knee and pop the question, then Dallas would keep them on stage to dance for the duration of the song and definitely a memory that each lucky couple will never forget. If you’ve been fortunate enough to ever meet Dallas Smith you’ll know he’s one of the nicest guys in the business and has a heart of gold. He wrapped up his set asking the people in the back to make some noise and sending the song out to all the people back there in the “Cheap Seats”.

Keith Urban was now set to take the Boots and Hearts stage and every time he seems to show up at Boots to play we always get evacuated from the grounds sometime during the day and the tradition continued this year, but the earlier rain didn’t keep the people away from seeing Urban close out the Saturday night lineup he played most of his radio hits and some fan favorites like “Long Hot Summer” “Days Go By” “Cop Car” and “Somebody Like You” in the middle of his set he started playing the guitar like only Mr. Urban can do and it went into his song “The Fighter” from his 2016 album Ripcord which is a duet with Carrie Underwood, and while Underwood didn’t join Urban on stage she showed up on the big screens to sing her parts of the song.

Then Keith Urban decided he wanted to take a little walk so down the stairs he went and made his way to a 2nd smaller stage that was out in the crowd. He played a handful of songs out there including “You’ll Think of Me” from his 2002 album Golden Road. He then returned to the stage and made his way to the end of the catwalk for the rest of the night and at one point put a GoPro camera on the end of his guitar so fans could see the incredible work of his hands while shredding a solo for probably close to three minutes. Keith closed out his set with “Somewhere in My Car” and “Wasted Time” and all in attendance would agree this was a night with no time wasted.