First up was Brittany Kennell on the Main stage and she had the crowd dancing and singing along from the first song to the very end. The 30 minute set seemed to fly by and the fans didn’t want her to leave the stage they were having so much fun.
I then hurried across the Boots and Hearts grounds to catch Andrew Hyatt at the Front Porch stage, I’ve seen him numerous times and knew he was one that I didn’t want to miss it was also just a 30 minute set but wished it would’ve been an hour set because he puts on such a great show. He did play one of my favorites of his when he did “Wild Flowers.” He also played some of his biggest songs like “Neverland” “I Needed That” and closed out his set with “On Me” It doesn’t matter if Andrew is playing in a backyard for about 50 to 100 people like I was lucky enough to experience twice during the pandemic when artists just were trying to get by and wanted to play anywhere they could and fans were just as hungry to hear live music again or to a packed full band show of probably 5 thousand plus on Sunday afternoon at Boots and Hearts Hyatt’s performances are always can’t miss.
Then it was back to the Main stage to catch Robyn Ottolini’s set she’s been all over the place this summer I recently saw her 2 weeks ago at Faster Horses in Michigan and I always make sure I go in to see and support our Canadian talent when they are over in the USA, she also was in upstate NY the day before coming to Boots and Hearts so she’s definitely putting on the miles and growing that fan base. She came out in a Toronto Maple Leafs top which I can only guess since she’s a fan of thrifting and repurposing items that she more than likely made the top herself. She came out dancing and you could just see how happy she was to be on such a big stage basically in her own backyard playing to probably what was now a crowd of 20 thousand plus for the start of her set and it kept growing throughout her hour on stage. She played hits like “Hold Me Back” “Tell You Everything” and “Trust Issues” which got big cheers as the band started into almost every song because the crowd knew before the first word was sang what was coming. She closed her set with her Certified gold single “F-150” which had all in attendance singing along to.
Once Robyn Ottolini’s set wrapped up Andrew Hyatt was playing the Sirius XM stage in the barn and while Buzz Brainard had yet to meet Andrew, they joked around on stage with Hyatt saying the Front Porch stage set was a “Quick and Dirty” set which Buzz replied that was his stripper name back in Nashville and Andrew told Brainard that was his nickname in high school. Buzz Brainard by the looks of it he was pretty impressed with his 3 song set where he played some songs he couldn’t squeeze into his set a few hours earlier. He played “She Ain’t You” and he closed with a cover of the Goo Goo Dolls “Iris” which ended with Hyatt asking everyone in the barn to sing the last part of the song.
Lindsay Ell took to the stage as direct support for Shania Twain and I know how much she’s been looking forward to this day because she was talking about this day back in November when I saw her in London and she was so excited even 9 months out for the opportunity. She also said at her barn performance earlier in the day that 10 year old little Lindsay would be freaking out if you told her she was opening for Shania Twain. Lindsay came out wailing on the guitar like usual and got some big cheers from the crowd anytime she decided to do a solo she showcased some of her biggest hits like “Criminal” and her more recent single “Right on Time.” Her hour long set was not nearly enough as I could listen to Lindsay all day long but it definitely got the crowd pumped up and ready for Shania.
Well FINALLY it was time for Shania Twain to take the stage…..well not quite yet. I noticed the stage crew covering up the drum kit and I had a good idea what was going to follow only minutes after. They came on stage and said that a storm was coming and everyone had to evacuate the grounds as you can imagine the people in the front row were a little more stubborn after waiting 7 hours in the sweltering heat for that coveted rail spit but eventually everyone left as the sky opened up and dumped some much needed rain on all in attendance. It only last about 30 minutes and then they let everyone back in once security was back in place. They had to squeegee the stage so it was as dry as possible for the band as tons of fans piled back in to the Main stage area.
At about 10:10 the lights went out and the roar from the crowd was loud as they knew what was coming “The Queen” of Canada Shania Twain appeared at the top of a double staircase and took a bow and said Canada are you ready before going into “Rock This Country” and then walked down the stairs and did most of her set right at the end of the catwalk so she could be close to the fans. She continued with hit after hit “Any Man of Mine” “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under” “That Don’t Impress Me Much” and “Man! I Feel Like A Woman” had the crowd dancing around in the mud and small lakes that formed during the storm. She thanked Boots and Hearts for calling her to play and got a little bit emotional when she said this show gave her the opportunity to see and hug her sister for the first time in over 2 years. About an hour into her set Shania sat on a stool with her band on both sides of her and sang “Honey, I’m Home” and later brought up her guitarist/band manager to sing “Party for Two” with her. She ended just before midnight to the song that I saw the most shirts that girls had made up for this weekend “Let’s Go Girls” and they sure did.