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I always love going to songwriter events. They have such a great atmosphere and it is so relaxed and genuine. The Dakota Tavern has been host to the last few I have attended in the Four Chords And The Truth events. Now, Paquin Artists Agency is putting on their own, also at The Dakota. It’s a perfect venue for the ‘in the round’ performance. It isn’t a large space, so it is naturally quite intimate and everyone loves the stage setup with the lighting and decor.

So for some reason I had thought this was posted already.    Seems it slipped threw the cracks.   Here is one of my top 3 favourite songs from 2015… Charles Kelley teamed up with the talented Eric Paslay and Dierks Bentley to record The Driver.  This is one hell of a song!

Corey Kelly / @CoreyKelly76

So we asked all our Photographers to take am minute and submit what they felt was there best 15 shots and we would scale it down to their top 10 from there…  We are so thankful for these folks.   They make our pages come alive.     What is YOUR favourite shot of 2015… Share it over on our Facebook Page

Boots and Hearts is set to embark on another adventure.   Tickets for 2016’s party go on sale to the general public this THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24th a@ NOON!  Here is all the info you need to get your hands on what is sure to be the hottest ticket of the summer!  Could Garth be coming to party for 2 or 3 nights this summer?  Guess we will have to wait to find out!  But being the 5 year anniversary we know it’s going to be good!

The Crowd as Old Dominion hits the stage – Photo: Corey Kelly

Boots and Hearts 2016 Tickets Go On-Sale THURSDAY – September 24th @ noon est. 

Canada’s Largest Camping and Country Music Festival Returns for Fifth Year

Oro-Medonte, Ontario – Republic Live, organizers of the Boots and Hearts Music Festival ,announced last week  that tickets for the 2016 festival will go on sale Thursday, September 24^th at 12 pm EST exclusively at www.bootsandhearts.com  Ticket prices for full event general admission will start at $229.99 and organizers are encouraging fans to act quickly as they expect Tier 1 GA to sell out prior to the first artist announcement.  The festival will take place August 4^th – 7^th, 2016 at Burl’s Creek Event Grounds and all tent and RV camping options, parking and premium tickets offerings will also go on sale at that time and information is currently available at www.bootsandhearts.com

“We’re pretty fired up for what the fifth year anniversary of Boots and Hearts has in store,” said Shannon McNevan, Executive Director, Republic Live.  “We had great feedback from fans on what they’d like to see available at our new home at Burl’s Creek Event Grounds and have made a few changes based on their requests.  We’ve replaced our premium camping area with tent camping PLUS, as we had many requests for larger and closer spaces but without the need to be a premium ticket holder.  We’re also going to be expanding our allotment of premium tickets, which will allow access to the barn, viewing decks, front of stage access and more as we had many fans wishing to upgrade their tickets on-site this year.  We’re encouraging fans to act quickly if they are looking to purchase at the $229.99 price as we fully expect the Tier 1 GA tickets to sell out prior to our first artist announcement.”

Tickets are available exclusively at www.bootsandhearts.com and will go on sale Thursday, September 24, 2015.  Offerings  for Boots and Hearts 2016 include:

About Boots and Hearts

Boots and Hearts is an annual country music festival event run by Republic Live, and will take place at Burl’s Creek Event Grounds, in Oro-Medonte Ontario August 4^th – 7^th in 2016. Boots and Hearts recently won the CCMA (Canadian Country Music Association) Festival of the Year Award for the second year running and Canadian Music Week 2015 Festival of the Year.  All tickets and camping offerings will go on sale Thursday, September 24^th at 12 pm EDT  at www.bootsandhearts.com.

We can’t wait to hear who is coming in 2016!

Thrice

Courage My LoveAll Time Low

Motörhead
Weezer – shot from the crowd – we will be in the pit tonight!Alexis on Fire

The duo Scarlett Jane just released some additional dates to their fall tour.  For those not familiar with the duo,  It might be as Andrea Ramolo and Cindy Doire are stepping up to collect a prestigious award. Maybe they’ll be on a plane zipping towards their latest European tour. Or maybe it’ll come much, much later, while the pair is gleefully tossing back margaritas and baking their septuagenarian skin on a beach somewhere, recalling their glorious past.

Riverfest: GROOVA – The Lay Awakes – The Wooden Sky – Tokyo Police Club – Sarah Harmer – Donovan Woods – Alan Doyle – The Planet Smashers – The New Pornographers – Shad – Metric

On Saturday August 15th I headed to Elora for Riverfest 2015. It was a hot, hot sunny day and the music was just as hot. Now in it’s seventh year, Riverfest is held along the banks of The Grand river in Elora. Year seven brings an additional day to the festival which offers a wide variety of music, art, food and culture for all.

My first thought was to get the lay of the land. I could see the Main Stage and quickly spotted the Kitras Art Glass Tent Stage so I set off to find the Dine Alone X Roots – Wax On Wheels Stage. I found it and some amazing sculptures along the way. I decided GROOVA would be my first stop.

GROOVA is made up of Dean Workman (bassist), Richard Hill (drummer), Emmett Watters (guitarist from The Boo Radley Project), Daley O’Keeffe as percussionist (drummer from The Boo Radley Project) and Nick Lennox on Sax. Super funky, they were a great way to start off my afternoon.

I caught the end of  The Lay Awakes set at the Kitras Art Glass Tent Stage. They added a local note to the festival, Patrick Anderson grew up just down the road from Bissell Park. Patrick and Anna Paddock have been playing together recently and the pair call Brooklyn, NY home although they both originally hail from Canada. Their style is described as acoustic pop and I thought they were pretty awesome.

The Wooden Sky – Gavin Gardiner (vocals/guitar), Andrew Kekewich (drums), Simon Walker (multi-instrumentalist), Edwin Huizinga (violin) and Andrew Wyatt (bass and vocals). A thread of nostalgia and longing ran through their set. The sound was fresh and warm and we really liked them.

Tokyo Police Club hit the Main Stage at 4:45 and let me tell you again, it was hot! Sporting shorts lead singer David Monks didn’t let the heat keep his energy level down. Graham Wright (keyboards), Josh Hook (guitar) and Greg Alsop (drums), played through the heat like it was nothing.  They played all of my favourites including Wait Up and Nature of the Experiment.

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I stayed put at the main stage, partly because it was just too hot to go wandering around but also because I wanted a good spot to see Sarah Harmer. Sarah’s performance was filled with warmth and desire. The audience was all in. Sarah was engaging and authentic. My favourite moment came when she recounted the story of writing “Don’t Get Your Back Up” in her sister’s bedroom in the 80’s. I love that song!

Next up, I headed back to the Kitras Art Glass Tent Stage for Donovan Woods. Smart lyrics, great guitar and harmonica playing and a natural ease with the audience. Donovan is on my must see again list.

And back to the main stage for Alan Doyle. What can I say about this guy? I love him and the crowd loved him. He knows how to relate to us and we can’t help but respond. Great songs, great fun and a great sense of humour. Alan is a professional and it shows. We were treated to songs from the new So Let’s Go album and old favourites including some Great Big Sea hits.

Zipping back to the Kitras Art Glass Tent Stage just before Alan’s set finished, I wanted to make sure I was up front when The Planet Smashers set started. If we’re being 100% honest, and we are, these guys are the reason I knew about this show. I follow them and when I saw Elora pop up on their shows list, I knew I had to go! So, this was not my first The Planet Smashers show but it was the first time I was there to shoot. I’m not normally in the front row so it was a whole new experience for me.

I love this band. I love their music and their energy. The band hails from Montreal and they’ve made playing ska music their life. Fun, energetic and so talented. The Planet Smashers are a ska band from Montreal who are masters of audience participation, getting the crowd to sit, chant, and jump to their feet on command. Beach toys filled the air and I saw my only crowd surfer of the day bouncing through the air with an inflatable flamingo. At the stage managers’ end of set warning they said, “Four minutes? We can play two songs in four minutes!” and they did.

So fantastic to watch. So good!

I woke up with this in my head – “We are fabricated, we are regulated, we will fight to control the truth.” Nicely done The Planet Smashers, nicely done.

And under the tent #Kitrasartglass stage @Planet_Smashers #ska pic.twitter.com/6bKENxY1x4

— Sound Check Ent. (@SoundCheckBlg) August 16, 2015

I quickly headed back to the main stage for The New Pornographers at 9:15. Let me stop to give a kudos to the organizers of the festival. This day went off without a hitch, amazing organization, staff, security and volunteers. The audience was attentive and the front area was full.

I took our only real break of the day while Shad played the tent. I listened from behind the tent and grabbed a quick bite to eat. The music was great, the energy was fun and positive and I’m sorry I didn’t shot any pics.

I did take a few minutes to do a quick tour of the site in the dark and shoot some of the sculptures. A lovely touch Riverfest!

And then it was time for our Saturday headliner, Metric. I love Metric and this was my second time seeing them this year. Being front and centre while they work their magic is something to behold. They opened with Stadium Love and had the crowd jumping up and down along with them. We got songs from the new album and hits including Gold, Guns, Girls, Help I’m Alive, and Breathing Under Water.

Metric is on tour through November.

#help #rfe15 my regrets are few – @Metric pic.twitter.com/JGXCyxQbmW

— Sound Check Ent. (@SoundCheckBlg) August 16, 2015

Fredericton Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival

The Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival has signed five new international acts to add to its 25th anniversary festival line up.  All of the groups, some of the most in demand new artists on the international festival circuit, will make their Harvest début at the 2015 edition of the Festival this September 15-20.

Chad Brownlee – Photo by Trish Cassling for Sound Check Entertainment

To say that 2015 has started with a bang is a major understatement.  It took the independent Sound Check over a year to hit 100,000 readers and we hit 200,000 in just the first month and a half of 2015.

Our top stories of Q1 2015 included breaking the news of Luke Bryan in Ottawa and the 2015 Ottawa Bluesfest line-up as well as our coast to coast coverage of Dallas Smith’s Tippin’ Point Tour and Chad Brownlee’s When the Lights Go Down tour not to mention our unprecedented concert coverage from New Country 94’s welcome to Ottawa party with Dallas Smith to Florida Georgia Line and ZZ Top in Kingston. All of this and only in the first 3 months of 2015.

Here’s a look at what’s ahead from April to June 2015

We were invited to attend the eOne/Gibson All Star 2015 JUNO EXTRAVAGANZA last night in Hamilton. Thanks to eOne and Gibson for the invite. Photos are in order of performance.