Boots & Hearts Brings Some of Country Music's Biggest Stars to Ontario This Weekend: Canadian Concerts of the Week

The peak period for summer festival season continues this weekend, as a major Ontario country fest, a Montreal electronic dance festival and an always popular Edmonton folk/roots extravaganza prepare to open for action on Thursday.

Concerts of the Week

Boots and Hearts Festival, Oro-Medonte, Ontario — Thursday, August 8 to Sunday, August 11.

Time to polish up those cowboy boots. Billedas Canada’s largest music and camping festival, country music extravaganza Boots and Hearts is all set to spring into action. The event traditionally lures top Nashville acts north of the border, and this year is no exception, with rising star Cody Johnson and well-established hitmakers Thomas Rhett and Jason Aldean on board as 2024 headliners. Rhett and Aldean are both returning to the festival, having performed in 2018 and 2019, respectively, while Johnson is making his debut.

Other American stars performing this year include Midland, Brothers Osborne, Lonestar and Carly Pearce and Chayce Beckham, with Matchbox Twenty bringing a rock component. A typically strong Canadian contingent includes Madeline Merlo, The Hunter Brothers, Jess Moskaluke, Emerson Drive, Kalsey Kulyk and Shantaia.

The event kicks off on Thursday with the Emerging Artist Showcase introducing up-and-coming talent, followed by Midland and Lonestar.

Launched in 2012, Boots and Hearts, the flagship event of entertainment company Republic Live, continues to grow and is now well-established as a destination event for thousands of country fans from across Ontario and beyond. In 2023, the festival reported record-breaking attendance in the 40,000 range, lured by headliners Tim McGraw, Keith Urban and Nickelback.

Burls Creek, Oro-Medonte. Tickets and information here.

Edmonton Folk Music Festival, Edmonton — Thursday, August 8 to Sunday, August 11.

This annual summer festival has long been recognized as one of Canada’s biggest and best folk/roots fests. Whereas some major so-called blues and jazz festivals have now strayed a long way from their origins in their lineups, Edmonton has generally remained faithful to its core genres, with a sprinkling of blues and global music genres included.

The 2024 edition features major international and Canadian artists, alongside emerging talents. The list of imports is headed by the acclaimed dynamic duo of Robert Plant & Allison Krauss, and includes 7x Grammy nominees Black Pumas, Fantastic Negrito, Rhiannon Giddens, Ben Howard, JD McPherson, Eric Bibb, S.G. Goodman, and, in a rare nod to rock and pop, Dawes and KT Tunstall.

Perennial festival favourites Blue Rodeo lead the domestic contingent, alongside Don Ross, Elisapie, Boy Golden, Leif Vollebekk, Rose Cousins, Pharis and Jason Romero, Dave Gunning & JP Cormier, Wild Rivers, Jon & Roy, Abigail Lapell, Alpha Yaya Diallo, Michael Jerome Browne and Sultans of String.

The fest website informs that single day tickets for Thursday and Friday are still available, but Saturday and Sunday are sold out.

Gallagher Park, Edmonton. Tickets and information here.

îLESONIQ, Montreal — Saturday, August 10 to Sunday, August 11

îLESONIQ bills itself as “Canada’s premiere dance music festival,” and includes a mix of up-and-coming talent and some of the biggest names in EDM. Those include godfather Tiësto, DJ Snake, Canadian hit act Loud Luxury (they closed out the 2021 fest), Subtronics, Zedd, Timmy Trumpet, Audien and Jason Ross.

îLESONIQ is produced by evenko and presented in collaboration with Live Nation and INK Entertainment, with support from I Love Neon. The fest premiered in 2014, drawing 75,000 attendees. Last year's edition, featuring headliners The Chainsmokers and Martin Garrix, attracted 180,000 fest-goers.

Check out the full lineup here.