Article and Photos by: Stephanie Snape

Oro-Medonte– Burls Creek, home to the well-known country festival Boots and Hearts is adding an additional festival to their roster. All Your Friends Fest, the first of its name, took place over the weekend and they secured an incredible lineup.

The lineup was a perfect mesh of nostalgia and new and rising. With sets from fan favorites like Mayday Parade, Dashboard Confessional, Billy Talent, and Fall Out Boy. Then there was the newer generation of musicians like Suckerpunch!, Charlotte Sands, Grandson, and LøLø.

The festival spanned two days with over 20 artists, nearly half hailing from  Canada. It was a stage many of them said they were more than honored to share the stage with the rest of the performers. 

Fans got the chance to sit in the field, under the gorgeous sky and enjoy a full weekend of music, rides, games, and food. The festivals held at Burl’s Creek are probably some of the closest we get in comparison to Coachella and there’s never a shortage of fans ready to party.

One of the highlights of the weekend was seeing Fall Out Boy do their take on the Eras tour, as they played songs from each of their albums (likely a dry run for When we were young fest in Vegas). Their background switched to match the aesthetic of the respective albums and ended with a ton of paper confetti and an incredible fireworks show. 

Another highlight was LøLø opened the main stage with a pop punk set that threw new fans all the way back to early Avril and Paramore. She was engaging and honestly, a lot of fun to watch. Watching new artists, especially new female artists breaking into the industry and not only showing up but showing out is amazing. She’s an artist I hope to see more from in the future.

Whilst a few of the sets were a bit dark on the lighting side, it created the perfect moody atmosphere for bands like the All American rejects to come out swinging. 

The entire weekend was an homage to the pop/ punk music that raised a lot of us and an open armed welcoming to the new generation of artists.