The weather forecast looked much better on Saturday for CMTFest and the fans were ready to roll on day 2!The Dang Rattlers got things going on the Maple Leaf stage to kick things off. Now if you haven’t heard of these guys and if you like to have a good time, check’em out you won’t be disappointed! They are a high energy country rock band that sure knows how to have a good time and put on one hell of a show! After their single Drinking Games we all raised our glasses and had a big ole’ cheers to CMTFest. They wrapped up there killer set with one of my favourites, Boots and Bourbon.

Country sweetheart Kira Isabella put on a great performance on the main stage. Now Kira being such a tiny little thing looked very at home up on the big stage and she wasn’t lost up there with her big beautiful powerful voice. Kira had the crowd singing along to many of her hits like, Love Me Like This, Quarterback and A Real Good Radio. Now Cowboys, Kira warned “don’t even think about it, until this fingers got A Ring On It” before kicking off this hit. This girls got a lot of sass! They then went into a huge melody montage that included some Drake, Honey I’m Good, No Doubt’s I’m Just A Girl, Johnny Cash’s Jackson and Sugarland Stuck Like Glue. Kira then rocked I’m So Over Getting Over You and then closed out her set with A Little More Work.

Washboard Union took over the side stage and I have to admit I was quite excited to see these guys as I had not seen them live before. Well they did not disappoint! They had so much fun on stage! They kicked off their set with Midnight train and played an awesome rendition of Dean Brody’s Bounty. I loved watching them perform Maybe It’s the Moonshine and Alabama’s Mountain Music. They are such a fun band and so unique, I mean who else actually plays a washboard!?!?

It was now Hammer Time! As the very anticipated Road Hammers took the main stage and these guys just Keep On Truckin’! They hammered out many of their classic hits, including their rockin’ hit with Tim Hicks One Horse Town. Which then lead to Jason McCoy making the announcement of the winner of this years Coors Banquet One Horse Town, congrats to Truo Nova Scotia as this years winner.He then made mention to many of the greats we have lost this year including Merle and made this request to the crowd; “Make a little noise if you love music and if u don’t care where it comes from!” Then blew us away as he strummed right into Prince’s Purple Rain and then Eagle’s Take It Easy. Stating, “This is not a concert, this is music history!”We then had some good clean fun with the boys in some MUD and took a swing with the Girl On The Billboard. Closing out a solid set with I’ve Been Everywhere. These guys were amazing and the crowd had so much fun during their set!

The final group to take the side stage was the boys of Cold Creek County. Now this was the biggest crowd the side stage had seen over the course of both days. CCC have really made quite a name for themselves and have had a ton of fun all along the way. Now these boys had just driven all the way back from PEI after performing at Cavendish. But you wouldn’t have guessed that these boys were tired at all as they still gave there usual high energy fun set! They kicked off with Trucker Hat and then let loose with everyone to the Wheels Come Off. They had a lot of fun with a t-shirt gun and oversized beach balls being released into the crowd. Lead singer Brad thanked the crowd for everything saying, “It’s hard to believe we were in Doug’s garage a year ago and can’t believe everything that’s happened, thank you to you our fans for everything!” Kitchener was their town Saturday night and had everyone singing along to Our Town! They had the party jumping and as they left the stage, the very large crowd was not ready for them to be done. Calling them back to the stage they nailed their summer hit Beer Weather. It was an incredible finish to an amazing set!

Now the next act was absolutely legendary! Tom Cochrane took the main stage and it was truly unbelievable to see him just given’er up there! He’s still got it and the crowd was loving hearing him rolling through his classic hits. Especially when he belted out Life Is A Highway, I can still hear the whole crowd singing along to every word, it was amazing!

Now it was time for the headliner and final performance of CMTFest Zac Brown Band to take over the mammoth stage. Now after seeing their performance I can see why this stage was so big! It was to fit the entire band! Their stage was two tiered, the upper deck held more band members, two drum sets,  and their huge screens. It was such an elaborate stage setup! They got the crowd going with Knee Deep, the crowd was set to be Free with them for the rest of the night as we were Cast Away to good times! They rocked a great version of the Who’s Teenage Wastland. Then slowing things down and taking our breath away with Sweet Annie. They rolled through hit after hit like Tomorrow Never Comes,  Toes and after the large intro of the entire band, they cranked out Loving You Easy. They came back out for their encore to a fan favourite Chicken Fry. Then to everyone’s surprise rocked Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, it was unreal! Zac Brown then closed out their set and the inaugural CMTFest with Homegrown, it was simply everything we needed to wrap up this amazing festival!