A blue jean kind of night, after the break!
Boots in the Park ft. Sam Hunt & Jake Owen @ Central Park SCV (05/10/24)
Part two of my sister's birthday celebrations brought us to the hometown's Central Park for a special country event this Friday night. Always assumed the touring Boots in the Park was a weekly summer thing, but the all-day country music party only really came to town sparsely. So being a part of this special festival turned out to be an awesome moment. Anytime I can rock, roll, and capture a concert in my hometown makes everything even better. It's like hitting fish in a barrel.
We arrived just in time for the two headliners - Jake Owen & Sam Hunt - to make the rowdy, drunk, loud, excited Santa Clarita crowd come to life. The festival really started at 4 PM, and the fact that the festival performances stayed on time can't be applauded enough. Props to the Boots in the Park for being absolute production legends. Sucks that we missed the rest of the lineup, but life always gets in the way. I saw Sam Hunt at the Spotify house at South By Southwest 2015. An experience that "deep fried" my head from standing out in the Austin sunshine for too long.
My old friend, Tennessee Sammie Jo, recommended Sam Hunt's music before I saw him in Austin so it's hard not to think about her when I hear his music nowadays. She saw my recommendation, The Lone Bellow, around Nashville years later. So we're technically even.
Sam Hunt's set was fantastic. Plenty of his modern-day classics alongside some of his new anthems. He really loved to perform in the crowd. Felt like the stage was his cage until he finally broke out by the end show's end. Taking a position behind the production scaffolding for an impromptu acoustic performance of his two smash hits - "Take Your Time" & Keith Urban's "Cop Car" (which he wrote). Lit by a hundred camera flashlights in the SoCal desert night.
I wish I had more to say about Jake Owen's performance which this author thought was stellar overall. He really paid homage to country legends with a few covers too. Think it was Jimmy Buffet's "Margaritaville" and I forgot the other one. "Take Me Home, Country Roads"? Maybe? Jake says he's gonna carry Jimmy Buffet's laid-back country mantle and I think he should. Plenty of his hits fit in that "beachin'" party mood anyway. Have been a fan of "Barefoot Blue Jean Night" since 2011 so to experience it in this karaoke crowd made for a memorable moment.
What more can you ask for? Great country music, fun crowd, good food stalls & trucks... we grabbed a bucket of homemade cookies from Cathy's Cookies after Jake's set FYI (see the photo slideshow) which I'm still snacking on a few days later. Really excited for Boots in the Park to return. We'll try to be a part of it moving forward!
Photo Slideshow
Photography Notes: Much love to the organizers & security for allowing my Nikon into the festival. Perks of showing up late perhaps? Felt like my Android camera pictures came out better overall. Included them both in this photo album if you want to see the difference. My phone can handle night shots a tad better.
