NJ Music Festivals

Barefoot Country Music Fest just had its biggest year yet, with over 40,000 attendees watching the country’s biggest acts daily.

In its sixth year, BCMF showed no signs of slowing down as a brand; in fact, it only showed signs of improvement and further ambition. New Jersey’s largest music festival has continued to grow and will continue to get bigger as the years go on.

Friday: Kelsea Ballerini, Shaboozey kick off another year of BCMF

After a lackluster performance from country music superstar Miranda Lambert the night prior for the kick-off show, Kelsea Ballerini fixed that for the first full night of the festival.

With the help of Shaboozey, who many felt had the most energetic performance of the weekend, the top two acts on Friday night’s lineup put together a well-rounded show.

Ballerini performed for just one hour and 15 minutes, including 18 songs, but that felt fine when you think about the rest of the artists who helped make day one so strong.

Tracy Lawrence, for one, brought his incredible ’90s country energy to the main stage as the sun began to set for the night. Friday was really a great blend of old (Lawrence, The Wilder Blue, whose energy felt decades old) and new (Ballerini, Shaboozey, Ashley Cooke, Drew Green).

Saturday: Post Malone brings new energy to BCMF

Saturday brought a couple of firsts to Barefoot Country Music Fest. Post Malone, for one, as a rap headliner was a new one. That being said, the crowd was very receptive, which makes sense — it’s easy to respect Post after seeing his live performance.

This show marked Post’s first performance in the Garden State since 2023, and featured a mix of his new country material and his older rap catalogue. The pyro was certainly not left out of this one.

This show also saw rising country star Tucker Wetmore, who played a near-perfect opening set. Wetmore performed a couple of new songs and a lot of covers, similar to Jordan Davis last year.

The other “new” one for BCMF was Hank Azaria and his EZ Street Band, a tribute to Bruce Springsteen, who headlined the Patron side stage. The entire concept of Azaria being a live musician is a unique concept, but having it be a Springsteen tribute on the beaches of New Jersey is even better. It ended up being a great fit for the festival.

The highlight of the day, though, was The Fray, who are recently (partially) reunited and are now a full-time touring band. The group’s energy was out-of-this-world impressive.

The band will return to Jersey in August for a headlining show at the Stone Pony Summer Stage with Dashboard Confessional.

Sunday: Eric Church closes out sixth year of BCMF

Sunday at Barefoot is always fun, and there are few better ways to close out a music festival than with Eric Church, who puts on a tight show every time.

As much as I would like to say he wasn’t the star of the night, and that’s only because Sunday was stacked with surprises and talented musicians, he was. Hit after hit, the crowd knew every song.

Ty Myers was one of those surprises who really shocked me. His southern blues style really worked well in the slot he was in.