Party for the Planet: Hey Ocean! and Lights

On April 27th, 2013, Hey Ocean! and Lights helped Surrey celebrate Earth Day with Party for the Planet, a family-friendly event with free concerts.

Hey Ocean! is a local indie pop rock band whom we've had the pleasure of seeing many times, but they always seem to surprise us with a little something extra. Ashleigh Ball (vocals and innumerable other instruments), David Beckingham (vocals and guitar) and David Vertesi (vocals and bass) were joined on stage by Dan Klenner who was playing the guitar instead of the drums. The second guitar was a pleasant addition, filling out their sound and tipping them a little closer to rock than pop, but still allowing them to pump out compelling dance-inducing beats. I know it has been said many times, but you really need to see Hey Ocean! perform live!

For more information about Hey Ocean! check out their website: loveheyocean.com

Your next chance to see Hey Ocean! in Vancouver is on July 12th when they open with Jimmy Eat World for City and Colour at the PNE Amphitheatre. Tickets are available at ticketleader.ca

Lights is a Canadian electro pop rock musician who has catchy toe-tapping beats and an exciting stage presence. Despite having a huge following, she is very humble and appreciates her fans. We actually accidentally ran into her hanging out with her fans after the hour-long show! 

For more information about Lights check out her website: iamlights.com

Lights played a sold-out acoustic show at the Rio Theatre in Vancouver yesterday and will be playing another set tonight!

More photos of Hey Ocean! and Lights after the break!

Dragon Boat Festival and Vancouver's Musical Instrument Garage Sale!

The Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival and Vancouver's Musical Instrument Garage Sale are two great events to check out this weekend!

The Dragon Boat Festival is free all weekend with races starting at 8am on Saturday, June 16th and Sunday, June 17th in the waters of False Creek near Creekside Community Centre and Creekside Olympic Village. Make sure you also check out the World Beat Stage which will host 10 free concerts over the weekend starting at 11am each day.

Performances on Saturday will open with Reggae On The Rocks from 11am - 12pm, Wesley Hardisty from 12:30 - 1:30, Orkestar Slivovica from 2:00 - 3:00, Ranj Singh & The Discriminators from 3:30 - 4:30 and end with Shane Philip from 5:00 - 6:00.

Performances on Sunday will open with Zimbamoto from 11am - 12pm, Pendomoja from 12:30 - 1:30, Celtic Bhangra from 2:00 - 3:00, Microbongo Sound System from 3:30 - 4:30 and this years festival will close with The Boom Booms from 5:00 - 6:00.

For more information about the Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival in Vancouver check out dragonboatbc.ca/.


If you are a local musician looking to add to your collection of instruments you should definitely check out Tom Lee's Musical Instrument Garage Sale. The Garage Sale will be open on Saturday, June 16th from 10am - 6pm and on Sunday, June 17th from 12pm - 5pm at the old "Sony Store" at the Tom Lee Music Vancouver Building at 929 Granville St. Vancouver. This sale advertises 1000's of items marked down with savings up to 80% off!

For more information about the Musical Instrument Garage Sale check out tomleemusic.ca/garagesale/.


If you attend either or both of these events, please let us know how it goes and what you think!

Fête de la Musique - Make Music Vancouver!

It's that time of year again, Fête de la Musique also known as Make Music Vancouver will be hosting a free, live music celebration in Vancouver for the second year in a row! This year the event will be held in both Yaletown and Gastown to double the fun with over 300 free concerts.
Performers haven't been listed yet but mark your calendars for June 21st from as early as 2pm to 10pm, followed by after parties in local bars and restaurants.

Also, if you are a musician and interested in performing in Yaletown, make sure you sign up to participate with the Musicians Registration Form!

For more information check out makemusicvancouver.com

Behind Sapphire: Free Concert!

Behind Sapphire has re-recorded their latest album Diamonds. To celebrate the EP's release on April 28th, 2012, they will be playing a free all ages show on the beach at White Rock!

The show will start at 7pm on April 28th, 2012 at the Semiahmoo First Nations Bandshell at White Rock Beach! The band will be joined by Their There and Dogwood and Dahlia.

For more information about the event, check out their Facebook Page!

*UPDATE* The show has been moved to Saturday, May 5th, 2012 at 6 pm!

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes at the Grey Cup Festival

A few hours before the 99th Grey Cup Championship between the B.C. Lions and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes played a free concert in Vancouver for the Grey Cup Festival! Earlier this year, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes made it to the top 3 of of FOX Vancouver Seeds! To find out more about them and to see more photos, check out our past post on the FOX Vancouver Seeds.

Kyle Otsuji playing the bass

More photos from the show after the break!

Grey Cup Festival Free Concerts

Hey guys!!

This year the Grey Cup Festival includes a weekend of free concerts!! Some great performers are going to be there, including some of our favourites!! Check out the concert schedule to see when bands like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Said the Whale, and Hey Ocean are playing.

See you there!

CBC LIVE - Kickoff to Culture Days in Vancouver!

On Friday, September 30th (tomorrow!), CBC will be kicking off Culture Days, an annual 3 day-long celebration of arts and culture that takes place all across Canada, with CBC LIVE in Vancouver.

To celebrate, CBC is having a free festival at CBC Vancouver on Hamilton street between Robson and Georgia! All day starting at 10:45am, there will be interviews, games and contests as well as plenty of opportunities to meet CBC stars such as the Dragons from Dragons' Den and George Stroumboulopoulos! For a full schedule of CBC LIVE click here.

The night will end with Midnight Music: A Concert for Culture Days starting at 8:00pm with Stars, The New Pornographers and The Midway State!

Over the weekend, there will also be plenty of free activities for people of all ages in and around Vancouver. For a list of activities in British Columbia check out: bc.culturedays.ca/en!

CBC Musical Nooners - David Vertesi

For this hour long set David Vertesi brought along Peter Carruthers and Dan Klenner. He performed most of the songs off his album Cardiography, as well as two covers, including his cover of the Spice Girls song "Say You'll Be There". It seems like Vertesi crowds have come to expect Dave to perform that song. It was a beautiful sunny day and a great day for an outdoor concert!

More photos after the break!

Musical Nooners

Three more weeks left of Musical Nooners, 40 concerts in 40 days by CBC Vancouver! For an hour everyday from noon to 1pm, local and international artists will be performing on CBC Vancouver's outdoor stage at 700 Hamilton Street! Yet another opportunity to check out some free music in Vancouver!

Check out the schedule of artists at CBC's B.C. Community Blog.

P.S. Is anyone going to check out David Vertesi on August 25th? :)

Khatsalano! West 4th Art + Music Festival

This weekend we attended the Khatsalano! Festival in Vancouver. We watched two shows, David Vertesi and Aidan Knight, although we did see some special guests too!

DAVID VERTESI:
       We've seen Dave perform many times and, as usual, it was very enjoyable. I was also happy to see that Peter Carruthers joined him yet again, playing cello and bass. They performed a number of songs off of David's album Cardiography, as well as, much to the crowd's delight, his cover of Say You'll Be There (yes, the Spice Girls song). Here's Dave's performance of this cover from his show at the Commodore in May!
      I also noticed that Dave seemed to be covered in glitter, although I don't know the story behind that one..
    On a personal note, I just have to say that I always enjoy watching Peter on stage. He's entertaining, passionate and so talented! It's nice to see him play alongside Dave :)

Here's Dave singing "Say You'll Be There"

If you...

Put two

And two together

You will see

What our

Friendship

Is two.. err wait

Five? No wait, I mean for/four :P

Nerds break!

Never eat Nerds on stage unless you have enough to share?

Nerds make everyone happy :)

AIDAN KNIGHT & THE FRIENDLY FRIENDS (and guests):
       For more info on Aidan Knight (and on his special guests) click here!
       Between talking about his grandmother, pizza, and his innate awkwardness, Aidan put on an emotional set highlighting all of his and his band's musical talents! He opened with "Friendly Fires" and closed the show with a "dance party on stage". Even the crowd stood up for the last few songs to dance along!
  

    But the most exciting part of the show was when Aidan invited a number of special guests on stage! All of the members of Said the Whale, along with David Vertesi and Ashleigh Ball, joined Aidan and his band on stage to perform a couple of songs! The stage was pretty crowded but they all looked like they were having fun as they sang along with Aidan, played a number of instruments, and exchanged hugs!

Pikachu!

Who needs real drums? Just get creative and use whatever you have :)

This is Ben and Dave trying to convince Ashleigh Ball to come on stage

And... success! Who can resist Ben AND Dave?

    We also got a number of candid shots of members of Said the Whale and Ashleigh Ball as they waited in the crowd!

Ben Worcester of Said the Whale

Tyler Bancroft of Said the Whale

Nathan Shaw of Said the Whale

Ashleigh Ball of Hey Ocean!

     Thanks for checking out our post on the Khatsalano Festival!