Its May, and you know what that means - festival season is upon us! Here, in no particular order, are my suggestions for this summer's music and arts festivals, feel free to make any suggestions in the comments section.
1. Northwest Folklife Festival, Seattle WA,May 24-27th 2013,
Certainly one of the cheaper (OK, the cheapest) festivals in the area this summer, admission is by donation, and it caters to a wide variety of musical/artistic tastes and interests.
Website and Full Schedule here...
2. Vancouver Island Music Fest, Comox Valley Fairgrounds, July 12th-14th 2013
This festival has previously been ranked one of the best outdoor festivals in North America. It often has While significantly more expensive than the other festivals I've mentioned, Its worth it if you're into more obscure or traditional folk music over pop-folk and indie rock, or if you want to attend a more rural festival.
Music Festival website
2. Vancouver Folk Festival, Vancouver BC, July 19-21st, 2013
The festival schedule hasn't been announced yet, but this is certainly one of the more affordable folk festivals in BC, especially for seniors and students. Weekend passes for university students (with ID) are $90 for the weekend, and $65 for seniors. I'll likely post about this again after the full schedule is announced. Vancouver Folk Fest website
3. Capitol Hill Block Party, Seattle WA, July 26th-28th 2013.
Single day passes (for $40) and weekend passes ($115) on sale now. Arguably, the major draw this year is The Flaming Lips, although the lineup includes well known indie bands such as STRFKR, Pickwick, and Hey Marseilles!, as well as lesser-known, but still good local bands like Katie Kate, and Unnatural Helpers.
Website
4. Bumbershoot, Seattle WA, August 31st - September 2nd.
For the last two years, this festival appears to have been heading downhill, as ticket prices increased, and the variety of musicians, artists, and performers decreased. Essentially, it seemed to be headed in the same direction as Sasquatch (poorly managed, overpriced, and overrated). However, this year's lineup has a significant number of well known artists (FUN, Tegan and Sara, Deathcab For Cutie) to as well as well known indie bands (Matt and Kim, Ra Ra Riot, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down) and a variety of lesser known local indie bands (Sol, Kithkin, The Redwood Plan)
Website
Showing posts with label Victoria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Victoria. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Camas 3rd Folkin Anniversary - Victoria's Five Dollar Cover?
Sunday night, after moviing into my new place, I decided to go to the 3rd Folkin Anniversary at Camas books. I decided to go partially because it was affiliated with the Victoria Anarchist bookfair, and I hadn't been able to go to it. Plus, who says no to a $5 concert? if its bad, its bad, who cares, it only cost $5, if its good, its a bargain (especially around here). When I got to the bookstore, there were a few people milling around outside, with their dogs, smoking, talking, hanging out, and some people inside. I went inside and found a seat, and slowly people began to wander in, and the store was full of dirty, grungy anarchist kids. they had to keep the doors closed because they had been busted for having shows before - the smell, and the temperature in the store were sort of...uncomfortable.
I can't tell you what the bands were called, partially because I have a feeling most of the bands that played were loosely organized groups of friends, but also because I can't remember. (each really only played for 10-15 minutes) What I do remember was this
- there was a woman who sang and played guitar, she hard blue hair and the most amazing voice. I asked the grungy looking kid next to me what she was called, I think he said Starla. I could be wrong though
- An older couple, the woman who played clarinet while the guy played guitar, both would sing. their songs were political folk, poking fun at government, pharmaceutical companies, and a host of other issues.
- Buffalo Buffalo - a four piece band, there was a fiddle, a guitar, and some other instruments I cant remember. they were pretty good.
I left after that, even though there was an hour or so left before it was finished. The cops were starting to drive around the block, and some (very) drunk people were starting trouble, spilling outside of the building, and making a racket.
I left then, because getting arrested was not high on my list of priorities, and I had class to go to in the morning.
I learnt something that night - Victoria does have a music scene, albiet a small one, and not even close to the size of the music scenes in Vancouver or Seattle. The scene here is also closed, for lack of a better word - its difficult to find out abotu things, to find what is worth seeing, unless you know artists, or people who are involved in the music scene.
I can't tell you what the bands were called, partially because I have a feeling most of the bands that played were loosely organized groups of friends, but also because I can't remember. (each really only played for 10-15 minutes) What I do remember was this
- there was a woman who sang and played guitar, she hard blue hair and the most amazing voice. I asked the grungy looking kid next to me what she was called, I think he said Starla. I could be wrong though
- An older couple, the woman who played clarinet while the guy played guitar, both would sing. their songs were political folk, poking fun at government, pharmaceutical companies, and a host of other issues.
- Buffalo Buffalo - a four piece band, there was a fiddle, a guitar, and some other instruments I cant remember. they were pretty good.
I left after that, even though there was an hour or so left before it was finished. The cops were starting to drive around the block, and some (very) drunk people were starting trouble, spilling outside of the building, and making a racket.
I left then, because getting arrested was not high on my list of priorities, and I had class to go to in the morning.
I learnt something that night - Victoria does have a music scene, albiet a small one, and not even close to the size of the music scenes in Vancouver or Seattle. The scene here is also closed, for lack of a better word - its difficult to find out abotu things, to find what is worth seeing, unless you know artists, or people who are involved in the music scene.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Natalie Portman's Shaved Head is awesome + Concert Review
One of my favorite bands at the moment is Natalie Portman's Shaved Head (NPSH). They're an electro-pop/punk band out of Seattle WA.
Their music has a hyper, poppy dance club feel to it, listening to it makes you want to dance like nobody's watching.
Recently, I was able to see Natalie Portman's Shaved Head play at Lucky Bar, here in Victoria. I was fortunate enough to get tickets, the concert had actually sold out in advance, and I was lined up with about 10 other people to get in. Even though we had to stand in line for about an hour, eventually everybody got into the venue, and it was definitely worth the wait. The opening band was OK, but when NPSH got on stage, everybody started dancing. There was glitter, there were balloons, streamers, it was more like a giant dance party thank a rock concert. And you didn't care if you looked like an idiot dancing.
Their music has a hyper, poppy dance club feel to it, listening to it makes you want to dance like nobody's watching.
Recently, I was able to see Natalie Portman's Shaved Head play at Lucky Bar, here in Victoria. I was fortunate enough to get tickets, the concert had actually sold out in advance, and I was lined up with about 10 other people to get in. Even though we had to stand in line for about an hour, eventually everybody got into the venue, and it was definitely worth the wait. The opening band was OK, but when NPSH got on stage, everybody started dancing. There was glitter, there were balloons, streamers, it was more like a giant dance party thank a rock concert. And you didn't care if you looked like an idiot dancing.
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