Here’s a reason to get pumped about all Mondays this summer — the free open-air concert series, Monday Music in the Park, is back in New West.
The live show invites music lovers to sit back in the "natural grass amphitheatre" around the Centennial Lodge totem pole and listen to talented musicians perform live.
The open-air concert series produced and presented by Northern Electric, a New West-based record label, and the Columbia Strip, an underground arts and culture magazine, is in its third year now.
That’s a total of 25 free concert events since it was launched, noted Richard Chapman, founder of Northern Electric.
Known for treating its audience to a heady mix of rhythm n’ blues, boogie-woogie, country music and more in its previous editions, the series promises to present a similar cocktail of genres this season.
“This year’s lineup is a diverse mix that ranges from rockabilly and old-school country to folkier singer-songwriter sounds, rhythm n’ blues and some psychedelic jangle pop,” said Chapman, who used to be the entertainment manager at the now-burnt-down-and-demolished Heritage Grill.
Kick-starting the event series on Monday, July 3, will be the Elderly Bros, a rhythm n’ blues band of veteran musicians Gord Kearney, Lorenzo Watters and Gerry “The Sax” Potter.
The Mondays that follow will see performances by the boogie-woogie artist Mike Van Eyes and his crew of rockers, rockabilly music by Dogwood & The Shakers, and country music by Kelly Haigh and guitarist Jimmy Roy.
The end of July and start of August will feature artists such as Beau Wheeler, a queer non-binary composer known as “Vancouver’s punchiest indie singer,” New West’s psychedelic jangle-pop band, The Top Boost, and the pop band from Surrey named No Fun.
Check out the full list on the Northern Electric website, and get ready to make your Monday feel like the new Friday.
All the concerts are scheduled on Mondays from July 3 to August 14, between 6 and 8 p.m., at the Queen’s Park Centennial Lodge totem pole.
