All posts tagged with: Live

This summer, some of the hottest acts including Marianas Trench, Joe Jonas, One Republic, Dragonette, Cobra Starship, and Carly Rae Jepson, are coming to perform at Playland from July 6-8, 2012.

The teen-targeted music festival is the first-ever of its kind in North America. All together there will be 21 exciting live concerts, seven each day over the three day event.

“We’re thrilled to be able to offer this incredible teen summer music festival and believe it will be a great way for youth to kick-off the summer season,” said Mike McDaniel, President and CEO, Pacific National Exhibition.  “We think it’s a fantastic addition to our summer programming at Playland and will be a great lead in to our 17-day Summer Night Concert Series that happens nightly during the Fair at the PNE.”

The PNE amphitheater stage acts include Dragonette, Carly Rae Jepsen, Marianas Trench, Danny Fernandes, Gym Class Heroes, OneRepublic, Hot Chelle Rae, Joe Jonas and Cobra Starship.

Park Stage acts: DiRTY Radio, Kaylee Johnston, Neverest, The Proper Villains, Jackie Valentine, Eric Solomon, Kristina Maria, Jesse Giddings, Victoria Duffield, and The New Cities.

Single and multi-day concert ticket holders will have full access to all the rides at Playland too.

Tickets are now on sale through Ticket Leader or and the PNE. Single Day tickets are $59 for Bleachers, $89 for Floor and $129 for VIP.  Three day Festival Passes are $159 for Bleachers, $229 for Floor and $329 for VIP.

After playing at the Closing Ceremonies live in Whistler for the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games in March 2010 and signing with record label, Epic, in November 2010, Andrew Allen’s career was launched into fast-forward in 2011.

The BC acoustic / pop artist started off 2011 with a 6-month, 45 state tour across North America. From West Chester, PA, to Columbus, OH, to San Francisco, every stop along the way was full of fun and adventure for Andrew and his band.

Throughout his tour, Andrew Allen opened for some of the biggest names including Josh Radin, Barenaked Ladies, Bruno Mars, Lifehouse and The Script.

Andrew Allen and his band recently played in Vancouver, BC at the Pacific National Exhibition.

Andrew admits that although he had a great time traveling all across America, performing in front of so many of his fans, it’s always nice to come home and to relax.

“The hardest thing about coming off the road is getting used to doing things again, like making the bed and cooking,” Andrew said.

This fall Andrew is back in the studio and is as busy as ever. He has been working on writing new songs for other up-and-coming artists and has a few new songs of his own. I Want You has just been recorded and is set to release this fall in Canada, and Time Will Tell will be released in the near future.

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Vancouver and Bon Jovi have a special bond; it is where “Slippery When Wet”, “New Jersey” and “Keep The Faith” albums were recorded, which feature some of their best loved hits. Bon Jovi’s latest tour “Bon Jovi Live 2011″, rolled into Vancouver for a two night stand on March 25 and 26, 2011.

The show kicked off with the band assembling on the stage hidden from the main audience by a giant video screen. When the screen parted the band jumped into action, minus Jon Bon Jovi himself.  Concert-goers could hear his voice but he wasn’t onstage – he was performing on his own on a mini stage amongst the fans at the opposite end of the arena. What an unexpected treat for the fans who had those seats!

At the end of that song Jon came to the main stage, crossing the floor through the crowd, to join bandmates Richie Sambora, David Bryan, Tico Torres, (unofficial member) Hugh McDonald and Bobby Bandiera.

Since this tour is in support of their latest Greatest Hits compilation all of the requisite hits were performed as the band took the crowd on a trip through their catalogue of great songs. Considering how young they all look and the energy they’re putting out it’s hard to believe they’ve been doing this for nearly 30 years!

Even though they’ve probably performed these songs endless times over the decades they still make them sound fresh and vibrant and there is very little tinkering with the classics. This is straight ahead rock & roll and, as the case with some of the more recent singles, a little bit country, and the audience loved it.

The crowd energy lulled for some of the lesser known singles but the setlist didn’t allow that to go on for very long as another great hit was always just around the corner.  Huge crowd participation followed the BIG songs, “You Give Love A Bad Name”, “Bad Medicine” (which featured a great interlude of the Rod Stewart classic, “Hot Legs”), “Lay Your Hands On Me”, “I’ll Be There For You”.

The encores of “Wanted: Dead Or Alive” and “Living On A Prayer” really had the crowd in a sing-along mood, nearly overpowering the band at times.  It was amazing for a cross section of society and ages to bond over a common love…one of the favourite moments doesn’t feature the band but a few small children who seemed so excited to be at the concert and were singing and dancing all night long (or at least until bedtime).

The stage, lighting and monitors were impressive and built to allow everyone to feel close up and included in the show. The band really connected with the audience, even those of behind the stage were acknowledged many times throughout the evening.  The attention to the fans and details might also be a reason why they had the best selling tour of 2010, with this “Live 2011″ tour still in the early stages there’s a good chance they’ll have the top 2011 tour too.

Article and photos contributed by Jay Minter.