I got the pamphlet for Festival Vancouver and got pretty excited, because this is a great chance to see some really good International and Canadian Classical/World/Jazz performances. Plus, it’s overlapping with Early Music Vancouver, another favourite of mine. I was really hoping for some good cheap/free stuff since we’re still on a pretty tight budget.
Heh – was I wrong or what? Almost all the performances bottom out around 19$ for adults. Blast. After ticket fees and taxes the man and I would be looking at over 40$ for the show alone. Factor in transportation and babysitting and it’s way over. So I scoured the pamphlet in hopes of finding something we can afford to see. Oh, there it is: FREE concerts. And, my heart sinks, they’re all downtown concerts in the middle of the working day. If only I was a stay at home mom, or unemployed, or a student, or someone with a night job…. I too could enjoy three days of free jazz in midsummer.
Here’s something strange, too, if I wanted to see the Asian Music weekend, on August 5 & 6, it would be completely affordable. Each concert is 10$ but if you see four in a day it works out to be only 7$ each concert. I’ve discovered that European and North American sourced music is costlier than its Eastern cousin. Sublime, powerful and traditional asian music is, apparently, cheap cheap cheap.
If anyone who reads this does get the opportunity to see any of the Festival Programme despite venue changes due to strike etc etc, I’d love to know how it was.
