As you know from following our live tweets & photos, we spent the weekend in Victoria for BC Festival 150, a celebration of British Columbia’s 150th Birthday which included a series of free concerts. People lined up early in the morning to get good positions for the live concerts, and over 106,000 people packed the streets of downtown Victoria for the main stage concerts on Monda
y.
Duane & I arrived in Victoria Sunday morning, with Ianiv arriving later that afternoon. On Sunday night we scored media passes for the Splash Symphony presentation, and were invited onto the barge to take some photos. It wasn’t the best photography set-up, but it was fun to be behind-the-scenes of the concert.
The three of us spent most of Monday parked in front of the main stage taking photos or listening to the free concerts. The artist lineup included Burt Cummings, Dal Richards & Guests, Colin James, Sarah McLachlan & Feist, among others. We arrived early in the morning and were the only photographers there during Sarah McLachlan’s sound check, where she performed parts of various songs (some of which she did not perform later, so that was a treat).
Sarah McLachlan was the highlight of the day. The light was great for her set, so photos were great, but just listening to her was a treat. She stood alone on the stage, singing and alternately playing the piano or guitar. She has a strong, confident voice that carries so much emotion. An amazing amazing performer.
Feist was the last artist of the day, doing her full tour performance for an hour and a half. Her style was definitely alternative, and I am not as familiar with all of her music. Her concert was as much visual as it was musical, incorporating shadow panels, finger painting art projections, props and her own incorporation of looping audio snippets. She’s a very interesting artist to watch, and very talented. A strong and distinctive voice and a humble individual.
To the Junos & Back
Two of the artists, Alex Cuba and Feist, won Juno Awards this year. It was great to come full circle and to see them performing live.
We haven’t yet uploaded the video segments from our weekend trip, so stay tuned for those.
Tags: bc150, bc 150, bc festival 150, feist, victoria, alex cuba, sarah mclachlan, canadian musicians, concert, festival
Tomorrow morning I’ll be meeting up with 
