This weekend I was feeling really tired so I could only manage to walk down the road and back. Luckily for me, just down the road is Gastown which was chock a block full of people and free live jazz acts to while away a Sunday afternoon with. During the International Jazz Festival there are hundreds of acts in town – many of them you have to pay for but there are daily free concerts too.

We started off by listening to a bit of Out To Lunch while going out to lunch (yes, really) at Sitar. Then we camped out at the Gassy Jack statue in order to catch the next act on stage – The Coat Cooke Trio. There was a sax, a double bass and a drum set and the warming up sounded OK. SO said to me “The trouble with modern jazz is that you don’t know when the warm up ends and the music begins”. Then the band were introduced properly and the alarm bells started ringing with the mention of “director of the improv orchestra”. Then it began. My god, it was painful – 3 instruments playing 3 different tunes, none of them melodic and none of them in time with each other to even discern a rhythm. I’m sorry, but modern improv jazz is just as terrible as modern art in my eyes – I like to see or hear a thing of beauty in creative endeavours. Just call me old-fashioned.

We left abruptly and went to the Lamplighter pub instead – it used to be a dodgy place but they have renovated it well, and as soon as we walked in we felt a wave of joy. The Ale Stars were playing some lively swing jazz and young couples were dancing between the pool tables while the regular customers played fusball. It was a wonderful atmosphere and the band were great and a lot of fun – I hope to see them again on Canada Day when they play at Granville Island.

We missed two festivals this weekend because of my tiredness – The Dragon Boat Festival took place on False Creek just a stone’s throw from our apartment, and the Greek Day festival took place at Kits. I was really peeved that I missed the Greek festival as I didn’t know it was on last year either until it was too late. Next year I shall make it a priority to go.

There are so many festivals and free events going on in Vancouver in the summer that you’ve really got to keep on top of the diary if you want to experience what the city is about. Last weekend we missed out on Vancouver’s Car Free Day which took place in four neighbourhoods, all close by (we were nursing our stag/stagette hangovers). At the beginning of the month we missed the latest In The House festival – where various bands/dance troupes etc perform in people’s living rooms.

Some of the many Vancouver festivals are listed here and here