Concerts & Events This Weekend in Vancouver

Things to do in Vancouver this weekend

Friday is the city’s loudest night of the week, with the Commodore, Vogue, Rickshaw, Fortune Sound Club and the Orpheum all typically running concerts simultaneously. Doors at the bigger rooms cluster around 7 to 8 p.m., which lines up with the Canucks faceoff time at Rogers Arena and creates a downtown bottleneck around Stadium-Chinatown SkyTrain.

Saturdays expand outward. In summer the calendar fills with street festivals like the Khatsahlano Street Party along West 4th in Kitsilano, the Italian Day on the Drive in Commercial Drive, the Vancouver Mural Festival in Mount Pleasant and the Car-Free Day takeovers across multiple neighbourhoods.

Bard on the Beach runs nightly Shakespeare under a tent at Vanier Park from June through September, with two stages and a sunset view of English Bay. Stanley Park summer concerts at Malkin Bowl host indie and folk headliners from Music in the Park and the occasional Live Nation date, and shows at the PNE Amphitheatre out at Hastings Park run through August and the Labour Day fair.

The Aquabus ferry from Yaletown’s Hornby Street dock or the False Creek Ferries from the West End run continuously to Granville Island, which is the easiest way to combine a Public Market dinner with an Improv Centre or Granville Island Stage show. Sundays slow down but the brunch-and-matinee combination is strong, especially around Granville Island, Main Street and Commercial Drive.

What's on by month