2022 first quarter music scene pulse

the numbers

How many gigs at how many venues by how many musicians and bands

380 gigs from the start of January to the end of March

That's a lot of live music events over a scant 90 days. It averages out to just over 4 gigs per day. When you consider that Mondays and Tuesdays have historically been really slow, it points to how strong some weekends have been. We have aleady had a number of Fridays and Saturdays where there have been more than a dozen shows to choose from in and around Kelowna.

We started last year (2021) under a provincial health order that had shuttered many venues completely, and the total of only 39 events for the first 3 months of that year was the result. In contrast, the 184 gigs in the first quarter of 2020 show that the looming pandemic had not yet hit our area deeply enough to have resulted in closures and other restrictions.

All things conidered, 2022 is looking strong, baring any future shutdowns or other unforeseeable events. To see what's happening this weekend in and around Kelowna, check out our This Weekend In Kelowna page.

This Weekend in Kelowna

49 venues have already been active this year

We feel that having just shy of 50 venues already busy is very significant, especially when you consider that in the entire year of 2020, there were only 52 spaces that held live music events. We hit 82 last year, and with the addition of a couple new spots already this year, and others waiting for approval, we expect to be bumping up against 90 arenas, theatres, wineries, craft breweries, restaurants and other places to have hosted music and musicians by the end of 2022.

Some of those new spaces have been very active, in fact, they number amongst the businest venues of the year so far. I'm thinking of Grizzly Bear Bistro + Bar and Salt & Brick, both who have had live music on multiple nights per week this year. It's also good to have some of Kelowna's long standing venues like O'Flannigan's and The Blue Gator in town, and Whiski-Jacks over on the west side open up to live music again.

If you want to check out the new venues, please check out our New Music Venues page, and if you're a westsider and want to see how active your side of the bridge is these days, head over to our West Side Scene section for a listing of all the venues and all the upcoming gigs in your neck of the woods. Of course, dozens of local venues can be found on our Venues In Kelowna page.

Music Venues in Kelowna

95 artists played somewhere in and around town in the frst three months

With most restrictions lifted and major artists touring again, we have seen a handful of international artists already hit Kelowna stages, including such major Canadian stars as Sue Foley and Alex Cuba. Having said that, the vast majority of gigs have been played by local artists and bands.

With there being so few gigs played in town at the start of last year, it should be no surprise that only 16 artists got to play at all. It's interesting to look at the numbers back in 2020 where almost as many had gigs as the start of this year. That suggests that we may indeed to looking at a "back to normal" situation for the remainder of the year.

It's always good to see some of Kelowna's more well known artists like Poppa Dawg, James Hay, and Jeff Piattelli grabbing lots of gigs, it's also exciting to see younger, or at least newer to the scene, artists like Shalisa Liesch, Jessica Le, and Nevaeh Dyson playing and booking lots of events as well. It's that combination of more established as well as more recent artists that bodes well for the future of the local scene, not just for this year, but for many years into the future. Our ever-expanding list of local musicians can be found on our Local Musicians Page.

Local Musicians

So what's behind the numbers

It would be easy to complicate something that's really quite simple, but it would be just as easy to miss some of the little subtleties that we have caught glimpses of over the past few weeks. We wouldn't want to do that, because we try to shine some well deserved light on everyone who is contributing. That, and our local music scene is made up of literally hundreds of people, all who love music.

Things like the ability for some of the clubs like Whiski-Jacks and The Blue Gator and O'Flannigan's being able to have live music again. That has instantly translated to actual gigs for full bands on top of all the things that were available for solos and duos and the occasional trio last year.

Not to be ignored is the emergence of quite a few new spaces and places that are hosting live music these days. Some of these started late last year, like Shore Line Brewing and Lakesider Brewing, others early this year like Salt & Brick and Grizzly Bear Bistro + Bar

Some of these venue owners and managers are so into becoming part of the local music scene. I'm thinking of people like Steve at Shore Line, and Jason at Salt & Brick, and Kieren over at Lakesider, and Sunder out at Grizzly Bear. We can not only hear it in their voices when we speak on the phone, but sense it in the digital communications they have with us as well.

There's also both the reinvigoration of many of the people that have been part of the scene for decades as well as the introduction of newcomers, whether they are youngsters just starting out or others moving in from other places.

We would be remiss not to mention how good it is to see Gonzo out and about again. Both Brad Krauza, who runs the show, and Shane Collins, who is both shooting and writing pieces for them, have been out to many events and that only increases the visibility for everybody involved.

While we may not have been in exactly the same boat over the past couple years, the old adage that "a rising tide lifts all ships" still applies.