Westward Music Festival

The Westward Music Festival is a 6-day music festival that was set to take place in 2021 at various venues on September 8th to 13th in downtown Vancouver.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Westward Music Festival in 2020 was cancelled. In 2021, it was scheduled to run in September, from Wednesday the 8th until Monday the 13th, but was cancelled again.

Westward Music Festival 2021

Hoping to celebrate its fourth year in 2021, the Westward Music Festival features international bands playing multiple genres of music at The Biltmore Cabaret, The Imperial, The Fox, The Vogue and more. In previous years there was also a free street party with events and additional concerts in Yaletown.

Scheduled performers in 2021 included bbno$ (from Vancouver), Bryce Vine (from America), French 79 (from France), and others. See below for the full planned lineup.

Festival Ticket Rates

As of spring 2021, no full festival wristbands were being sold. However, a variety of ticket bundles were available that included access to three different shows. Bundle prices ranged from about $40 up to about $70.

Tickets for individual concerts were also available. Costs were between $10 and $40 each (plus taxes and fees), with the average being about $25.

Ticketed Concert Schedule

The scheduled music lineup for 2021 is listed below. Sadly, the entire event was cancelled due to COVID.

Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Bryce Vine and Turbo – The Vogue Theatre
Madison Olds and daysormay – The Fox

Adam Mah in Concert — Adam Mah at the Fox Cabaret in 2019

Thursday, September 9, 2021

Night Lovell and So Loki – The Vogue Theatre
Deante’ Hitchcock – Imperial
Turbo – The Biltmore Cabaret
Nyssa and Angel T33th – The Fox

Emily Brimlow at the Vogue Theatre in 2019

Friday, September 10, 2021

Brownies and Lemonade and K?D – The Vogue Theatre
Chris LaRocca x Sylo Nozra and MONEYPHONE – Imperial
Robotaki – The Biltmore Cabaret
Noble Son, Sam Lynch, and Cam Blake – The Fox
Hotel Mira – The Rickshaw

Saturday, September 11, 2021

bbno$ and BAINS. – The Vogue Theatre
Odie and slchld – Imperial
Rare Americans – The Biltmore Cabaret
Ferris & Sylvester and Dacey – The Fox
Ekkstacy – Biltmore Ballroom
Chad VanGaalen – The Rickshaw

Sunday, September 12, 2021

Bye Felicia and Kandy Muse – The Vogue Theatre
Haviah Mighty and Naduh – Imperial
Balming Tiger – The Biltmore Cabaret

Monday, September 13, 2021

French 79 and Kelland – The Biltmore Cabaret

A Westward Festival Concert at the Vogue

Yaletown Street Party

In 2019 the Yaletown Street Party took place in Yaletown Park (at 901 Mainland Street) on the Friday between 4:00 and 10:00 pm. The free music continued the following day on Mainland Street between Nelson Street and Davie from noon until 10:00 pm.

At the street party there were alcoholic drinks for sale, a few food trucks and a stage or two with live music. Admission was free, but there is usually a covered area for folk who’ve paid for VIP tickets.

To give you an idea of what to expect out of this event, the 2019 schedule is listed below (hopefully future years are similar):

(Note: Times, venues and performer details were subject to change.)

Wednesday, September 13th, 2019

4:00 pm – Biawana
5:00 pm – Meltt
6:00 pm – Old Soul Rebel
7:00 pm – Diamond Cafe
8:30 pm – Jo Passed

Saturday, September 14th, 2019

1:00 pm – Glass Forest
2:00 pm – Prado
3:00 pm – HOFFEY
4:00 pm – Sam the Astronaut
5:00 pm – Phono Pony
6:00 pm – The Tourist Company
7:00 pm – Rare Americans
8:30 pm – I M U R

Westward Music Festival Street Party — Yaletown Street Party

Tips and Advice

Below are some suggestions and extra information to help you make the most out of your experience at the Westward Music Festival.

TIP #1: The festival features music from a wide range of genres. Unless you like all kinds of music, check out the background of individual artists in advance if you aren’t familiar with them. Not everyone likes rap, not everyone likes heavy metal and not everyone likes the acoustic guitar. There is something for every taste, but not everything is necessarily for everyone.

TIP #2: If you like live music but don’t want to pay for it, go to the concerts at the Yaletown Street Party if it happens.

TIP #3: Don’t drink and drive. Have fun, but plan how to get home in advance. And take public transit if you can.

TIP #4: Some of the bands attract big crowds and tickets to their shows sell out. With other bands though, especially the non-headliners at the starts of the night, the audience can be pretty small (but not always). It depends on the artist, but also the time and the venue. If the cover charge for the show costs $15 or less, expect things to be slower, especially early in the evening. For concerts costing $40, expect the place to be packed and for the show to sell out.

TIP #5: Some of the venues are big and fairly fancy (like the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in some years). Some are older, but classics and pretty cool (like the Vogue Theatre and Fox Cabaret). And some are older, less fancy and harder to find, at least they were for us (like the Biltmore Ballroom). This last one was also a “dry event” and didn’t sell alcohol when we went in 2019.