Hey Ocean releases its album Is, May 15 and follows that with a concert at the Vogue, June 16.
For that, the trio will be joined by Kelowna’s lauded We Are The City. For a taste of Hey Ocean, sample Big Blue Wave.
This will be one of the first productions by the resurrected Perryscope Concerts. The new Perryscope is entering a digital world when people are paying much more for a concert ticket and therefore expecting better service and, optimistically, a good experience. The demand is different from when the original Perryscope set up shop in 1977. Then, most of the promoters were based in the U.S. and never took chances on doing a show in Vancouver that might be a risk. Therefore, Vancouver didn’t see developing talent and wasn’t on many touring itineraries. Perryscope changed that. Launching mainly from the Commodore, the city hosted new talent such as The Clash (playing its first ever North American concert), The Police, Jam, Blondie, The Ramones, Patti Smith and, later, U2 and Coldplay.
For a while, the original Perryscope had this market to itself. Now, Vancouver is an important concert starting point or final destination for touring bands. Bands rely more on tour revenue than record sales, social media has become important, local bands such as Hey Ocean need a boost if they want to stand above all the music (and options) available. These are a few of the challenges facing the new Perryscope and it will be fascinating to see how Dave Fortune, the new president of Perryscope, will meet them.
