JUMP
Where: McPherson Playhouse, 3 Centennial Sq.
When: Friday, April 5, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $57.75 from the Royal McPherson box office (250-386-6121) or rmts.bc.ca
Why: You don’t see many tributes to Van Halen focused on the band’s seven-year, six-album run from 1978 to 1984, for two very good reasons: David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen. The band’s original singer and namesake guitarist cannot be easily duplicated, which runs contrary to the foundation of tribute acts everywhere; the whole point is to sound like the group being fêted, after all. Toledo, Ohio’s Jump remains a curiosity for that very reason. What if the members can pull off the impossible and deliver near-perfect renditions of Panama, You Really Got Me and Jump? That would be something, indeed, and worth the price of admission.
THE COUNTRY MIXTAPE TOUR
Where: Capital Ballroom, 858 Yates St.
When: Tuesday, April 9, 9 p.m. (doors at 8)
Tickets: $50.94 from thecapitalballroom.com
Why: Victoria doesn’t see enough touring country acts play at the club level, so The Country Mixtape Tour (featuring Canadian country performers Tyler Joe Miller, Shawn Austin and Andrew Hyatt) offers something unique. The Island has one of the best country festivals in the province (that would be Lake Cowichan’s Sunfest), but it’s rare to see three Canadian Country Music Award nominees on the same bill and at a club-friendly price point. Take the opportunity to catch these stars-on-the-rise at the Capital Ballroom before they become main stage acts with more zeroes added to the ticket price.
FELIX CARTAL
Where: Upstairs, 15 Bastion Sq.
When: Friday, April 5, 10 p.m.
Tickets: $27.96 from upstairs.ca
Why: Vancouver’s Felix Cartal will inhabit a traditional club setting for his performance Friday, his first in Victoria following a Juno Award win for dance recording of the year (Cartal’s second trophy in four years in that category). The DJ and producer (born Taelor Deitcher) has been making headlines of late for his pop-up concerts — one of which was a sunset show at Cattle Point last year — so it will be a refreshing change of pace when he performs at Upstairs in Bastion Square tomorrow.
