City of Vancouver News Release
October 7, 2009

City of Vancouver to host LiveCity Vancouver
Two free, festive and fun environments to celebrate the 2010 Winter Games

During the 2010 Winter Games, the City of Vancouver, with support from the Government of Canada, will host LiveCity Vancouver - two exciting and distinct outdoor celebration sites (LiveCity Yaletown and LiveCity Downtown) in the heart of the city.

“LiveCity Vancouver is all about celebration and sharing the moment,” says Mayor Gregor Robertson. “It is about the chance to stand shoulder to shoulder with neighbours from around the block or across the country as well as new friends and visitors to our city – to experience the excitement and celebrate the true spirit of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games together.”

“This is an opportunity to take pride in our country’s rich and diverse culture, bilingual heritage, and amazing geography,” said the Honourable Gary Lunn, Minister of State (Sport). “The Vancouver sites will be a celebration of Canada’s Games and a showcase for our world-class talent. They will unify Canadians from across the country and connect with visitors from around the world. This will be a unique way for visitors and Canadians alike to experience the Games.”

LiveCity Vancouver will be the place to be for free, fun and family Games-time memories, offering top local, Canadian and international entertainment, big-screen Olympic Winter Games sporting coverage, Olympic sponsor and partner pavilions and much more.  LiveCity Vancouver will provide the opportunity to showcase and celebrate our Olympic and Paralympic athletes.

• LiveCity Yaletown – on the water’s edge at David Lam Park. LiveCity Yaletown will feature live local, national, and international entertainment on the main stage in the afternoon and into the night, culminating each evening with a dynamic nightly closing show. Giant screens will show highlights of Olympic Winter Games sport coverage and visitors can enjoy the interactive Olympic sponsor pavilions, Vancouver House, and much more… all for free! LiveCity Yaletown will be open the evening of February 11 and throughout the Olympic Games February 12 – 28 from 11 a.m. until 11 p.m. daily.


• LiveCity Downtown – an urban gathering place in the heart of the city at Georgia and Cambie Streets. LiveCity Downtown is all about the spirit of sport and competition. A giant screen will show live coverage of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games events as they unfold. This is the place to meet with friends and mingle with visitors from around the world in a lively, urban setting.  Visit 2010 Canada Pavilion and the Province of Manitoba’s pavilion; enjoy the best in local food and drink and cheer our athletes on to gold. Just steps from BC Place and General Motors Place (Canada Hockey Place), this is as close as you’ll get to the action without having a ticket.  LiveCity Downtown will be open February 13 - 28, 11 a.m. until 12:30 a.m. daily, and again March 12 – 14 and March 18 - 21, from 1 p.m. until 9 p.m. to celebrate the Paralympic Winter Games.

LiveCity Yaletown and LiveCity Downtown will be within easy walking distance of major transit routes and will be connected to General Motors Place (Canada Hockey Place), BC Place, the seawall and the downtown core by animated pedestrian thoroughfares.

Another key piece of the City’s Olympic strategy, Vancouver House, will be located at LiveCity Yaletown. Building on Vancouver’s new Green Capital business brand, Vancouver House will showcase local leadership and success stories. Vancouver House will be Green Capital in action: a clear, bold statement that says Vancouver means business.  Vancouver House will also play a key role in the City’s economic development strategy by hosting visitors, media and dignitaries.

Olympic sponsors and partners:
The City of Vancouver is pleased to have four top Olympic sponsors at LiveCity Yaletown – Acer, Coca-Cola, Panasonic, and Samsung.  Each will host an interactive pavilion with displays and programs that will enhance the LiveCity Yaletown site.  The City is also pleased to host the Government of Canada and the Province of Manitoba as government partners at LiveCity Downtown. 

Programming announcements:
There will be something for everyone on stage at LiveCity Yaletown. The following groups are representative of the wide range of talent from across Canada and around the world that will perform nightly at LiveCity Yaletown:  Alexisonfire, Allez Ouest, Blue Rodeo, Crystal Shawanda, Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley, Deadmau5, Jim Byrnes, Steve Dawson and The Sojourners, Johnny Reid, Jully Black, Malajube, the Sam Roberts Band, Wilco and Wintersleep.

There will be more announcements in the days and weeks to come and the full programming line-up will be posted at www.livecityvancouver.ca / www.villevivantevancouver.ca early in the New Year.

LiveCity Vancouver is hosted by the City of Vancouver with Live Nation Canada Inc. as Producer and Five Currents as Creative Director.  The talented team offers strong local and national producing experience and very specialised knowledge that can only come from work on past Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

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Media inquiries:
Media Contact
Corporate Communications
City of Vancouver
T: 604.871.6336

BACKGROUNDER
LiveCity Vancouver

LiveCity Vancouver Timeline:

October 2009                              Site preparation (LiveCity Yaletown, David Lam Park)
November 2009                          Site preparation (LiveCity Downtown, at Cambie & Georgia)
December 2009                          Construction of site support infrastructure begins
February 11, 2010                      Evening Community Celebration at LiveCity Yaletown
February 12–28, 2010                Open daily at LiveCity Yaletown
February 13–28, 2010                Open daily at LiveCity Downtown
Early March 2010                        Paralympic Games preparations (LiveCity Downtown)
                                                    Site restoration David Lam Park (LiveCity Yaletown)
March 12–14 and 18-21, 2010    Hours of operation at LiveCity  Downtown
May 2010                                    LiveCity Downtown site returned to parking use
June 2010                                   David Lam Park field reopens for public use

LiveCity Vancouver Production Team:

FiveCurrents is a creative and production firm based in Monterey, California. FiveCurrents’ mission is to capture the flow of human emotion in order to leave a deep and lasting impression on all who experience their projects. FiveCurrents has the flexibility to adapt to large and small-scale productions, leading production teams as large as 1,300 for its projects in 2007.

FiveCurrents productions take place worldwide, and have included the Opening and Closing Ceremonies at the XV Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, the Clinton Global Initiative, Super Bowl Saturday Night, SportAccord 2009 Opening Ceremony, Disneyland’s 50th Anniversary and the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games. Most recently FiveCurrents served as the Executive Producers of bid presentations and films for the successful Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games Candidate City Bid, playing an integral role in bringing the Games to South America for the first time.   www.fivecurrents.com

Live Nation is the global leader in live entertainment. Each year Live Nation produces over 28,000 events in 18 countries servicing 64 million attendees.  With 126 venues ranging in size and type from 500 person clubs to 30,000+ capacity seasonal outdoor amphitheatres, Live Nation is the premier venue owner/operator in the world.  Live Nation is also the largest owner/producer of multi-artist, multi-day festivals in the world including Glastonbury Festival in the UK, Way Out West in Sweden and the Great New York State Fair.  Additional to this list of credentials is the producing role for the Games of the 20th Winter Olympiad Medals Plaza in Torino, the Super Bowl XXXVI Halftime Show (featuring U2), and the SARS Concerts for Toronto (the largest concerts ever produced in Canada). 

As one of the 23 Live Nation global offices, Vancouver is one of the two that form the Canadian company that collectively produce over 1300 shows, from coast to coast, every year.  The Vancouver office produces more than 760 shows across western Canada per year, 275 of which are in the City of Vancouver alone.  Locally, Live Nation operates and programs temporary venues at Deer Lake Park, Malkin Bowl and Thunderbird Stadium in addition to owning, operating and programming the Commodore Ballroom.  Live Nation brings its global capacity, infrastructure, experience and relationships localized in the Vancouver office to its role as Producer, LiveCity Vancouver. www.livenation.com.

LiveCity Vancouver Performer Bios:
The following groups are representative of the wide range of talent that will perform nightly at LiveCity Yaletown: Alexisonfire, Allez Ouest, Blue Rodeo, Crystal Shawanda, Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley, Deadmau5, Jim Byrnes, Steve Dawson and The Sojourners, Johnny Reid, Jully Black, Malajube, Sam Roberts Band, Wilco and Wintersleep.

There will be more announcements in the days and weeks to come and the full programming line-up will be posted at www.livecityvancouver.ca / www.villevivantevancouver.ca early in the New Year.

Alexisonfire
Alexisonfire rose up out of the Southern Ontario underground in late 2001, hitting the ground with an immediate full head of steam. The band shot into the spotlight with numerous awards and accolades including a Gold Record in Canada for both debut and sophomore albums and New Group of the Year at the 2005 Junos.  Alexisonfire comes to LiveCity Vancouver from an extensive European tour and en route to Australia.  www.theonlybandever.com   

Allez Ouest
Allez Ouest first came together to represent Alberta’s French community at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington D.C. in 2006 and has since carved out a new sound, born on the prairies and captured in their first full-length album Hybride. www.allezouest.com

Blue Rodeo
For nearly thirty years, Blue Rodeo has taken the road less travelled - and succeeded far beyond anyone's expectations. Led by songwriter/vocalist/guitarist combo Greg Keelor and Jim Cuddy, they have amassed over 4 Million units in sales and were recently given a Star on Canada’s Walk of Fame.  The band has won 12 Juno Awards, including a record breaking 5 Group of the Year Junos and the 2008 Juno for Best Group, Best Adult Alternative Album & Best Video. www.bluerodeo.com

Crystal Shawanda
Crystal Shawanda pours her heart & soul into her music, because it is her lifeline. A First Nations member of the Ojibwe band, Crystal has won numerous awards and accolades including Female Artist of the Year at the 2009 CCMA’s and Best Artist of the Year at the 2008 Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards.
www.myspace.com/crystalshawanda

Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley
Damian Marley is a reggae artist, a humanitarian and the youngest son of the late reggae legend Bob Marley. He has won three Grammy awards for his music which has a classic reggae sensibility at its core run through with streams of hip-hop, R&B and dancehall. His musical specialty is "toasting" a Jamaican vocal technique that is a predecessor to rapping.
www.myspace.com/damianmarley

Deadmau5
In less than a year, the hottest talent in the world of electronic music, Canadian based whiz kid Deadmau5, has gone from near obscurity to receiving the accolade of Producer Of The Year; beating various supremos to the top spot, whilst becoming the number one selling artist on Beatport and the most in demand producer. www.deadmau5.com

Jim Byrnes, Steve Dawson and The Sojourners
Jim Byrnes is fast becoming a Canadian blues legend. In 1981 he formed the blues group, The Jim Byrnes Band and has become a staple of the Vancouver music scene. In 1996, he won the Juno award for Best Blues/Gospel Album for "That River."  The result of a musical meeting between Jim and Steve Dawson (of Zubot & Dawson) created the release of Jim’s “Fresh Horses.” The Sojourners trio originally came together to provide background vocals to Jim Byrnes’s Juno award winning CD "House of Refuge." Jim was so pleased with the trio's contribution to his CD that he christened them, "The Sojourners."
www.jimbyrnes.org
www.thesojourners.ca
www.stevedawson.ca

Johnny Reid
Johnny Reid is a bright star in Canadian Country Music, with two top ten radio singles in “Love Sweet Love” and “Kickin’ Stones” and the runaway hit, “Darlin.” 2009 is turning out to be a stellar year for the Scottish Born, Canadian singer/songwriter, who just garnered five awards at the CCMA’s including Male Artist of the Year, Album of the Year for “Dance with Me” and Fans Choice Award.  www.johnnyreid.com

Jully Black
Toronto native Jully Black has penned songs for Destiny’s Child and Nas, shared the stage with Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Bon Jovi, Josh Groban and Usher, and collaborated with virtually every influential hip-hop artist in the country and some of the nation’s best songwriters, including Ian Thornley, Dallas Green and Hawksley Workman.   Her debut album This Is Me firmly established her as one of Canada’s most revered music stars. Jully Black’s audience has grown further with a regular spot doing celebrity reporting on CTV’s eTalk.   www.jullyblack.com

Malajube 
Montreal’s indie rock band Malajube is a crossover hit, charming multilingual crowds with their mix of lullaby-like dream pop and full-throttle rock. In addition to proudly winning four Felix awards in their native province, the band’s third full-length album, Labyrinthes garnered a Polaris Music Prize nomination.  http://www.bonsound.com/en/artists_detail.php?id=6

Sam Roberts Band
Montreal-based Sam Roberts Band continues to be one of Canada’s most exciting rock acts. Winners of the 2009 Juno Artist of the Year as well 2009 Rock Album of the Year for Love at the End of the World, the band has been touring extensively around the world in support of their three albums. www.samrobertsband.com
 
Wilco
GRAMMY-award winning Wilco from Chicago was formed following the break-up of the influential alternative country music group Uncle Tupelo. Wilco's music has been inspired by a wide variety of artists and styles, including Bill Fay and Television and has in turn influenced music by a number of modern alternative rock acts.  Their 2006 album Kicking Television: Live in Chicago, was voted one of the Top 20 best live albums by Q Magazine. www.wilcoworld.net

Wintersleep
Wintersleep is a Canadian indie rock band from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Following the release of their 2005 self-titled album, Wintersleep, the band hired veteran producer Tony Doogan (Mogwai, Belle & Sebastian and Super Furry Animals). In 2007, Wintersleep released their third full-length album, Welcome to the Night Sky and won the 2008 Juno Award for New Group of the Year. www.wintersleep.com

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Media inquiries:
Media Contact
Corporate Communications
City of Vancouver
T: 604.871.6336