This might only seem like it appeals to people with kids, so stick with me... but every year we end up at Kerrisdale Arena for their Play Palace, which runs from late April to late August every year.
The play palace is a kid's dream land. A la-la land of bouncy castles and bouncy slides, climbing castles, and lots of play areas. It's even kind of fun for adults (foos ball, table tennis etc...)
But when I was there the other day, I got talking to one of the workers there, who said that it seemed kind of weird that once, The Clash had appeared at the arena. I said a 'woah dude, are you serious... The Clash?'
I'd heard rumours that Hendrix might have played there... but never heard concrete evidence that the arena had a place in the history of Vancouver's wicked music scene.
Well, turns out that the Kerrisdale Arena was home to Vancouver's first real rock concert, by Bill Haley and the Comets, in 1956.
Over the years, the arena hosted many of the worlds greatest bands, like the Yardbirds (featuring Jimmy Page of Zep fame, and Eric Clapton), Jefferson Airplane, Jimmy Cliff/Peter Tosh, Devo, Zappa, The Jam, Motorhead, Ozzy, The Clash (pictured below), as well as many others.
That's pretty rad for an arena in a residential neighborhood, and I love when some musical history sneaks up on me when I least expect it!
