Who doesn’t love music? No matter your age, language, culture, taste or mode of consumption music is indistinguishably a shared global experience.

Nowadays there are many different ways to consume music, but my all-time favorite is live! I mean, we’ve been doing it this way for thousands of years. And in my opinion, it’s still the best way to enjoy music!

Live performances offer something that just can never be replicated in a recording studio. If you’ve ever been to a great live performance, you know this! You can feel it in the air — the energy, the connection, the magic… it’s unparalleled!

I remember my first live experience when I was eighteen. A friend of mine took me to watch a local band perform in a downtown bar and I absolutely loved it! The vibrations of the instruments, the emotions in the lead vocalist’s voice. The crowd vibing with the band and the band feeding off the crowd. The experience was unrivaled to anything else I had experienced. And for that reason, I go to live performances all the time now. It’s my favorite thing to do!

During a live show, there’s a connection that forms between the audience and the performer. Watching a band or musician play with a crowd of people is like watching a movie in the cinema with an audience. It offers a whole new experience and, in my opinion, a better one.

Live music also has an element of unpredictability to it. A feeling of excitement and mystery as a performance unfolds. No two gigs are ever the same. It’s all about what’s happening in the present… the here and the now. It’s a unique experience that can never be replicated in the same way. It’s not edited and fine-tuned in a studio to present a false representation to mask imperfections. True talent is witnessed in live music. There are no gimmicks, nothing to hide behind, just the music and the crowd. Just authenticity and soul.

Now that I’ve had my fill of local bars and live music experiences my favorite place to go is Macallan’s Pub in the West Island. Their Happy Hour Live Entertainment every Friday evening between 6-9 pm is something I look forward to at the end of a long work week. They truly capture the vibe I look for in terms of venue and watching a live performance and it’s my favorite part of any week.