Mike WT Allen hasn’t been sleeping very much, which means there must be a Space Elevator concert happening!

Come experience the 20 person jazz-metal freak-show that is Space Elevator as we pay tribute to some of the best music Vancouver has to offer. Taking songs from some of his favourite local groups, Mike has arranged them in his signature “this, but more” style for the 20 piece group, and then invited the singers from those bands to perform on stage with us!

Come hear jazz-metal versions of your favourite local band’s music, or maybe even discover your new favourite group you didn’t know about! With music by Omianan, Cobra Ramone, Leo DE Johnson, The Hallowed Catharsis, Raincity, Missy D, The History of Gunpowder, Ninjaspy, Dawn Pemberton, and Five Alarm Funk!

Thursday, March 23
Doors 7:00 pm | Show 8:00 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.
General Admission Tickets $20 HERE

*Must be 19+ w/ID for entry. Sorry, Rio Theatre Groupons and passes n/a for this event.
*Online sales end an hour before showtime. Unless noted otherwise, tickets are available at the box office on the day of the show. All Rio Theatre tickets are final sale.

Described by Discorder Magazine, as “a compositional tour de force” Mike WT Allen is a composer/performer/bandleader based out of Vancouver, BC who has written music for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Hard Rubber Orchestra, Redshift Music, award winning films, as well as his own weird musical experiments. Mike is also often seen performing on festival stages or touring internationally with groups like Five Alarm Funk, History of Gunpowder, Balkan Shmalkan, as well as being spotted on stage with just about every other band in the city whenever they need a shiny over the top guy with a saxophone. Space Elevator is the 20 person jazz-metal orchestra formed by Mike WT Allen as a vehicle to deliver his weird ideas of what large ensemble music can sound like.Debuting in 2016 to a sold out Fox Cabaret the band has been making a lot of noise around the city, most recently (“recently” by pandemic standards, at least) being invited to perform on the main stage at the Vancouver Jazz Festival in the summer of 2019. In addition to their original music which is filled with “complex charts [that] combine crunching metal guitars with a billowing horn section and prog-rock keys” (The Georgia Straight) the band has covered everything from classical music to post-punk bands to a little blues ditty Mike’s uncle wrote once. You never know what to expect at a Space Elevator show, but you know it’s going to be loud, so bring ear plugs.

We acknowledge that this event takes place on the unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) peoples. We are forever thankful to be able to live and create art on this land.
We are aggressively accepting of all people at any Space Elevator event, there will be no racism, sexism, or bigotry of any kind tolerated at this concert. Don’t be a dick!