An upcoming show will be at the Vancouver Public Library courtyard downtown.
Nathanial Young’s concert venues aren’t your typical spots, like the Leeside Skatepark, a Portland subway station and a cave in Tofino.
The L.A.-based improvisational saxophone player has garnered a couple of million followers (while still appearing to hold down a job as a server) playing his tenor or soprano saxophone in those sorts of places and sharing his point of view (which explains his social media handle @nathanialpov).
He’s returned to Vancouver this week (earlier this year he played a full hour-long set in the tunnel at Leeside Skatepark) to play more of his signature pop-up shows around B.C.’s South Coast, including the aforementioned Tofino cave (he often plays in places that offer interesting reverberations and echoes).
He doesn’t always give much notice for his shows, but two are coming up for sure. Thursday night (Oct. 8), he’ll be playing in the cave in Tofino again at 6:30 p.m. for one hour.
Then, on Friday (Oct. 9), he’s playing in a very different, and easier to access place: the downtown Vancouver library courtyard.
“I’m volunteering to do this because I think it’s extremely fun and the glass reverb is so perfect for the soprano saxophone,” he writes on social media. “I also think it’d be nice if everyone checked out a book from the library before I play and you can read it during the performance.”
He’ll be playing from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
A recent video of his shows him playing from a deck above the main courtyard at the library, as people meander below.
In another post he says he may try to play a show in Squamish.
@nathanialpov pop-up concert
When: Friday, Oct. 9, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Where: Vancouver Public Library Central Branch – 350 West Georgia St.
Cost: Free