After a rocky year-and-more of the pandemic, Oliver’s Venables Theatre is going live on July 28 with the first of many performances to come.

Canadian musician Harry Manx, a familiar face to the music scene across the Okanagan, will be performing two live shows, one at 5:30 p.m. and the second at 7:30 p.m.

The blues musician, with his trademark eastern stylings and his unique 20-string fusion of guitar and sitar, has played stages from the Dream Cafe to the Salmon Arm Roots and Blues Festival.

“We had tried to bring Harry Manx in last year, but we were shut down and that couldn’t happen,” said general manager Leah Foreman. “He agreed to come back this year and we’re really excited to open with Harry.”

The two shows both have limits of just 50 people, and tickets are selling quickly. It’s a good sign to Venables that the community has been ready and waiting for the opportunity to get back to the theatre.

The smaller audience size gives the performances a more intimate feeling as a side benefit of the safety precautions.

READ MORE: Curtain closes on COVID-19, opening Vernon stage for live events

“It feels good to be able to welcome people back to the theatre,” said Foreman. “We never really jumped on the virtual recording bandwagon, because we’re a live performance venue.”

Following after Manx is the dance performance Tour, by Vancouver collective Mardon and Mitsuhashi. The outdoor show had been planned to take place regardless of whether indoor restrictions were dropped or kept in place.

“It’s just an artistic piece that we don’t usually see in this area,” said Foreman. “We’ve been working with a group called Made in B.C. and received some grants from them, and we saw their showcase and picked them to come here.”

Tour runs July 30, 31 and Aug. 1, with tickets available for $15. Tickets for Harry Manx’s shows are $45 and both are available online at venablestheatre.ca/coming-soon.

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