Canadian music fans felt like they had won the lottery when they heard the Barenaked Ladies — all five of them — sing If I Had A Million Dollars at Sunday night’s Juno Awards.
Balloons filled with fake cash dropped from the ceiling in the closing act of the live awards broadcast at Rogers Arena and a jubilant audience sang along with the newly inducted Music Hall of Famers.
And, as obviously as the crowd was rejoicing that one of their favourite bands had been made whole, the looks on the Ladies’ faces showed they too were enjoying every second of the reunion.
Steven Page joined former bandmates Ed Robertson, Jim Creegaan, Tyler Stewart and Kevin Hearn after a nine-year hiatus from the band he helped to form as a high school student in Scarborough, Ontario.
It’s been an incredible journey “all the way to freakin’ hall of fame” for the band that’s sold 15 million albums.
The performance capped an evening of performances that illustrated why Canada has a lot to celebrate when it comes to music.
Host Michael Bublé was also marking a return to public life after dedicating the past two years to his family following his young son’s successful cancer treatments.
“It means more than you can know to come back here to my home town in front of my friends, my city, my country,” Bublé said at the start of the two-hour broadcast.
And if he really had any doubts that he’d “lost whatever it is you had in the first place,” the crowd quickly put those fears to rest.
It also meant a lot to the crowd to hear him sing Love with Diana Krall who, the previous night, had taken home two Junos, one for vocal jazz album for Turn Up the Quiet and another as the album’s producer. Their evident enjoyment reminded everyone — and perhaps the two singers themselves — what they’ve been missing for the past few years.
Other crowd-pleasing performances included Arcade Fire, who won album of the year for Everything Now; the Arkells, nominated for single, video and fan choice of the year; Lights, who won pop album of the year for Skin & Earth; breakthrough group nominees the Jerry Cans, whose song in Inuktituk put an exclamation mark on a week that highlighted the growing importance indigenous music; breakthrough artist winner Jessie Reyez, who sang her hit Figures with R & B winner Daniel Caesar.
A tribute to the late Gord Downie, featuring City and Colour and Sarah Harmer, was a bittersweet evocation of what The Tragically Hip’s lead singer meant to Canadians.
His brothers, Patrick and Mike, accepted one of the night’s most prized Junos, in his memory. Gord might have been chosen as artist of the year but “he was our man of a lifetime,” Patrick said.
Gord wanted a country that is equitable and inclusive, Mike said. “Right now we have the incredible opportunity to do just that, for indigenous and non-indigenous people to come together and create a new country and a new Canada. Gord would really like that.”
At a media Q and A after the awards, Allan Reid, the president and CEO of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Scientists, as well as the Juno Awards and MusiCounts, was pretty chuffed with the success of the night.
“It was quintessential Canadiana tonight. It felt really great,” he said of the first time the show was broadcast live across the country. “The city of Vancouver did an amazing job hosting us. Thank you, Vancouver.”
While the majority of the awards were handed out at a gala dinner at Canada Place the night before, six awards were announced during Sunday’s show:
Artist of the Year: Gord Downie
Album: Everything Now, Arcade Fire
Breakthrough Artist: Jessie Reyez
Rap Recording: Shooters, Tory Lanez
R&B/Soul Recording: Freudian, Daniel Caesar
Fan Choice: Shawn Mendes
Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductees: Barenaked Ladies
