Polaris Pics (Plus An Insider’s POV)

September 22nd, 2009

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Yo. This year’s Polaris Gala was an extreme extravaganza of extra good times. Make sense? No? Screw you, it’s 3am.

My bestie asked me 10 minutes before the big announcement who I thought would win? I said K’Naan or Fucked Up. See, as much as this award is based on artistic merit, it seems like there’s a big political game involved too. Like, Patrick Watson wouldn’t be chosen, cause he already won in 2007. We’re Canadian. We’re fair. Metric has tasted arguably more success than anyone else on the list, so they’re outta the running. An urban artist has yet to win and K’Naan’s album was fierce, so he had a fighting chance. And then there was Fucked Up, this hardcore band from Toronto with a lot of buzz behind ‘em but gushing with danger. The underdogs, if cool enough, always do well. And in the end, the underdog ran away with the cheque.

Notes from the show, plus photos after the jump!

Watching this show from the inside was pretty electric. Emily & Jimmy from Metric kicked things off with acoustic versions of “Help, I’m Alive” and “Gimme Sympathy”. It made me a happeh little music fan to discover that each band would perform 2 tracks each!

It’s interesting to be in a room filled with artists who are there to celebrate each other’s hard work and perform what is technically a private showcase. As the *cough cough*booze*cough* flowed throughout the night, the room became more and more lively, more and more jubilant. When Patrick Watson emerged wearing giant alien lamp thingies and wandered the room during their performance, the audience ate it up and added rhythm with whatever they could find as noisemakers. They giggled when Chad VanGaalen lamented the lack of Leonard Cohen in the room and roared when K’Naan lit up the place with “Waving Flag”. They continued to provide percussion back-up during Elliott BROOD’s performance and was that Patrick Watson who started a food fight before the winner announcement? (Seriously – even K’Naan and Metric got involved).

Anyway, if you didn’t catch any of it online, make sure to at least watch some of it on demand. Stand out performances for me were K’Naan, Patrick Watson, Hey Rosetta! and Final Fantasy’s Owen Pallett joining Fucked Up onstage as Pink Eye stripped down to his drawers. But that’s the thing about Polaris – the music is all good, and we all have our faves for different reasons. Just be sure to take it in, and enjoy it.

[Photos by Kate Millet and Wendy Heisler]