The Junos! (From my hotel room.)

Photo: The Canadian Press

Yesterday was a weird experience for me.  It was the first time in five years that I wasn’t backstage at the Junos, which took place last night in Ottawa and were hosted by William Shatner.

Instead, this year I find myself in Banff, Alberta covering the Live! with Kelly show tapings, which was a happy coincidence after I decided that I wouldn’t be making the sojourn to Canada’s capital.  So instead of being caught up in the hustle and bustle of a busy awards show, last night, I was nestled in my comfy hotel room bed, eating a fruit cup and watching the Junos in my pajamas. Definitely not a look for any red carpet.

Because I was in the hotel, I didn’t have time-shifting capabilities, which means that I had to wait until 9:00pm to watch the show, which at that point, was no longer live. Many of the results had already been spoiled for me on Twitter, which I think is the strongest reason why CTV should look at airing the show live coast to coast.

Because of the later airtime and the ridiculously comfy bed, I actually only made it through the first hour of the show, before promptly falling into sleepy blogger land. I was sorta bummed to fall asleep, because I’m normally a huge fan of the show and the attention it brings to Canadian music.

Fred Chartrand / The Canadian Press

From what I did see, William Shatner has an amazing amount of energy, that helped carry a show that sorta felt unorganized.  There were too many moments of people just standing on the stage, looking around, seemingly unaware that they were still on TV. Were there prompter problems?  Not enough practice?  Those are things we’ll never know and I’m not even sure a casual Juno award watcher would even notice, but for me, the show lacked the tightness that it usually has.

Judging from I read on Twitter, Feist City and Colour, Blue Rodeo and Hey Rosetta! were the night’s top performers. Unfortunately, I missed all of those performances, I did catch the opening act of Nickelback, which was  plagued with some audio troubles (insert your own joke here) and the mix-tape performance which wasted Dragonette by making them share the stage with mediocre performers like Alyssa Reid, Mia Martina and Anjulie.  If there was ever an argument about if technology has let bad singers become better than they are, this performance was it. I have to assume that these ladies can sing, otherwise they wouldn’t have a record deal, but there was no evidence of that last night.  Not that their tween fans would’ve ever noticed.

Patrick Doyle / Reuters

Even though the Junos are scheduled a year in advance, Michael Buble, Justin Bieber and The Sheepdogs all were unable to “clear their schedules”, which would make for a boring telecast when the artists that win the three biggest awards of the night are no shows. I’m cautiously optimistic that the talent would have been there if they really could have….right?

So did you watch the Junos?  What did you think?

Here is the complete list of winners from the entire weekend.

JUNO FAN CHOICE: Justin Bieber

SINGLE OF THE YEAR: The Sheepdogs, “I Don’t Know.”

ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Michael Bublé, Christmas.

ARTIST OF THE YEAR: Feist

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR: Dan Mangan

SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR: Dallas Green for “We Found Each Other” and “Weightless,” from Little Hell.

DANCE RECORDING OF THE YEAR: Martin Solveig and Dragonette, “Hello.”

INTERNATIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Adele, 21.

NEW GROUP OF THE YEAR: The Sheepdogs.

GROUP OF THE YEAR: Arkells

COUNTRY ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Terri Clark, Roots and Wings.

ADULT ALTERNATIVE ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Feist, Metals.

ALTERNATIVE ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Dan Mangan, Oh Fortune.

POP ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Hedley, Storms.

ROCK ALBUM OF THE YEAR: The Sheepdogs, Learn & Burn.

VOCAL JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Sonia Johnson, Le carré de nos amours.

CONTEMPORARY JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Phil Dwyer Orchestra featuring Mark Fewer, Changing Seasons.

TRADITIONAL JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR: David Braid, Verge.

INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Stretch Orchetstra, Stretch Orchestra.

FRANCOPHONE ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Malajube, La caverne.

CHILDREN’S ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Charlie Hope, Songs Stories and Friends: Let’s Go Play!

CLASSICAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR, SOLO OR CHAMBER ENSEMBLE: Marc André Hamelin, Liszt Piano Sonata.

CLASSICAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR, LARGE ENSEMBLE OR SOLOIST(S) WITH LARGE ENSEMBLE ACCOMPANIMENT: Alexandre Da Costa/Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Daugherty: Fire and Blood.

CLASSICAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR: VOCAL OR CHORAL PERFORMANCE: Jan Archibald/Orchestre Symphonique Bienne/Thomas Rosner, Haydn Arias.

CLASSICAL COMPOSITION OF THE YEAR: Derek Charke, “Sepia Fragments,” Sea to Sea.

RAP RECORDING OF THE YEAR: Drake, Take Care.

R&B/SOUL RECORDING OF THE YEAR: Melanie Fiona, Gone and Never Coming Back.

REGGAE RECORDING OF THE YEAR: Exco Levi, Bleaching Shop.

ABORIGINAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Murray Porter, Songs Lived & Life Played.

ROOTS AND TRADITIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR, SOLO: Bruce Cockburn, Small Source of Comfort.

ROOTS AND TRADITIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR, GROUP: The Wailin’ Jennys, Bright Morning Stars.

BLUES ALBUM OF THE YEAR: MonkeyJunk, To Behold.

CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN/GOSPEL ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Downhere, On the Altar of Love.

WORLD MUSIC ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Kiran Ahluwalia, Aam Zameen: common ground.

JACK RICHARDSON PRODUCER OF THE YEAR: Brian Howes for Hedley, “Heavens Gonna Wait” (from Storms) and Nickelback, “Trying Not to Love You” (from Here and Now).

RECORDING ENGINEER OF THE YEAR: George Seara for Michael Kaeshammer, “A Little Bit of Love” (from Kaeshammer) and Laila Biali, “Let Go” (from Tracing Light).

VIDEO OF THE YEAR: The Sadies, “Rumbleseat,” directed by Mike Roberts.

MUSIC DVD OF THE YEAR: Feist:Look What the Light Did Now.

ELECTRONIC ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Tim Hecker, Ravedeath, 1972.

METAL/HARD MUSIC ALBUM OF THE YEAR: KEN mode, Venerable.

WALT GREALIS LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Gary Slaight

ALLAN WATERS HUMANITARIAN AWARD: Simple Plan