Surely by now you know that a shocked Lido Pimienta won the Polaris Music Prize this year, beating out the likes of Feist, Leonard Cohen and Gord Downie. Surely by now you also have read about the expletive laced speech Lido gave after her initial speech about the sound guy that somehow is overshadowing the fact that the Polaris Prize once again went to an underdog artist, proving once again just how diverse the Canadian music industry is once you are willing to look away from skinny white boys with guitars.
Let’s not dwell on those facts, lets talk about the gala itself.
Taking place on a warm September Monday night, the gala took place at the prestigious Carlu, which really is one of the cooler chic places to have a gala. I do wonder why it’s on a Monday night instead of a Friday, but I guess that’s the cheapest night to rent a place like this. Then again, for musicians, maybe Monday is like a Friday to them. I know this is the case for bartenders.
Let’s move on to the important things. How was the food? Here’s a brief review of each food item, all of which I ate two of.
Fish Tacos – nothing special. I think it was on a flour tortilla. Obviously this is a mass feeding situation so the fish didn’t feel like it was fresh out of the fryer. A fish taco’s real strength is blending the crispiness of the fried fish with the sweet, tangy notes of the supporting ingredients. Without that crispiness, the fish taco cannot achieve the level of tastiness that you would strive for. So in order words, average.
DIY Caesar Salad bar – Very good. A surprise entry, the DIY sat quietly in the corner but don’t let the non-prime placement of this station fool you, it was very tasty. The things that you could use to build your salad were:
– lettuce
– croutons
– gran padano cheese
– fried lentils (weird, I know)
– pickled quail egg
The pickled quail eggs were amazing. Tiny sour bites of unborn bird that packed quite a punch. Im guessing its the umami contribution to the salad that is a solid substitution for anchovies. An innovative contribution to the night, for sure.
3 Kinds of Grilled Cheese – Something I was looking forward to, but ended up a disappointment. Grilled cheese is best piping hot off the stove top, and this catered situation did the chefs no favor. The bread was lukewarm by the time they served it and the cheese wasn’t cooked into the gooey goodness you expect. Even the three kinds did it no favor, it’s kind of like when you go to those shitty big box franchise restaurants and they offer you 100 things on the menu. This was more like a warm cheese sandwich than anything.
Meatballs – Very good. It’s hard to mess up meatballs and tomato sauce, and these little packets of meat were flavorful and the sweetness of the tomato sauce complemented each bite nicely. This was Paul’s favorite thing of the evening and tied with the salad for mine.
Overall- Better than last year.
Drinks – Considering most people in the music industry are raging alcoholics and a large amount of those people are piss poor (because they are in the music industry), it seemed kind of cruel to serve wine at 9 dollars a glass and beer at 8 dollars for a tiny pour. Maybe what they were really doing was pricing up the alcohol (more expensive than last year) so that people don’t get wasted. If that’s the situation, then I guess that’s okay. All I know is next year will be flask city.
Performances
Lisa LeBlanc – It’s always tough to open an award show because most of the people are still busy networking or trying to score deals or something. However Lisa LeBlanc played a nice two song set that really showed off her versatility as an artist. The first was a rock number while the other was a whimsical almost folk song that provided some much needed humor in a year where a lot of artists took a very serious route.
BBNG / Tribe Called Red / Gord Downie / Leonard Cohen
They were no shows (some had good reasons, like being dead). This was always going to leave a gap in the night and we were all curious as to how they would tackle this. Polaris (or CBC) decided to handle this by playing either music videos or recorded live performances. Bad move, if I wanted to watch youtube videos, I would have done it at home. The music video portion of the night took a lot of momentum away from the show in terms of energy. Hopefully next year they can address it better. Holograms, I say.
Tanya Tagaq – A powerhouse performance that captured the room in it’s entirety. It was a very metal performance (she performed Rape Me) but boy, was it super intense. Tanya Tagaq’s an artist that grabs your attention from the moment her set begins and doesn’t let it go until she decides to. The song ended with many women in the crowd standing up while wearing a red dress, showing solidarity for the REDress project, a project that focuses the many many missing or murdered Aboriginal women across Canada. Find out more here.
Leif Vollebek – I’ve heard a lot about Leif and this was the first time I found out what he looks and sounds like. It was pleasant and less Starbucks then I thought. That’s all I gotta say about that.
Feist – Perfectly pleasant. Feist has a nice voice. I kind of wish Siri had her voice.
Lido Pimienta – Brought her A game to the show, despite some sound issues (as she noted post award), Lido’s voice sounded great and filled the room. Accompanying her was a whole brass or horn section and a slew of dancers. It’s great to see someone put so much effort into delivering just one song.
Weaves and Tanya Tagaq – By this point of the night, I was lamenting the fact that there wasn’t a whole lotta rock music tonight. Then Weaves came on and ended that complaint. Unfortunately, the fifteen minute wait (to fix sound issues) did the band no favors as people were anxious by then. Still, the band sounded solid and have grown a lot since I last saw them.
Last but not least, the host.
Raina Douris was by far the most professional host that I have seen at Polaris, but I thought she was too professional. I kinda like some of the amateur hour stuff they did in the past because it was less smooth. Perhaps some more humour during the show would have been nice. However if you had asked me during those times maybe I would have asked for a more professional person so who knows.
All in all, a good night.