We went to this “Gala” event tonight. It was my first and quite possibly (hopefully) last awards show that I will ever go to.
The Charlottetown Confederation Centre for the Arts’ auditorium is about the size of many class rooms I sat in at University. The high tech wizardry of a projection screen that could ascend and descend when needed was coupled with a snazzy PowerPoint (arguably one of the worst presentation software out there) presentation that was loaded with 1980’s style clipart graphics. These were also accompanied with a female voice-over with echo effect that would read out the list of nominees for each category.
There was a severe lack of paparazzi and I am sure that absolutely no one will be “a buzz” about what any of the performers were wearing.
It seems that even when performing on the big stage in the capital city, you are expected to dress like a farmer (or as K out it, “Like you just rolled out of bed after a four day bender.”)
Some of the performances were very good; others were good for a laugh. I actually went onto the Sandbar Music Group’s web site and purchased three albums as a result (you can download a couple of samplers of the artists they represent). Catherine MacLellan cleaned up winning four awards in various categories. Fugato also won a couple of awards and have an interesting sound.
The lifetime achievement award was given to Haywire. Apparently, these guys were big in the 80’s, but I did not recall who they were or any of the songs they performed. K, Rick and Kelly did, so I guess I was just the oddity in the audience.
All in all, I am not sure of if the evening was fun, interesting, funny or just plain boring. I was tempted to leave during the intermission, but as I was there with a group, I did not mention this. The second half of the show was actually much better than the first and I’m glad I stayed, so that I could brag that I managed to sit through the whole thing. I know that I will definitely not being going back to another of these award shows anytime soon. It had a very similar feel as to sitting through a grade school Xmas concert, except for slightly better chairs and no basketball nets on every side of the show.
Oh yeah, the title sponsors were PEI’s two most recent “Rock” radio stations:
- Ocean 100.3 (“We play anything.” - soft & often outdated and usually boring)
- Krock 105.5 (It still K-sucks)
You know the radio stations are really bad, when the kids all cry if I turn it on in the car and shout at me to turn it off. This is often emphasized with a constant kicking of my seat.