The 2009 Juno Awards: Broadcast Preview

This afternoon media were invited to GM Place to check out the stage and set for Sunday’s television broadcast of the Juno Awards. Executive Producer John Brunton and Set Designer Peter Faragher explained a bit about the botanic (yet pretty psychedelic) set.

Meanwhile Dallas Green, of City and Colour, did some Q&A and fielded a question about how he was [mis]quoted in the paper calling the Junos “hokey”. I think he handled that well, but he was really put on the spot there for a minute. Regardless, I hear the City and Colour show at the Orpheum last night as amazing and I look forward to Sunday’s performance as well.

With regards to recent criticism claiming that the Junos award only the highest-selling artists, CTV said that only 7 categories include that data in their breakdown and full info about the nomination process can be found on their site.

Juno veterans Alan Doyle, Séan McCann, Bob Hallett of Great Big Sea mentioned that one of the best things about the Junos lately is that the awards show travels from coast to coast each year so it was nice to come to Vancouver. The 2010 Junos will be taking place in St John’s New Foundland.

There were a few more questions for comedian Russell Peters, who was enthusiastic about returning as host. Peters has been selling out venues across the country and certainly adds a fantastic and lively element of comedy to the show.

Television coverage for this Sunday’s broadcast on CTV starts with the eTalk Red Carpet at 4:00pm PT and the Awards follow at 5:00pm. During the awards show there will be performances by Bryan Adams, City and Colour (up for Artist of the Year), Crystal Shawana, Divine Brown, Great Big Sea (up for Group of the Year), Kathleen Edwards, Nickelback, Sam Roberts, Sarah McLachlan, Serena Ryder, Simple Plan and The Stills. A full list of nominated artists can be found on the Juno website.

At 8:00pm PT you can catch The Amazing Race before they do an encore of the entire show at 9:00pm. Tickets to attend the Awards broadcast are still available.

I will also be liveblogging from the Junos during the broadcast, which is great because not only do I actually get to see the show, but I’ll have time to write and update on the fly as they happen. My liveblog will go up Sunday afternoon (March 29th) around 4:00pm PT and will be published right here.