Friday was the start of the weekend and there were a lot of events happening during NXNE. The first event I went wasn’t part of NXNE but it was an important for myself because it was the Polaris Music Prize Long List panel at ACTRA RACS. Steve Jordan, the founder of Polaris was moderating and the panelists were Slava Pastuk (Noisey Canada), Nicole Villeneuve (AUX), Tabassum Siddiqui (Freelance) and Lana Gay (CBC Music).

The panel talked about the criteria of the music prize and who they voted for in the current list as well as mentioning past lists. Jordan brought up about having the longest list since there’s always debate and discussion on which albums got snubbed or left off from the ballot. It was a great event and always a treat to see the people behind Polaris.

CBCMusic.ca Showcase at NXNE Hub
As Friday was a jam packed event at NXNE in Toronto, the first event was the CBCMusic.ca presents: Music at the NXNE Hub. It was a free show at NXNE Hub. The hosts for the event were Grant Lawrence, Tom Power (of CBC Radio 2 Morning) and Jonny Harris (Murdoch Mysteries).
The performers consisted of the 2015 Searchlight winner, Orange O’Clock. Other performers on the list were Jane’s Party, Ben Caplan, Iceage (from Copenhagen, Denmark) and Toronto’s catl.
I was able to check out Orange O’Clock and Jane’s Party as I decided to head off to other venues. I did return for catl, which they played an awesome set.

Other Acts I Checked Out
I went over to The Horseshoe Tavern to look for a friend and was able to catch part of Chastity Belt. They were pretty rocking a good set and then I went over to Sneaky Dees to check out Vancouver musician, Willa. For those who don’t know, Willa is Ali Milner and she competed in CBC’s Cover Me Canada. I did watch the reality competition show. Willa’s music brings a sense of dark, electro pop feel. Her performance brought some energy and low lighting emphasized the dark moody nature of her music.

Friday night was quite the fun journey with the venue hopping and catch a lot of music.

You can check out the photos at Flickr by clicking three ways;
Click HERE for the Polaris Music Prize Panel.
Click HERE for the CBC Music show at NXNE HUB
Click HERE for the Chastity Belt and Willa photos.