Vancouver parties on night one of Junos weekend

If the 2009 edition of the Junos has done anything for Vancouver (besides, that is, pump a few million dollars into the local economy) it’s create a buzz on the streets.

Take Friday night for example. Thanks to the kind of weather that makes you wonder why in the hell you don’t move to Phoenix, the much-ballyhooed WestJet street party wasn’t exactly looking like a housewrecker around 6:15 p.m.; Elise Estrada’s audience consisted of 22 confused-looking Japanese exchange students.

Maybe they were confused by the sight of a person actually arriving at a shindig in Vancouver wearing a Bay Street Banker–brand suit-tie-and-slacks ensemble. (That would be eerily orange-coloured pretty boy Ben Mulroney, who was spotted flapping his gums in front of the Commodore, where industry types showed up to suck back free—and quite frankly delicious—martinis).

Anyhow, when the Commodore belched 1,000 postfunction drunks onto the street three hours later, Granville Street was indeed packed with people ready to party. And not just with the usual bridge-and-tunnel crowd, which probably wouldn’t have known main-stage headliner Daniel Wesley from Daniel Day Lewis.

The buzz in the air spread to every JunoFest club in the downtown core. Remember how, during the glory days of NewMusicWest, you’d see people lined up outside of live-music venues across the city? And how you’d go home each night having caught something so unexpectedly impressive that you couldn’t help but become an instant fan.

Which is to say that if you ended up stuck in the lineup that snaked up the street outside of the Penthouse, you can start kicking yourself for missing the prog-rawk combo Black Betty, which featured a dude drummer that sings and shit-hot guitar goddess that combined the best of Joan Jett and early Soundgarden.

Sorry you missed day one of JunoFest? You should be, which is another way of saying that you’ve still got tonight to pick up a wristband and start a club crawl. You might even catch a glimpse of Ben Mulroney.

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