I was lucky enough to be in attendance last night as The Tragically Hip, Feist, Paul Dean and Mike Reno from Loverboy and Roch Voisine were inducted tinto the 2026 Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
It was a truly wonderful night with great performances, moving speeches, and stars galore. I saw performances by City and Colour, Finneas, Our Lady Peace, Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, Allison Russell, Amanda Marshall, Charlotte Cornfield, and Roch Voisine himself.
Here's Our Lady Peace covering Locked In The Trunk Of A Car, captured by yours truly.
Paul Dean apologized on behalf of Mike Reno, who wasn't at the ceremony. But I found it curious that no member of The Tragically Hip referenced the fact drummer Johnny Fay wasn't there.
It was interesting seeing the West End Phoenix event at the Palais Royale on Friday night, and this event at Massey Hall Saturday night. The WEP event had more of a cool, indie vibe, and the Massey Hall event felt bigger and more corporate. Also interesting to me was the fact Friday night's event was hosted by Ron MacLean and Saturday night's event was hosted by George Stroumboulopoulos. Strombo replaced Ron as Hockey Night in Canada host, before he was replaced by Ron. What a small world.
By the way, I chatted up two musicians at both events, and they're two of my all-time favourite FOTMs: Tom Wilson and Tara Slone.
