Who Should Have Performed at the Closing Ceremony

With today's release of the Juno nominations, Canada's talented music scene was proudly recognized. Major accolades went to Bublé and Bieber; but artisits like Classified, Metric, the Arkells and Arcade Fire recieved deserving nominations as well. With such amazing Canadian talent, where were these bands at the Closing Ceremony?

Questions were raised early on over who would perform at the Closing Ceremony of the Olympics. Early bets had Neil Young, Alanis Morissette and Michael Bublé. (Thankfully) Celine Dion declined early on, so she was out of the running. But when the rumour that Nickelback was performing flooded the Twitterverse and Facebook, people started to get concerned. But no one expected the rest of the selection that hit the stage.

Nickelback, Avril Lavigne, Simple Plan, (all of whom played songs released over two years ago), as well as Hedley, Marie-Mai, and k-os left many Canadians disappointed. With so many great Canadian acts, audiences were expecting a different selection.

In the defence of the Olympic choices, the artists needed to fall under one of these categories:

• They needed to be an internationally recognizable band so we could be awarded the “Huh, I didn’t know they were Canadian” remark. Much like the Shatner choice, these artists represent the claim to fame Canadians are sure mention. Sure they all live in the States now, but we had them first!! (BTW, did you know Jimmy Hendrix was born Vancouver?!)

• They needed to represent a cross selection of provincial talent. West Coast to Quebec was covered. (To note there was no East Coast representation).

•  They needed to represent a wide variety of music genres. Thank goodness for k-os saving an otherwise pop-punk and rock show.

So who would I have picked? A little from column A, B and C: 

The Legends
Gordon Lightfoot- After being killed and resurrected by Twitter, further proof of his pulse would be nice.

Rufus Wainwright- From Montreal, member of the talented Wainwright family, gay, current (releasing his next album March 23rd), not to mention hugely talented, Wainwright satisfies a lot of ideal requirements.

Leonard Cohen- Sure, the most covered song in the world, Hallelujah, was sung by k d Lang at the opening ceremony, but hearing it from the man himself would have been good.

The Staples
Our Lady Peace

Tragically Hip

Barenaked Ladies

Maybe it’s because I grew up on these bands, but I see this selection a necessary part of a Canadian music diet.

The Up-and-Comers
The Arcade Fire- How amazing would it be to have Wake Up be the last song played. Seriously, picture it, it would have been incredible.

Classified- I’m currently obsessed with this Nova Scotians song “Oh, Canada”. That song gets the patriotism flowing through my veins.

The Weakerthans- A band seen by many as the best Canadian poets of our generation deserves worldwide attention. They have a song about curling, for goodness sakes!


It is of note that Feist, Star, City and Colour, K’naan, Dan Mangan, Wilco, Broken Social Scene, Alexisonfire, and Bedouin Soundclash were among the bands that played at Cultural Olympiad shows throughout the week. But these shows were at much smaller venues, unpublicized, and reached a much smaller audience.

The bands chosen should have been representative and current Canadian talent. Not everyone would have been happy with the choices, but a better selection could have been made; like say, some of this years Juno nominees.

Pictures from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1254585/Winter-Olympics-2010-closing-ceremony-Michael-J-Fox-helps-mark-end-Games.html