The Junos. They are over. I'm not too much for the glitz and glamour of the entire festival (maybe just the final ceremonies) but with all the shows happening on the weekend with 100 bands over 19 venues it's a great celebration of Canadian music and local musical talent.

I was at the Bourbon Friday night taking in Bend Sinister who hit the stage early at 9pm. They just finished off a month long cross Canada The Sound of Fiction tour with Inward Eye and Mobile who were also on the bill. After a busy month, they were glad to be back albeit a blast for them to play across the country. Vocalist Dan Moxon mused on stage that it's not all fun and games with all bros in a stinky van but when they cross that Alberta border heading back into BC - all fights and disagreements are gone. They are home. They can smell that BC air. Someone in the crowd quickly shouted out "Weed!".

It was only back in October that I saw Bend Sinister live at the Rio Theatre for their album release of "Stories of Brothers, Tales of Lovers" and they've gone through a few lineup changes/additions. Most notably, gone is Naben Ruthnum on guitar. The current lineup is now Dan Moxon (Vocals/Keys/Guitar), Joseph Blood (Guitars), Henry Alcock White (Guitar/Vocals), Jason Dana (Drums/Percussion), and Joel Meyers (Bass).

With this new lineup they came out on the Bourbon stage and killed it with a super high energy set I've never seen them pull before. It could be the high profile of the Junofest that they went all out but like I said they were glad to be back home and the crowd welcomed them back with warm applause and cheers. We'll raise our glasses to that. And most definitely we'll blaze to that.