Juno Awards 2022: Live music and Simu Liu guide ceremony to safe landing

The 51st Juno Awards brought the music back to a live audience on Sunday and marked a triumphant return for the beleaguered ceremony celebrating Canadian talent.

Organizers put on a tight and impressive entertainment showcase in Toronto from the start, and managed to not only keep everything running, but also to keep it interesting — no mean feat for a production years removed from its last live version.

In it, Montreal's Charlotte Cardin capped a stellar showing as this year's top winner, Ontario's Arkells nabbed best group for a historic fifth time in the span of a decade, and live music reigned once again.

With high-energy performances by everyone from Avril Lavigne to Arkells, it was a definitive return for live music at the annual event. Held virtually the last two years (after 2020's event in Saskatoon was cancelled) due to COVID-19, this year's ceremony marked the first in-person show since 2019. 

It was also the first-ever Junos show held outdoors, a strategy organizers hoped would allow the night to go ahead no matter what, if any, pandemic restrictions were introduced. 

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That plan ended up yielding an incredible number of performances from some of the biggest names in Canadian music. Pop-punk legend Lavigne performed a medley of songs from her first album Let Go, singing hits Complicated, Girlfriend, Sk8er Boi and I'm With You, 20 years after the album debuted and 19 years after her first Juno nomination.

From there, the night switched back and forth between awards, and almost too many performances to count. That included the previous night's winner for alternative album of the year, Mustafa, delivering a choir-backed version of his stripped-down, acoustic song Stay Alive, Haviah Mighty belting a mashup of her tracks So So and Protest, Arcade Fire performing their new song Unconditional I (Lookout Kid), and Saskatchewan's Tesher even managing to rope Junos host Simu Liu into dancing along to his TikTok smash Jalebi Baby.

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But Liu's involvement was no afterthought. The Shang-Chi superhero brought back live hosting to the Junos in a big way — leading what Junos president and CEO Allan Reid called one of the best shows they've ever put on.

Liu started the night with a sketch alongside his old Kim's Convenience co-star Andrew Phung, before moving to jokes about Canadianisms ("It is pronounced bubble tea, OK, not boba, bubble tea Goddammit!"), the pandemic ("Some crazy energy Toronto — it's almost as if you've been cooped up for two years straight") and even Will Smith's recent moment at the Oscars. 

After welcoming audiences to Toronto's Budweiser Stage, Liu noted the show was being broadcast live, "So if anyone has ever wanted to go viral … now's your chance," he challenged, mockingly tapping his cheek. "Come on."

But instead of angry actors, audiences were treated to grateful musicians.

Charlotte Cardin cemented her frontrunner status by taking home album of the year for Phoenix. After winning single of the year, pop album of the year (also for Phoenix) and artist of the year at a Gala event on Saturday, Sunday's win left the singer-songwriter with four total trophies — the most of any artist.