Juno Awards Get Off to a Foggy Start

Posted on Apr 16th 2010 5:30PM by Joshua Ostroff
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A volcanic eruption in Iceland may have grounded much of Europe's air traffic, but it was just a plain old spring fog that threatened to disrupt the 2010 Juno Awards in St John's, Newfoundland just as the weekend-long festivities were taking off.

A surprise snowstorm on Thursday was followed by a heavy blanket of fog on Friday that forced flights filled with musicians, media and music execs to turn back. With acts like Alexisonfire, Handsome Furs, Misstress Barbara and Jully Black unable to land -- though Billy Talent's flight reportedly made it through -- the first night of Juno Fest was left in flux.

Organizers are scrambling to figure out who is missing, find local bands to fill out the bills on dozens of planned concerts and rejig their rehearsal schedule for the big night.

The awards themselves face a crisis if the fog doesn't lift or replacement flights can't be found. The non-televised gala, which presents 32 Juno awards, is set for Saturday night while Sunday's televised ceremony is supposed to feature performances from Drake, Metric, Justin Bieber, K'Naan, Billy Talent and Michael Buble.