kd lang at Luminato 2011

Toronto embraced Canadian musical superstar kd lang as she played a free concert at Metro Hall as part of the fabulous activities know as Luminato. What a treat it is to see the singer work her magic on her well known hits with the band Siss Boom Bang during the Friday, June 17 event at Metro Square which also saw special guests The Belle Brigade opening for kd. It was also a pleasure to see Denise Donlon of the CBC hosting the night's concert (photo below).

The Luminato appearance is the official launch of the grammy and juno winning kd lang's latest North American tour. PS did I mention that I loved her singing Hallelujah at the opening of the 2010 Canadian Winter Olympic opening ceremony - way to represent.

So it is extremely exciting to see her in Toronto, what a score for Luminato. Thanks to Dan and Michelle from Luminato for getting us onto the press riser.

The full square takes in The Belle Brigade in advance of kd's appearance.

See more pictures after the jump.

Large screen monitors help people see kd lang perform.

Opening act Belle Brigade.

Fans jam into every available space at Metro Square.

Don't forget that Luminato still has a full weekend of activities to enjoy, so check out their website and plan your fun. Here is a giant coloured pegs with backlight installation (like a lite-brite).

2011 Luminato at Metro Hall

There are quite a few outdoor stages set up right now around downtown Toronto. June is festival central with NXNE, MMVAs and also Luminato's Festival Stage at Metro Hall's David Pecaut Square. kd Lang is there tomorrow June 17, 2011 from 8pm to 11pm. See more of my photos of kd lang's concert here.

Luminato sponsor Kia had a two story set of cars in the Square. The two white Souls were there for people to express your soul - you could take markers and draw on the car and afterwards you could enter a contest and get a free water bottle.

See more Kia Express Your Soul after the jump.

Luminato 2011 - Art under construction

Hey, good art takes time, great art is timeless and big art takes a lot of work to hang. The Luminato 2011 art installation 'Sargasso' is currently being  put together in Brookfield Place. There is a lot of stuff hanging from the ceiling.

Luminato provides the following information regarding the art installation. "In his Luminato-commissioned installation, Philip Beesley’s Sargasso combines visionary design with high-tech digital engineering to transform a downtown public space – and to offer a glimpse of the potential future of architectural art. A worldwide pioneer in the fast-growing field of responsive architecture, Beesley and his team of collaborators from the disciplines of architecture, engineering, biology, and sculpture use interactive technology to infuse one of Toronto’s busiest spaces with astonishing new life."

Luminato 2011 - Festival of Arts & Creativity

Luminato comes once again to the City of Toronto from June 10^th to 19^th, 2011. Back for its 5^th year and in partnership with L’Oreal, this annual Festival of Arts and Creativity seeks to entertain and inspire everyone with three simple programming principles; collaboration, accessibility and diversity.

The festival takes place at a number of venues and includes both free and ticketed events featuring theatre, dance, music, literature, food, visual arts, fashion, film and more. The festival stage is right between Roy Thomson Hall and Metro Hall (55 John Street) and will have a lot of entertainment throughout the festival – it doesn’t look like any Luminato events will be held at Yonge-Dundas Square this year. Check out their website for the full program, but for me some highlights follow.

I always look forward to art installations in Brookfield Place and Union Station – unfortunately I don’t think anything will happen at Union Station (especially with all the construction work). June 8^th to the 18^th the Alan Lambert Galleria in Brookfield Place will have the installation titled ‘Sargasso’ by Philip Beesley Architect Inc (no entrance fee). Update: Sargasso is now being hung in place in the Galleria - here is a photo taken June 6, 2011, for more pictures check out my blog post here.

On Friday, June 17^th at 8pm k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang Band with special guest the Belle Brigade will perform at the festival stage – free!

The President’s Choice 1000 tastes of Toronto takes place June 18^th to the 19^th starting at noon on John Street. Entrance is free but all food items are $5 each.

Birds in the water, ball under the walkway

When seagulls aren't dive bombing you and trying to steal your food they often chill in the water, thinking of ways to steal more food off you. These birds are in the pond at Nathan Phillips Square.

The Square is in a little bit of a mess as construction continues on the makeover. Even the Peace Garden is being stripped down.

The approach of Fall means that soon the pond will be emptied and made ready for ice skating.

I remember when Redball visited Toronto in 2009 and was squeezed under the elevated walkway. The big red ball was here during Luminato and you can see more of it around Toronto on my posts here.

Photo Vault - Brookfield Place Art

Every time I walk by Brookfield Place on Bay Street I look in their long arched gallery and check to see if they have any art installations hanging from the ceiling. They are big supporters of Luminato and other Toronto events.

I wish they could squeeze in some of the New York Macy's Day Parade giant balloons into the space as I would love to see some of those characters like Spider-Man and Snoopy in Toronto.

You can click on the Brookfield label below to see some of my pictures of their other art installations.

2010 Wish List - Toronto Events

2009 has been a very good year for the Toronto Grand Prix Tourist Blog and I am looking forward to some returning and some new events for 2010. High on my list is to see the return of the Aids Committee of Toronto's (ACT) annual Fashion Cares event - which was sadly postponed in 2009. The fashion and glamour fundraiser is always spectactular (click on my photos on the right for coverage of the event. My videos on YouTube for Fashion Cares and the 2008 spooktacular have been viewed over 25,000 times - and includes this popular summary of the night while a Google search has my blog just below the official website) and I encourage people to support ACT and this event.



For more heavy hitters I hope to see the 2010 Honda Indy Toronto which plans a number of improvements over last year - including the addition of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series and tons more entertainment and hopefully more girls, girls, girls. As well the Luminato and Nuit Blanche Festivals will soon take over all of Toronto as they become more and more popular. And who could forget the Buskerfest as it fills the St. Lawrence Market area. I can also never get enough of the blood soaked, brain eating Zombies as their number continues to grow. I hope to cover more of the Toronto International Film Festival events and look forward to their continued success. Toronto has taken these amazing visual performances to heart and their success has made it difficult to see many of the events due to the size of the crowds, so look for my photographic coverage when you can't make it, or just want to remember the fun - just click my photo links to the right for pictures of previous celebrations.

Some of the smaller promotional activities also provide great opportunities for images - such as the mob of Blu-Ray Santas in Yonge-Dundas Square, so hopefully companies will step up their creative efforts this year.

It is always nice to be invited to unique and once in a lifetime events, such as my recent tour in the Olympic Flame Relay convoy and I am glad I was asked to find out about the movie Fandom which will use an exciting method of interactive filmaking right here in Toronto. So please keep thinking of me if you have something that you may want additional coverage on, just email me at jmhcet@gmail.com.

I will start a list of the events (not in any order) that I want to photograph and write about and will add to it when I find more. Let me know if you can suggest any additional ones that I have left out.

1. Fashion Cares.
2. Honda Indy Toronto. July 16 to 18, 2010.
3. Luminato. June 11 to 20, 2010.
4. Nuit Blanche. Saturday October 2, 2010.
5. Buskerfest. Sometime in August 2010?
6. Zombie Walk. Sometime in October 2010?
7. Toronto International Film Festival. Sometime in September 2010?
8. The Pride Week and parades. June 25 to July 4, 2010.
9. The movie: Fandom. 2010.
10. Joe Fresh has also identified the Toronto Roller Derby League as something that would be good to see.
11. Cirque Du Soleil: Alegria. June 30 to July 4, 2010.
12. Seeing Larysa Harapyn on television again and taking more pictures of the media host - a website with her name is currently under construction.
13. Caribana (a new one for me, thanks Not a Shopaholic). Monday July 14th to Sunday August 2nd, 2010. I heard the King and Queen show is a must see.

Join me in supporting local events and activities that make it such a positive experience to visit and live in the City of Toronto.

Redball at Queen St West

The Redball was in danger of getting tagged by graffiti artists as the large, red ball was wedged into an alley off Queen Street West. The alley was full of street art, tags and colourful graffiti - including the racehorse and it's jockey rider. The Redball seemed like it was in it's natural elements in this area of Toronto.




You can see pictures of Redball in a few other locations in my earlier posts.

Cirque du Soleil at Harbourfront

Free closing weekend Cirque du Soleil performances help to draw another Luminato festival to a close. Two separate areas hold two communities, one natural and one urban, each out of their element exploring their new environments. Eventually these isolated communities reach out to each other and during Sundays grand finale the communities will merge at the HTO Park location.

The talented buskers and performers are pros at entertaining the crowd. What makes Cirque du Soleil remarkable is the production values and makeup - tres cool.

The two tribes were based out of the Power Plant Pond area and the Music Garden - these pictures are from the Music Garden location.














Here are some of the natural group near the Power Plant Pond.

Luminato - 1000 Tastes of Toronto

The curb lane of Queens Quay was full of outdoor food stalls staffed by cooks and chefs from many of Toronto's top restaurants. Visitors lined up to purchase tickets at $5 an item. Buy your tickets and then drop by the stalls and pick up some great inexpensive food. The lines and the crowds showed that this was a popular event and no one was arguing if it was food or not food.

Luminato Box - Scott Massey

Animal sounds, sod and marsh grass fill the plain white room in Brookfield Place's Sam Pollock Square in Scott Massey's art installation "Swan Song." Information on the Luminato handout say that "recent studies proving some animals, particularly birds, have been studied changeing their cal patterns to mimic sirens, cell phones and other human-derived sounds."