If you're a regular reader of this blog, you already know what this is about. If not, well the CBC Radio One show Q with Jian Ghomeshi, was in town tonight, recording tomorrow's show with a live audience. I was lucky enough to be part of the few hundred members of this crowd. Basically, the show was recorded in real time. It was almost like being able to touch the CBC (hence the picture). There will be no editing and you'll be able to hear it all tomorrow afternoon at 2PM.

It was pretty cool to be there to witness the slightly overwhelmed but always cool Jian Ghomeshi, doing his thing. In honor of the Montreal Jazz Festival (beginning tonight), the show kicked off with the legendary Hank Jones and Joe Lovano duo, who performed a fantastic and very spontaneous sped-up lullaby. I'm a big fan of Jazz and really enjoyed the opportunity to see these guys play live. They're a little on the ancient side (like most of the great jazz players still alive today), but I'm amazed at how dexterous and vivacious they both are. Great talent is ageless, which is especially true in their case. It was great to hear them speak in the interview afterwards as well.

Then, Jian welcomed the overwhelmingly happy and extremely hard to contain Gregory Charles. This man is literally a bolt of speeding light that can not be stopped. He's a rolling machine of happiness, talent and music. I'm not particularly a huge fan of his, though I used to religiously watch his show "Les débrouillards" when I was a kid, but really enjoyed seeing him there nonetheless. The man is a bit hard to follow since his thoughts tend to spurt out in many directions at once, which was a little dizzying, but fun. I'm just glad I'm not the one who was sitting in Jian's chair for this one. It must be a challenge to interview someone like that.

For the big finish, we were lucky enough to get an excellent and fantastic performance by the great-looking Montreal band Creature. I've heard these guys on Radio 3 before, but not much else. Live, they sound really great, dynamic and super tight. The two songs they played were solid and made me want to get off my chair and dance. For some reason though, I don't think that would've floated much with the slightly uptight audience. I just might have to go out and buy their album now, to bridge me over to their next live performance. I certainly won't miss their next show in town if I can help it.

Between those bigger interviews, Ghomeshi also talked with some pretty important and interesting characters of the Montreal arts scene like the founder of Pop! Montreal, a girl from Indyish, as well as a few others. Though Creature's performance really kicked my ass, I must say I was very VERY impressed by Jian's fantastic intro to the show. He goes on for a few minutes spurting out an amazing amount of words, describing our amazingly great city with loads of tact and insight. Once again, Ghomeshi's interviewing and hosting style did not disappoint and lived up to the bar, all-the-while remaining efficient (all these interviews under an hour and a half!), entertaining and cool.

Tune in to CBC Radio One (88.5 FM) tomorrow at 2PM to hear it all.