Hamilton band Arkells gets prepped for JUNO Awards performance

It’s crunch time as Hamilton is hosting the 2026 JUNO Awards this Sunday. A lot of work goes on behind the scenes to bring the show together.

CHCH News got a sneak peak at the set today and some rehearsals from a local band getting ready for their Juno performance.

Hamilton rock band Arkells is getting ready for their big performance at the Junos.

“When we’re playing a concert, you know, it’s an hour and a half, two hours and we’re playing for the people in the room and you’re trying to tell a story over that amount of time. For the Juno performance, it’s three and a half minutes. And you’re not just playing to the people in the room, you’re playing to a million people out watching in TV land,” said Arkells lead singer Max Kerman.

Arkells will be performing alongside artists like Daniel Caesar, The Beaches, Alessia Cara, Sarah McLachlan and Shawn Desman to name a few.

The band says it feels good to represent Hamilton.

“One of our first big shows was in this arena – it had a different name at the time,” said Kerman.

The performance will feature the song Ride. The band says the story they are trying to tell is all about summer and freedom.

“Sometimes for me it’s like just being on a bicycle and riding through a city. That feels like freedom to me. So we wanted to make it feel like summer. I know we’re still at the end of the wintertime right now but we wanted blue skies, green grass. Group Love, who are on the song, they are very excited to come up and perform with us,” said Kerman.

The last time the Junos were in Hamilton was back in 2015. Allan Reid, the president and CEO of the JUNO Awards, says that Hamilton is a special place for Canadian music.

“It’s got a great history, first off. And I think being so close to Toronto, you’ve seen a wonderful migration of artists actually moving here … and we’ve seen that just flourish. And it’s an amazing spot. Amazing artists have come from this spot,” said Reid.

Arkells say performing in Hamilton is always amazing, but they say Hamilton never feels that far away.

“Almost every show we get a ‘Hamilton’ in the crowd. We got one when we were in Amsterdam last week. So we always feel like we’re never too far,” said Kerman.

The JUNO Awards are this Sunday at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.

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