STORY:
Ottawa's Party of the Millennium

The Ottawa Citizen reports that twelve bands on seven stages, backed by an explosion of indoor fireworks and urged on by 15,000 party animals, plan to rock the rafters at the Corel Centre on New Year's Eve. Leading the blast into 2000 will be one of Canada's hottest bands, 1998 Juno group of the year Our Lady Peace. But who will be joining them on stage as the midnight countdown begins remains a secret. The on-line article says that's because the promoters of the show have decided to perform a marketing striptease by dropping the names of the other 11 bands each month throughout the year. Even the identity of the special guest host remains wrapped.

What they have revealed is that they intend spending more than $1 million to bring us "the largest millennium rock festival in Canada." Five other major Canadian artists will be named for the main stages in the Arena Bowl or the Coliseum Room. They will complete sets before midnight with Our Lady Peace going last and performing until five minutes to midnight. Then it's all bands on the arena stage for the great national countdown with simultaneous satellite links to revelers on Parliament Hill, Time Square or other international links in the same time zone.

As the count ends, the fireworks begin. Five explosive indoor minutes. After that the arena floor will be transformed into a huge dance floor with the music led by a techno DJ. And the party will keep rocking on the other six stages until 3am. The organizers -- Pop 2000 Inc. and the Corel Centre -- are aiming to use the event to raise $200,000 for Ottawa's homeless.

The Corel Centre will not be the only place courting revelers for the final moments before 2000 kicks in. Masked jugglers and tumbling acrobats will skip and scurry across Parliament Hill as central figures in the $1.2-million NCC carnival.

According to the Ottawa Citizen, the carnival includes two thousand performers -- 200 professional artists and 1,800 volunteers -- prancing and dancing around the Hill to the beat of drums, as lasers play overhead. Something like 70,000 party animals are expected to join in.

Tickets: Here's how the party ticket system works: Silver tickets will cost $64 or $79 and will provide Arena seats at the 300 level Gold tickets will cost $89 or $99 and will provide Arena seats at the 200 and back of the 100 levels. Platinum tickets will cost $119 and will provide Arena seats at the front and in the 100 level. All tickets will be subject to a $2 surcharge and GST. There will be no PST because all performers are Canadian. These tickets go on sale at 10 am on March 5 at all Ticketmaster outlets, the Corel Centre box office or by calling 755-111 to charge by telephone. It should be noted there will be no Corel Centre box office sales on the first day. In addition, 10 per cent of the 15,000 tickets will be available at a discount. As an example, a $64 ticket will sell for $49. These tickets go on sale on Feb. 16 and are available online only at www.corelcentre.com or www.ticketmaster.com

Source: The Ottawa Citizen (Full Text)

DATE: 2/19/99

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