East Coast Music Awards Show tonight in Saint John

The major event of the East Coast Music Awards happens Thursday night at Harbour Station in Saint John.

The awards show gala was moved to Thursday night two years ago as an experiment, and the organizers feel the format helps put more emphasis on concerts later in the weekend.

They only giveout some of the awards at the gala, and the rest are scattered around various showcases in the host city over the rest of the event.

• 5 bands to see at East Coast Music Awards in Saint John
• Big year for N.B. artists at East Coast Music Awards

Tonight, 12 awards will be presented, including some of the major prizes.

It's a big year for New Brunswickmusicians, with 38 nominations in total.

Les Htesses d'Hilaire is in four categories Thursday night, for fans'choice video of the year, group recording, rock recordingand francophone recording.

Moncton's the Motorleague is in the running for fans'choice entertainer of the year, fans' choice video of the yearand rock recording.

Caroline Savoie also has three nominations, for fans' choice video, francophone recording and song of the year.

Also in the running for the francophone recording award are Simon Daniel and Kevin McIntyre.

There are three New Brunswicknominees for Indigenous artist of the year: City Natives, Old Self and Kam Speechand Wolf Castle.

For country recording, the Divorcees and Tristan Horncastle are among the nominees.

The awards show will also be loaded with New Brunswick performers, as is the tradition enjoyed by the host province.

David Myles will sing, along with Caroline Savoie, Les Htesses d'Hilaire, the Motorleague, Lisa LeBlanc and Tomato/Tomato.

For highlights, keep in touch at cbc.ca/nb/ where we will have a live blog running the entire weekend, and we'll keep you up-to-date with award winners on social media.

You can watch the 2017 East Coast Music Awards Show on the association's websiteat ECMA TV, where it will stream the show and several showcases through the weekend as well.