It was billed as an indie love-in - a celebration of Edmonton rappers, Toronto violinists and Quebecois rockers, with Nickelback's Chad Kroeger nowhere in sight. But it was, after all, a room full of jaded music writers and industry types. And so there was more than a little hate in the air at the inaugural Polaris Music Prize festivities Monday night at Toronto's Phoenix nightclub.

Most of it, mind you, was directed at master of ceremonies Jian Ghomeshi. The CBC host's opening monologue - much of which revolved around the observation that Broken Social Scene has a lot of members - went over so badly that the audience was overtly hostile by the end of it. And if Broken ringleader Kevin Drew hadn't broken it up by heckling Ghomeshi and tossing a napkin at the stage, it might have been even worse.

But then, response toward Drew's band wasn't much warmer. For this crowd, at least, both Broken Social Scene and Metric have achieved too much success to qualify as scrappy underdogs, and applause for both nominees was tepid at best. If Drew seemed a little less than keen on winning, it's probably because he was afraid of the audience charging the stage, or at least going home and writing nasty things on their blogs.

To compensate for the lack of awards handed out over the course of the evening (that's Polaris Prize, singular), each of the 10 nominees was feted by a critic who had voted for them. With the exception of 102.1 The Edge host Dave Bookman's endearing musical tribute to the New Pornographers, set to the tune of California Girls, this was about as awkward as it sounds - capped off by several artists' reluctance to come to the stage. I practically had to drag up the Deadly Snakes so I could hand them a framed poster, though it was worth it for singer Andre Ethier's impromptu reaction to being nominated and then promptly breaking up ("Maybe it's a burn on us; maybe it's a burn on you").

Luckily, five of the 10 nominees were on hand to perform - each one validating Polaris founder Steve Jordan's Herculean efforts to get the award off the ground. Eventual winner Owen Pallett - a.k.a. Final Fantasy - drew the best response, but it was rising Somali-Canadian hip-hop star K'Naan who got the evening back on track after the opening monologue with a rousing two-song set. And to close, Malajube delivered an unabashedly grandiose dose of Franco-rock that turned them from the night's biggest enigma into one of its highlights.

Later, at the Drake, organizers and voters celebrated alongside several of the nominees - among them Cadence Weapon, rumoured to have been the runner-up. The gala hadn't quite gone off without a hitch. But for a first try, it was widely agreed, it wasn't half bad.