What’s in store for Canadian crooner k.d. lang when a gaggle of friends and admirers gather to toast her in the nation’s capital tonight? She has no idea. Lang says she wants to be surprised by the event, where the likes of Michael Bublé, Jann Arden and Allison Russell are set to perform. The tribute concert at the National Arts Centre, “k.d. lang: has always been,” coincides with an exhibition of lang’s stagewear. The Consort, Alta.-born singer, whose body of work encompasses everything from cowpunk twang to smooth adult contemporary, is among Canada’s most celebrated musicians. Her hits include “Constant Craving” and “Miss Chatelaine” off the 1992 album “Ingenue,” and “Crying,” a duet she recorded with Roy Orbison in 1987. The performers tonight include some of lang’s collaborators, such as Jane Siberry, whom lang inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame last year. The pair sang together on Siberry’s track “Calling All Angels,” and lang covered two of Siberry’s other songs on her 2004 album “Hymns of the 49th Parallel”: “The Valley” and “Love is Everything.” Ron Sexmith, another artist lang covered on that album, is also among the performers expected tonight. Others set to hit the stage include Jill Barber, Mariel Buckley, Wyatt C. Louis and William Prince. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 2, 2026. Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press
