Openings We're Tracking This Week, December 19-January 8

Kirsten Rasmussen in blink blink at WildSide

It was an explosion. Green Day, the band everyone loves or loves to hate, created an album - American Idiot - that was a searing oratorio for lost innocence and an America destroyed by George Bush (if you don't think of the Twin Towers when you hear "Wake Me When September Ends"...then you're not thinking). People who had never heard of the band listened to the album and became fans of its twisting story and get-into-your-blood songs. Then there was the musical, a Tony-winner, and now - finally! - the tour arrives. In Toronto.

Next Stage Festival, also in Toronto, grabs you before you have fully recovered from the post-holiday grogs, and shakes you up. Gay, dance, sketch, outré, it's all here for nearly two weeks. Par-Tay!

Another festival meant to kick you out of the doldrums is Centaur's WildSide in Montreal. It will be an eclectic mix, this year (actually...it always is) with Fringe hits and alternative works the audience at the normally quiet venue never get to see otherwise.