TORONTO - The MuchMusic Video Awards are more than a week away but dozens of dedicated fans are already seeing stars outside of Much headquarters.
A group of teens are camped outside the music station's building on Toronto's Queen Street West, queuing up for Saturday's wristband giveaway.
By Thursday afternoon, a line of tents snaked around the block. The wristbands, which allow entry into the June 20 bash, won't be handed out until Saturday at 8 a.m.
Sixteen-year-old Emily Isabelle had been waiting since Wednesday at 4 p.m., but said she was enjoying herself.
She just hasn't slept much.
"It's actually been really cool," she said. "I've met a lot of really cool people. I was laughing all night yesterday because everyone was just partying it up and just chilling.
"It was really hard sleeping, though. The lights and everything, it makes it look like it's daytime."
She said she was most excited to see mop-topped teen sensation Justin Bieber.
"Definitely," she said. "'Cause I love him, and he's Canadian."
Shauna Gigante of Bolton, Ont., arrived roughly a half-hour before Isabelle to nab her own prime spot in line, but didn't do so for Bieber's sake -- she's more interested in Drake, Adam Lambert and Down With Webster.
"I don't like Bieber," she said. "We're here for Drake, because he's Canadian. So is Bieber, but Bieber sucks."
Like many in line, she'd brought not only a tent, but also a tarp (in fact, she said she had three, just in case). She was also armed with a bundle of schoolwork, tucked away in her knapsack.
"I need to study," she said, as she leafed through an issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.
Bieber and Drake seemed to have the most street-side support among camped-out fans.
Drake also leads with seven nominations going into the show, while Bieber has four.
Other nominees include Katy Perry, the show's co-host Miley Cyrus, and Adam Lambert, who had two of the most vocal fans in line.
Seventeen-year-olds Jamie Smith and Nicole Waskul decorated their campsite with a two-metre-high Lambert collage and other smaller dedications to the former "American Idol" contestant.
A team of security, meanwhile, patrolled the perimeter to moderate pedestrian flow and ensure the safety of the predominantly teenage crowd.
"It's very safe, very safe," said Sherri Warnes of Oshawa, Ont., who was chaperoning her daughter and four of her friends. "I'm just not a mom who wants to let girls under the age of 16 hang out on the street all night."
Twenty-two-year-old Brittany Nattrass and her friends, meanwhile, arrived from Ajax, Ont., a little later than many in line, taking their place around 10 a.m. on Thursday.
They're hoping to get wristbands and attend the show to celebrate a friend's birthday, and they came prepared with coolers, a ghetto blaster and a portable DVD player.
"It's a little girl trip, so it's fun," Nattrass said.
"We're getting a little bored, but it's OK."
