PHP error T_object_operator

I am getting this error :
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_OBJECT_OPERATOR in wp-content/themes/phil/page.php on line 104

This is my code:

<?php
    $todaysDate = date ('M d');
    $event_query = new WP_Query('showposts=5&category_name=events&meta_key=Date&meta_compare=>=&meta_value='.$todaysDate.'&orderby=meta_value=order=ASC');
?>
<?php
    if (event_query->have_post()) : while ($event_query->have_post()) : $event_query->the_post();
    $eventMeta = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'Date', true);
    $eventDate = strtotime($eventMeta);
    $displayDate = date ('M d', $eventDate);
?>
<li>
<span class="date"><?php echo $displayDate ; ?></span>
<span><a href="<?php the_permalink();?>" title="<?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></span></li>
<?php endwhile; else:?>
<li>No Upcoming events</li>
<?php endif;?>

I am pretty new to this PHP stuff and WOrdpress so let me know what am I doing wrong. or paste the code to replace.