THE VIEW FROM THE AFTERNOON
It's just gone 5pm and the press are congregating around the entrance of Hammersmith Palais for this years indie equivalent of the Brits. Thanks to the weekly music bible which we refer to as the NME we are now aware that on the first day God created Alex Turner and those who worshipped him were the staff of the New Musical Express. Turner's disciples were known as 'fans' who voted for their leader in the annual award ceremony and today, February 23rd 1996 would be the day when Alex and his monkey bandmates would secure world domination until the new band of the moment would appear. (Probably mid-April!). The view outside the venue looked amazing thanks to the media frenzy. The NME Awards were upon us once again!
I BET YOU LOOK GOOD ON THE DANCEFLOOR
The dancefloor at the Palias was a shrine to the new music industry. Tables gave guests a two course meal which consisted of Toad In The Hole and a srummy dessert whilst a buffet was laid on for the VIP guests upstairs on the balcony. Guests from the world of music included Shaun Ryder, Razorlight, The Sugarbabes oh there's blooming loads of them we be here until the Sun goes down if we listed them all. Apparently the Artic Monkeys were there as well - Funny that!
FAKE TALES OF SAN FRANCISCO
Whatever the tales were fully true last year of Ian Brown being arrested last year after a stage fight with a fan in San Francisco the 'other' famous monkey had no problem spreading his love tonight. Brown was this year's Godlike like Genius award winner and picked up his award from Teddy Sheringham It was Brown's request that he would only accept the award if a member from the Manchester United's 1999 treble-winning squad presented it. After giving a short speech he played three tracks on the second stage. Earlier in the evening live music came from acts including Razorlight, Dirty Pretty Things and Babyshambles. Thanks to the Libertine attendance Carl had a minder to keep him away from Pete, Johnny Borrell had a minder to distance himself from Pete and Pete had a minder to keep him away from Smack! Rock on!
YOU PROBABLY COULDN'T SEE FOR THE LIGHTS BUT YOU WERE LOOKING STRAIGHT AT ME
Everybody was looking for the band of the moment. The Artic Monkeys were casually propping up the bar right at the end of the room. Did they do this on purpose so they could make three long drawn-out walks past every table to pick up their triple award phenononem? Whatever their plan was we caught up with the lads at the after show party and they are very down to earth - at the moment! Alex told us that fame wouldn't go to their heads, but with a sold-out tour just a month away and the Tabloid press cottoning on to Sheffield's finest could this see fame going to their heads? Just before Christmas we met Kanye West and he turned out to be extremely chilled out. Tonight,our second meeting with West wasn't such a success. Being unshed in to his champagne laid table with an obnoxious entourage and having very little time for anybody else West left half way through the ceremony. Lets just hope our Monkeys keep their heads screwed on!
STILL TAKE YOU HOME
Here's a list of who took home one of these babies..
Best new band
Arctic Monkeys
Best video
The Importance of Being Idle - Oasis
Best international band
The Strokes
Best TV show
Gonzo (MTV2)
Best solo artist
Kanye West
Philip Hall Radar award
Long Blondes
Best radio show
Zane Lowe (BBC Radio 1)
Best event
Carling Weekend: Reading & Leeds Festivals
Best live band
Franz Ferdinand
Best music DVD
Live8
Best film
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
John Peel music innovation award
Gorillaz
Best track
I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor - Arctic Monkeys
Best album
Employment - Kaiser Chiefs
Best British band
Arctic Monkeys
Godlike Genius award
Ian Brown
Best website
Able2uk.com, oh sorry it was NME.com
Best venue
Brixton Academy
Hero of the year
Bob Geldof
Villain of the year
George Bush
Best dressed
Ricky Wilson
Worst dressed
Justin Hawkins
Worst album
Back To Bedlam - James Blunt
Worst band
Son of Dork
Sexiest man
Pete Doherty
Sexiest woman
Madonna
RIOT VAN
There was a predicted riot if Kaiser Chiefs hadn't won anything, especially after their triumph at the Brits last week. Luckily their was no need to worry as they picked up best album. We caught lead singer, Ricky looking quite pissed at the party he told us that the Brit awards was amazing and for the second time within eight days he was celebrating another victory night! According to NME editor, Conor McNicholas a certain band stopped the Kaiser's from winning more awards on the night. He said,
"If it wasn't for the Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs would have done a lot better. Yes, Kaiser Chiefs did well at the Brits, but the NME Awards are always a year ahead of the Brits."
MARDY BUM
He may look like a Bum, we use the yank term as in 'a tramp' sense and not a pair of butt cheeks! But Rhys Ifans was there to pick up the best video award on behalf of Oasis. Rhys was seen upstairs at the party looking quite intoxicated and the empty bar in the now dysfunctional press room allowed him to carry on drinking with ease. Sadly the Gallagher brothers themselves couldn't attend, which was surprising as they are normally regular at the bash.
PERHAPS VAMPIRES IS A BIT STRONG BUT..
The party ended so bloody late that Vampires were about to call it a night themselves! The festivities from the party went into the early hours and guests such as Edith Bowman, Jo Whiley, The Artic Monkeys (have we mentioned them yet?) stayed on until until dusk. The party itself was held at the venue itself and after half hour whilst the tables were taken away live music and DJ's welcomed more party guests from 10pm through its doors.
WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN
The most eventful thing which happened during the night wasn't very pretty at all. Because Franz Ferdinand were unable to attend Peter Hook, who was handing out that particular trophy made the comment that Kaiser Chief should win the title instead. Although the Kaisers then stated that the award should be handed to The Cribs. Which, for some bizzare reason, made Crib lead singer, Ryan Jarman dive onto the Kaiser Chiefs table landing himself not only on the glasses and bottles but also a hospital bed in casualty having stitches. The fool then returned after just ten minutes after his treatment! His partying came to a second abrupt end when an ambulance was called to whisk him back to hospital! He was discharged at 5am!
FROM RITZ TO THE RUBBLE
So, how does the NME Awards compare with the Brits? Both nights are a firm favorite in our diaries. Even though the NME's are now televised it's still very much laid back and fun. Its a smaller scale of the Brits with more spunk. The main comparison between this year awards is that even though James Blunt was praised at last weeks industry bash, he wouldn't had lasted two minutes at the NME Awards!
A CERTAIN ROMANCE
We have officially fallen in love with the NME Awards and fingers crossed we will be invited back in 2007 after another year of great new music and by then we should have been told which band we need to be worshipping!
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