Hurrah! Kasabian won Best British Band! No disrespect to their sound or anything but screw the music - they're from Leicester! Aww yeaaaaah, on dem LE3 tings. Anyways, brushing past that awkward grammatically incorrect moment, let's discuss today's topic: The NME Awards 2012.
This year, guests joined together at Brixton's O2 Academy to celebrate awards for music, film and (my personal favourite) Villain of the Year. Sorry Justin Bieber. With Jack Whitehall as the host - yes he is one of my many crushes - beginning the evening by stating that "all of the coolest names in rock 'n' roll are in this fucking building!" he set the tone perfectly for the mayhem that later ensued. Also, the stage setting that resembled a circus and the ever so classy middle finger award design reflects how the NME Awards commends music that doesn't conform for what is percieved as popular.
Inside the O2 Academy Brixton
The Vaccines won Best New Band and frontman Justin Young said "so often when i hear people talking about new music now they're talking about how interesting it is and how much it's pushing things forward, but i think often people forget that entertainment is as important in rock 'n' roll as artistic pursuit and some people just wanna have fun". The band then went on to entertain with an energetic and all round amazing performance of 'If You Wanna' to which camera shots of guests were shown bopping around and having a great time. This made me dance. Alone. I enjoyed it.
Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine
As i previously mentioned, Kasabian won Best British Band. The whole celebration and acceptance of the award was just perfect; from Sergio's victory stanse atop of a table which progressed to the fans in the pit, to Tom's speech dedicated to singing "Hey hey we're the monkees!" in honour of Davy Jones. The performance succeeding this memorable win was 'Pelican' by The Maccabees. Aside from being just a downright good song, i also discovered a hidden adoration for Florence Welch. She was continuously shown dancing and shaking about to the catchy drum rhythms and guitar riffs...how amazing would it be to party with her? Unfathomably good.
Two Door Cinema Club, The Drums, Miles Kane, The Maccabees
The final accolade named the Godlike Genius Award was given to, or rather earned by, Noel Gallagher. In a video montage showcasing the talent he beholds, contributions from Sergio Pizzorno, Russel Brand and Alex Turner were played. Going back to the old days of Oasis as well as bringing his recent solo endeavours into the limelight, i felt a profound sense of "man, this guy is good at what he does" as he continues to produce geniusly lyricised songs.
" He somehow manages to be a beautiful, articulate poet, a wordsmith, a musician that can talk to a generation, a whole class of people that are often ignored in popular music" - Russell Brand
"He's very funny, he's very witty, he really does believe he is the dog's bollocks" - Paul Weller
"Noel deserves the Godlike Genius Award, erm, well because that's what he is, right?" - Sergio Pizzorno
Standing in appreciation of the standing ovation around him with his arms spread widely in the air, Noel went to recieve his award. Speaking to the other musical guests in attendance he said "to all the people down here who ever sighted me as an influence, you are fucking welcome. You are welcome." This cock sure attiutude, to me, is completely endeering - i mean, when you've been as successful and influential as Noel Gallagher why wouldn't you be?
Noel with his Godlike Genius Award. Guests included Noel Fielding and Pixie Geldof.
The Style:
The NME Awards always showcase quirky, more edgier styles in comparison to other music awards ceremonies with girls and boys alike setting the fashion stakes. I love the skinny jeans look on a guy (and my oh my were there plenty) and the teddy boy-esque approach that many of the bands nominated wore on the evening. For the females, the standard was set with laced detailing on the feminine silhouettes of dresses. However, Rita Ora showed off a gorgeous white suit and rocked the effortless yet sophisticated look perfectly.
Alexa Chung, Tali Lennox, Rita Ora and Florence Welch via elleuk
In hommage to the absolute icon that is Alexa Chung, i thought that i would create a montage of images that surfaced of her looking as wonderful as ever on the night. Sweet, huh? Yes Mols, or incredibly stalkerish.
Alexa Chung <3
For the full list of winners click
here
All images sourced via nme unless stated otherwise.