Choice Music Prize 2010

By Kevin Donnellan

The Choice Music Prize. What a great night. Shame they have to ruin it by giving out an award at the end.

So Two Door Cinema Club won. Bit of a strange choice, but that might have more to do with the convoluted voting system than anything else (chicken entrails are rumored to be involved). Fair play to the County Down lads for giving the €10,000 prize to charity though.

Anyway it’s better to look at the night as a celebration of Irish music over the past year, not a fairly arbitrary decision on what album is ‘best’. And as a celebration the night was definitely a success. Each one of the nine acts that performed last night (Imelda May was away on tour) gave a short demonstration of why they deserve to be championed. Plus where else are you going to get both Morrissey AND Paul Galvin in attendance?

The show chugged along nicely, a short video introduced by Alison Curtis followed by a two song set from each act. To an almost full house (despite being sold out there were plenty of free seats upstairs, what recession etc…)
Halves kicked things off, showcasing their haunting, cinematic sound. If Sigur Ros were that way inclined they’d take these lads out to the woodshed before they get too powerful.

Then Fight Like Apes lit up the stage. They may be the marmite of the Irish music scene but Jesus they know how to put on a show.

James Vincent McMorrow was next up. If the prize was given for best performance on the night then he would have won hands down. His Nick Drake-esque falsetto had the audience enraptured. Paul Galvin was presumably sobbing into his neckerchief

Cathy Davey successfully converted the six people in the audience who weren’t already fans with her set, Conor O’Brien joining her on stage just to seal the deal. O Emporor were one of my ‘meh’ bands at the start of the night but their eight minutes put an end to that. Great live performers.

Two Door Cinema Club elected to perform an acoustic set. If the Meteor’s were still around they would have been the ‘alternative’ fare on offer. But here they were the poppy gatecrashers. Until Alex Trimble opened his mouth. Great voice.

Adebisi Shank gave the giddiest performance of the night. Yes giddy, you heard me. That was a good thing though.
Villagers were the penultimate act up. And, well, Conor O’Brien did what Conor O’Brien does. Eat babies…. Nah they were excellent.

Then it was Cast of Cheers task to wrap things up, another delivery of two great live songs. Nine from nine.

If this all sounds a bit backslappy it’s cause it is. It was a night for backslapping. The rest of the year we can bitch and moan and argue and deride. But if you were there last night you got a treat. Hopefully there’ll be more of the same-but-completely-different next year.