And the winner was… Two Door Cinema Club. The Conor J O’Brien fanboys amongst us might have had to pick our jaws up from the floor, but to be honest, the recent Hot Press cover stars were more than deserving victors. A rare case of commercial success meeting with critical acclaim. And their big fat cash prize? Going straight to charity. Classy lads. Of course, we could label any of the shortlisted acts “more than deserving”...
Hosted by Alison Curtis, the evening in Vicar Street was the perfect showcase for how truly fantastic the past 12 months have been for Irish music. Long may it continue. It might be a horrible old cliché but tonight the winning wasn’t all that important, it was the taking part. If we felt sorry for anyone it was the esteemed panel of judges (including our own Celina Murphy), holed up as they were in some secret location for the show’s duration trying to reach consensus. It meant they missed some great live performances.
Halves were the first up. They kicked things off in trademark atmospheric fashion, still soundtracking some as-yet-unfilmed widescreen western. If Radiohead were playing this stuff it would be lauded to high heaven. The eight other performing acts were no less impressive (Imelda May was off touring Down Under). Cathy Davey was the first of the big guns, rolling out the ubiquitous ‘Little Red’ before launching into the militaristic beat of ‘Army Of Tears’. She was joined on the latter by Mr. O’Brien, who would later take to the stage with his Villagers hat on. And if The Cast Of Cheers and James Vincent McMorrow didn’t quite set the night on fire, O Emperor and Adebisi Shank showed why they’ve garnered so many live plaudits. Along with Halves, the Shank would have been a nice leftfield choice for album of the year. Alas, it was not to be. There might have been a slight absence of rock and roll danger and spontaneity in the air, but Fight Like Apes did their best to whip some up. Their short set introduced some lightness and laughter, with MayKay doing her Karen-O-as-Dubliner thing, whilst Pockets destroyed keyboard after keyboard. Two Door Cinema Club’s acoustic turn was less thrilling, but served to highlight their winning way with melody. As industry love-ins go, it was all surprisingly bearable. Now in its sixth year, the Choice Music Prize continues to be a viable and relevant Irish answer to the Mercury. And with the Meteors going the way of the dodo, it might just remain the biggest prize-giving in the country’s music calendar for some time to come...