Hosted by Channel 6’s Michelle Doherty and Across The Line presenter David “Rigsy” O’Reilly, the second Choice Music Prize, set out to showcase the ten best albums of the previous year and, of course, to decide a winner.
With Fionn Regan and Snow Patrol in absentia, it was up to the Republic Of Loose, Messiah J & The Expert, David Kitt, The Immediate, Si Schroeder, Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy, Director and Duke Special to entertain the seated audience with two songs apiece.
Things didn’t really get going, however, until halfway through Si Schroeder’s beautiful ‘Eyes Wide’. Neither soul monsters Republic of Loose nor hip hoppers Messiah J – never mind the typically electric live offering from The Immediate and David Kitt’s surprisingly upbeat set – could get the industry types on the premises to stay quiet. But as soon as Si’s synths began gathering momentum and volume, a once-chatty audience started to take notice. Strange.
And then it was the turn of Neil Hannon – the only artist to appear solo. Before he took to the stage, Rigsy had quipped that if Neil won, he intended to spend the €10,000 on a new kitchen. Making sure that his drink was in close proximity to his stool, Neil continued to joke with the audience and generally appeared completely relaxed and unaware that things were about to take a serious turn for the better. In this relaxed vein, he promised to play “a funny song followed by a sad song” (‘Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World’ and ‘Lady Of A Certain Age’ respectively) – and proceeded to absolutely captivate the audience.
From there it was the turn of Director – an extremely tight live act, who manage to sound even better on stage than they do on CD.
Duke Special rounded off the live action with a predictably mesmerising set – so much so that when he finished, those who’d put money on him all but ran off to collect their winnings from Paddy Power.
No time was wasted before Jim Carroll took to the stage and, following a short list of thank-yous, quite casually announced “The Choice Music Prize goes to The Divine Comedy” – to resounding intakes of surprised breath. However, no one was more shocked than the man himself who admitted to being “literally speechless”.
A quick and hilarious offering from Eyebrowy later and the crowd dispersed. That the judges managed to give a best album award to the man who did the best live show on the night may have been a coincidence. Then again, maybe not: quality really does count in the long run.