Photo by Margot Guilhot Delsoldato.
Vicar Street. A rainy Thursday night. Dress code: I don’t give a fuck. Sequin jumpsuited girls and boys order Guinness next to middle aged industry heads, who have come straight from the office. This is the RTÉ Music Choice Awards, a chaotic but well-meaning night of loud music, expensive pints, and Sinéad O’Connor giving the government the finger.
Look, before I can proceed with the run-down, I need to get this off my chest; a pint of Hop-House in Vicar Street is seven quid. What was once an indie venue that hosted cheap gigs for a cool crowd has become a watering ground for working professionals who want to be seen there, that’s all I’ll say. C’mon Vicar Street, as Conor Curley from the Fontaines DC (an indie punk band that you should check out) told the audience as he picked up his award for Irish Artist of the Year, “keep the heart”.
The night had five different performances from Anna Mieke, Just Mustard, Aoife Nessa Frances, The Pillow Queens and Thumper. All of whom had been nominated for the coveted Album of the Year award. Unfortunately, I couldn’t properly enjoy the performances due to the disorganisation of the night, it felt like I was attending an open mic in the back of a busy pub. Hosted and broadcasted by 2FM, long delays occurred between each performance, with performers left standing on stage for up to ten minutes whilst a different award was presented to someone else via zoom. Many of the winners of the prize were unable to make the ceremony, including Moncrieff, who won the Song of the Year which was decided via public vote for his single ‘Warm’. Cian Dukat, who won Breakthrough Artist of the Year also couldn’t manage to make the ceremony. What was unusual (and slightly off putting) was that all of the award winners, bar the Best Album, were announced earlier in the day which did take away some of the magic of the night. This all begs the question, how relevant is RTÉ these days?
It was the country-pop artist CMAT (Ciara Mary Alice Thompson) who “beat out all of my brave competitors”, as she put it and won Best Album of the Year which ensures her a cosy ten grand (enough for about a month’s rent in Dublin) sponsored by the Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) and the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) – even they don’t know what the difference is between the two. Because CMAT is currently on tour in the Netherlands, it was “Aldi CMAT” as CMAT affectionately asked the drag queen Lavender to be called, who collected the award. The speech given, in true CMAT style, was equal parts hilarious and touching, in it she apologised for her family “who I can imagine have been the most disruptive and chaotic force the awards have ever witnessed”, I was standing next to the CMAT gang, and I have to say, she was right. They were understandably emotional and witnessing them find out that CMAT had won was magical, it was like Christmas on the balcony.
For all my whining, it was a wonderful night for Irish music, and it was heart-warming to see such an eclectic group in attendance. Between Louise McSharry bopping her head approvingly to Thumper (a screamo punk band) and David Fanin presenting Sinéad O’Connor with the Best Classic Album award, who she dedicated to all the refugees in Ireland, it really was the best of the best, Hop House in a plastic cup and all.
