I'd love to see either Pulp or FKA Twigs win it.

Ballsy to release an album just over 20 minutes long. Where does an EP stop and an LP begin...?

Fender and Fontaines probably the biggest challengers to CMAT. Can't see Wolf Alice or Pulp being "allowed" to win it twice. St PJ Harvey is a one-off.

Weed, if you're reading, you're in Newcastle right? Tickets are available and not too expensive.

-- Edited by Eamonn on Wednesday 10th of September 2025 11:27:58 AM

I think only Radiohead and Arctic Monkeys have more noms with 5 while this is Wolf Alice's 4th in a row.

I think her being a singular, female artist in a still male-dominated area and the fact that Let England Shake - her second album to win - was a kind of state-of-the-nation address, helped her cause second time round.

Also, I can't remember what the competition was like that year but this time round it's pretty tough. Fontaines, Fender and CMAT are all beloved by critics and young folk.

Is anyone else going to this? Pulp are confirmed to perform.

Two of the favourites, CMAT and Fontaines DC, are unlikely to play (wisdom teeth pain and new babba respectively) which might subliminally increase Pulp's chances. Still expect one of the above Irish acts or Sam Fender, in his hometown, to win though.

No, that was just for the announcement promo. They'll be in Newcastle. And I'm coming up all the way from the South Coast so they'd better be!

And Jarvis is gonna have to bust out his dance moves to give the crowd their money's worth with two of the faves unlikely to perform now.

I don't live far from Newcastle, but not even slightly tempted to go. Tickets are reasonable at about £35, but it's in a charmless venue - the Arena is just a vast concrete shed. What size venues do they usually host it in? Doesn't look that big on the telly... the ex cinema / bingo hall type venues would be more suitable, I would think, and easier to generate an atmosphere. I imagine there'll be a lot of boring waiting around.

Hammersmith Apollo is about half the size of the Arena. Newcastle is blessed with lots of excellent music venues, but maybe none quite fit. NX (formerly Academy, ex-cinema) would be the nearest in atmosphere; saw Cat Power at Hammersmith years ago, and I reckoned them about the same size, but looked it up and H.A. is more than twice the size of NX, which is about 2000 capacity. City Hall (where Pulp last played Newcastle, WLL) is slightly larger, 2200 capacity, but it's all seated.

The MOBO awards were held at the Arena last year, and it got some positive promotion in advance, but I didn't see any reviews afterwards, so don't know how well it went down.

I see Sam Fender is playing - given his colossal following in Newcastle, I guess he'll get the biggest response on the night, and his music works in arenas. Jacob Alon's music is intimate, and I enjoy it (haven't seen him live), but an arena seems unsuitable for intricate acoustic music.

Eamonn wrote:

---

Weed, if you're reading, you're in Newcastle right? Tickets are available and not too expensive.

-- Edited by Eamonn on Wednesday 10th of September 2025 11:27:58 AM

---

 Yes. I keep looking at tickets & end up concluding with "nah!"... as mentioned above, Newcastle Arena is awful & desperately needs to be replaced (It's replacement should have been open by now but delays mean there hasn't even been a spade put in the ground yet)

Only seems to be **** seats available & I can't justify the £40 for just 1 song surrounded by an evening that I will no doubt find irritating. 

The first concert I ever went to was in that arena when it was all shiney & new. Guess who it was?!

 

It's not a wasted trip to come to Newcastle though as it's a great place with lots to do & you might bump into members of Pulp :)

 

P.S. after all that... I may well end up going haha!