Noel Gallagher, Paul Weller and Let’s Eat Grandma were the big winners tonight (October 17) at the annual Q Awards. Held at London’s Roundhouse, the ceremony was hosted by British comedian/TV host Mo Gilligan and attracted a host of top names to present awards, including U2’s Bono, Jess Glynne, Jarvis Cocker, Shaun Ryder and Roger Daltrey.
The ceremony was followed by a sold-out live show from Wolf Alice (who won Q Best Live Act) and Idles (joint-winners of the fiercely-contested Q Best Breakthrough Act alongside Goat Girl).
A total of seventeen Q Awards handed out throughout the evening, with the biggest winner on the night being Noel Gallagher, who took away two Q Awards – Q Best Solo Artist and Q Outstanding Contribution To Music. Elsewhere, Paul Weller was crowned Q’s Best Act In The World Today and the Q Best Track award was gifted to Underworld & Iggy Pop for their collaboration Bells & Circles.
Other acts taking awards home included Let’s Eat Grandma for Q Best Album, Suede frontman Brett Anderson was awarded the Q Lifetime Achievement Award while Chic co-founder Nile Rodgers received Q Legend and Trojan Records were awarded the Q Inspiration gong for their reissues and boxset this year. Q Icon went to Echo & The Bunnymen’s frontman Ian McCulloch.
The grime-inspired Spotify Presents: Who We Be beat stiff competition to bag the Q Best Festival/Event.
Austin Daboh, head of shows & editorial at Spotify UK, said: “We’re honoured to receive such a prestigious award for Who We Be Live and I want to thank each and every person who helped us bring the playlist to life in such an unforgettable way. The first show was a fantastic success that we’re all very proud of and we’re looking forward to showcasing the very best of hip hop, grime and R&B for many more years to come.”
The Q Maverick award, which is for musicians who’ve inspired cult worship, went to Lawrence, the genius behind dozens of albums with Felt, Denim and Go-Kart Mozart.
Another notable highlight was an appearance from The Kinks, who were reunited for the first time in many years to be honoured with the Q Classic Album award for The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society. The Q Innovation In Sound award was won by Mike Skinner, aka The Streets, and the inaugural Fender Play Award was granted to Simon Neil of Biffy Clyro.
Speaking about the event, Ted Kessler, editor of Q magazine, said: “Every year of the Q Awards is a vintage year, but this year somehow felt even more special. Was it that so many inter-linking icons from across the generations were present? Possibly. There’s a thread that runs directly from Ray and Dave Davies of The Kinks, and Roger Daltrey of The Who too, straight through Paul Weller and Noel Gallagher – you just don’t expect to see them all in the same room at once. The same could be said of the generational link between The Streets and Bugzy Malone, too, or between Jarvis Cocker and Lawrence. It felt like a coming together of the musical tribes, of influencers and the influenced, with Q’s job to thank them for their creative work on behalf of our erudite readership.
He continued: “The awards also highlighted – as if it needed to be highlighted – that the future of music is as exciting as its past is rich: the most heavily-voted for category was for Best Breakthrough Act, and there was so little between Goat Girl and IDLES that it would’ve been churlish to separate them. It’s also brilliant that Let’s Eat Grandma, two teenagers from Norwich with a very esoteric sound, could win Best Album, and that the inaugural Best Festival/Event went to a grime night. It all highlights that boundaries of age or genre don’t really exist any more for music fans, and about that I could not be happier.”
You can read the full list of Q Awards 2018 winners below:
Q Best Breakthrough Act Presented by Red Stripe – Idles and Goat Girl
Q Best Track Presented by Firestone – Underworld & Iggy Pop – Bells & Circles
Q Best Album – Let’s Eat Grandma – I’m All Ears
Q Best Live Act Presented by The Cavern Club – Wolf Alice
Q Best Solo Artist Presented by Absolute Radio – Noel Gallagher
Q Best Act In The World Today Presented by Rocksteady Music School – Paul Weller
Q Best Festival/Event Presented by Pretty Green Clothing – Spotify Presents: Who We Be
Q Innovation In Sound – The Streets
Q Classic Album – The Kinks - …Are The Village Green Preservation Society
Q Maverick Presented by the Roundhouse – Lawrence
Fender Play Award – Simon Neil
Q Outstanding Contribution To Music – Noel Gallagher
Q Legend – Nile Rodgers
Q Inspiration– Trojan Records
Q Icon– Ian McCulloch
Q Lifetime Achievement Award Presented by Honda Motorcycles – Brett Anderson
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