Just Like Heaven: The Cure Tops Best Ever Shockwaves NME Awards!

NME Awards Big Gig The Cure 15,000 music fans in O2 Arena for NME Big Gig

Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon reunite for exclusive comeback performance at star-studded Awards ceremony
NME.COM averaged over 250,000 daily unique users across the two days of the awards
Unique souvenir boxed issue of NME featuring exclusive The Cure CD

Last night saw 15,000 music fans fill the O2 Arena to witness the NME Big Gig – headlined by The Cure – as the final part of the Shockwaves NME Awards 2009.

Publishing director Paul Cheal says: “Over the last few days we have seen the NME brand go into overdrive, with NME.COM and NME Radio reporting live from both the Awards and Big Gig, a special box set issue of the magazine to commemorate the Godlike Genius of The Cure and the Big Gig being filmed for exclusive broadcast on NMETV. All in all a fantastic example of how NME continues to find innovative ways to engage with its target audience.”

The action kicked off on Wednesday with the Awards ceremony at Brixton Academy, including live performances from Friendly Fires, Glasvegas, Franz Ferdinand and The Cure.

The Cure walked away as winners of the NME Godlike Genius award, while Muse picked up awards for Best Album Artwork (HAARP), Sexiest Male (Matt Bellamy) and Best Live Band. The Killers took the award for Best International Band, and MGMT were named Best New Band and took the award for Best Track (Time to Pretend).

As the Awards took place, NME.COM was busy bringing all the latest action to its hundreds of thousands of online users – providing minute-by-minute news, results, blogs, gossip, pictures and video streamed live from the ceremony as it unfolded.

The Awards were followed by the Shockwaves NME Awards Big Gig on Thursday at the O2 Arena, featuring White Lies, Crystal Castles, Franz Ferdinand and this year’s Godlike Genius award-winners, The Cure.

NME editor Conor McNicholas says: "Yet again NME readers have spoken in their thousands - their votes crowning the very brightest stars of the current rock scene. Oasis have proved yet again, with a triumphant seventh album that our love affair with them simply has no sign of ending. And the Stateside scene continues to go from strength to strength, with MGMT smashing through the ranks to emerge as one of the brightest talents we’ve seen in a long time. And all of these artists have in part been influenced by the Gods of the 2009 Shockwaves NME Awards - The Cure. Their closing set was quite simply one of those spine-tingling moments in rock history that I doubt few at Brixton Academy will ever forget.”

The Awards this year will see over 13 hours of dedicated TV programming across Channel 4 and 4Music – almost double the amount from 2008. Following a 45-minute preview show on Channel 4’s flagship youth music video franchise, Freshly Squeezed, in T4 last Saturday, a dedicated show was broadcast every morning this week on 4Music. And all the action from the Awards ceremony will be broadcast tonight (Friday, February 27) at 7.30pm on 4Music or 11.35pm on Channel 4, with a highlights show on T4 on Saturday, February 28 at 10.55am.

Celebrating the Awards, this week’s NME hit the newsstand in a unique souvenir box set. The special boxed edition includes an NME-exclusive tribute CD to The Cure featuring 14 of their tracks covered by various artists including Dinosaur Jr, Mystery Jets, and The Futureheads. Also included is an A1-sized Kings Of Leon poster (the final tour poster in the series) and a very special issue of the magazine, containing an exclusive interview with dark indie rock trio, White Lies.

Meanwhile, next week’s issue of NME – on UK newsstands from March 4 – will contain the ultimate coverage, interviews and photos from the 2009 Shockwaves NME Awards.

Shockwaves NME Awards 2009 winners (**):

BEST BRITISH BAND supported by Shockwaves
** Oasis
Bloc Party
Radiohead
Muse
Last Shadow Puppets

BEST INTERNATIONAL BAND supported by 4music
Kings Of Leon
** The Killers
MGMT
Vampire Weekend
Crystal Castles

BEST SOLO ARTIST
Ladyhawke
Jay-Z
Laura Marling
Lightspeed Champion
** Peter Doherty

BEST NEW BAND supported by Bench
Vampire Weekend
** MGMT
Glasvegas
Late Of The Pier
White Lies

BEST LIVE BAND supported by Red Stripe
Radiohead
Oasis
The Killers
** Muse
Kings Of Leon

BEST ALBUM supported by HMV
** Kings Of Leon - ’Only By The Night’
The Killers - ’Day & Age’
Glasvegas - ’Glasvegas’
Oasis - ’Dig Out Your Soul’
Bloc Party - ’Intimacy’

BEST TRACK supported by NME Radio
Vampire Weekend - ’A-Punk’
The Last shadow Puppets - ’The Age Of The Understatement’
Kings Of Leon - ’Sex On Fire’
The Ting Tings - ’That’s Not My Name’
** MGMT - ’Time To Pretend’

BEST VIDEO supported by NME TV
Late Of The Pier – ’Heartbeat’
** The Last Shadow Puppets - ’My Mistakes Were Made For You’
Radiohead - ’House Of Cards’
Vampire Weekend - ’A-Punk’
Oasis - ’The Shock Of The Lightning’

BEST LIVE EVENT
T in the Park
** Glastonbury
Isle Of Wight Festival
Reading And Leeds Festival
V Festival

BEST TV
Skins
** The Mighty Boosh
Gavin & Stacey
Never Mind The Buzzcocks
The IT Crowd

BEST DANCEFLOOR FILLER
Bloc Party - ’Mercury’
** Dizzee Rascal - ’Dance Wiv Me’
Crystal Castles - ’Courtship Dating’
Friendly Fires - ’Paris’
Late Of The Pier - ’Bathroom Gurgle’

BEST DVD
Foo Fighters - ’Live At Wembley Stadium’
The Rolling Stones - ’Shine A Light’
Kaiser Chiefs - ’Live At Elland Road’
** Arctic Monkeys - ’At The Apollo’
Muse – ’HAARP’

BEST BAND BLOG
** Noel Gallagher / Oasis
Little Boots
Lightspeed Champion
Radiohead
Foals

BEST VENUE
London 02 Arena
** London Astoria
Glasgow Barrowland
London 02 Brixton Academy
Manchester Apollo

BEST ALBUM ARTWORK
We Are Scientists – ’Brian Thrust Mastery’
** Muse – ’HAARP’
The Cure – ’4:13 Dream’
Guillemots – ’Red’
The Killers – ’Day & Age’

HERO OF THE YEAR
Brandon Flowers
Noel Gallagher
** Barack Obama
Noel Fielding
Alex Turner

VILLAIN OF THE YEAR
Amy Winehouse
** George W Bush
Peter Doherty
John McCain
Gordon Brown

BEST DRESSED
Brandon Flowers
Noel Fielding
** Alexa Chung
Alex Turner
Noel Gallagher

WORST DRESSED
** Amy Winehouse
Peter Doherty
Katy Perry
Brandon Flowers
Johnny Borrell

WORST ALBUM
** Jonas Brothers - ’A Little Bit Longer’
Coldplay - ’Viva La Vida’
Britney Spears – ’Circus’
Scouting For Girls - ’Scouting For Girls’
Razorlight - ’Slipway Fires’

WORST BAND
Tokio Hotel
** Jonas Brothers
Scouting for Girls
Fall Out Boy
Oasis

SEXIEST MALE
Carl Barât
Keith Murray
** Matt Bellamy
Peter Doherty
Miles Kane

SEXIEST FEMALE
** Hayley Williams
Kate Jackson
Alison Mosshart
Lykke Li
Stephanie Dosen

BEST WEBSITE
Facebook
** YouTube
Last FM
MySpace
Bebo