★★★★★ 0/5

Gallery: What we nearly missed at the ARIAs

The 22nd ARIAS was a very straight-laced event. But if you didn't blink there were a few live telly moments worth another mention.

33
Leave a comment

ARIAs night belonged to Gabriella Cilmi and The Presets, in a very straight-laced event.

Pity Nick Cave wasn’t there to ruffle a few feathers.

Rove managed a cute “subliminal” dig just towards the end. But if you didn’t blink there were a few live telly moments worth another mention.


Here’s a few:

Gabriella Cilmi pokes her tongue out at cameras. What else is there left to say when you’ve just won your sixth gong?

Natalie Bassingthwaighte proves the Bedazzler is making a comeback.

Brian McFadden telling James Kerley “it’s more comfortable to receive” than to give. “And when you receive you just get a bigger, bigger smile on your face.”

I can hear The Veronicas singing. But where the hell are they?

Gabriella Cilmi is escorted by security from her front table to the stage. Just to make sure she doesn’t get lost?

Richard Wilkins is one of the first to give Cilmi a standing ovation (James Tobin was close by too).

A guy with a lanyard nearly passes himself off as all three members of The Living End.

Axle Whitehead is so behaved he didn’t even try to make a joke.

Sam Sparro stumbles during Black and Gold.

And Vodafone crashes Motorola’s party.

Press Release:
The winners of the 2008 ARIA Awards, proudly presented by Motorola, have been announced and pop and electronic dance music have ruled the day in the form of multiple winners GABRIELLA CILMI and THE PRESETS. They join an eclectic group of ARIA Award recipients who include THE LIVING END, KASEY CHAMBERS and SHANE NICHOLSON, NICK CAVE and GEOFFREY GURRUMUL YUNUPINGU, THE PANICS and BLISS N’ ESO, among others.

In what is an extraordinary success story, vocal powerhouse GABRIELLA CILMI, a pop singer who had yet to emerge on the Australian music landscape this time last year, has taken out an incredible 6 ARIA Awards on the back of her debut album,Lessons To Be Learned, and her breakthrough smash hit single, Sweet About Me. The Melbourne-born, London-based Cilmi has received ARIA Awards in the categories of BEST FEMALE ARTIST, BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST – SINGLE (Sweet About Me),BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST – ALBUM (Lessons to be Learned), BEST POP RELEASE (Lessons to be Learned), HIGHEST SELLING SINGLE (Sweet About Me) and the coveted ARIA Award for SINGLE OF THE YEAR for Sweet About Me. With the world at her feet, GABRIELLA CILMI’s ARIA Awards triumph is nothing short of a phenomenal achievement for the Dandenong girl who has just celebrated her 17th birthday.

Electronic duo THE PRESETS has also had a cracking year with the release of their widely acclaimed second album Apocalypso. They fought off stiff competition in the prestigious categories of ALBUM OF THE YEAR and BEST GROUP to take out both for the hugely popular Apocalypso. The album has also seen THE PRESETS receive the pointy trophy in the category of BEST DANCE RELEASE taking their tally to 3 ARIA Awards (plus 2 ARIA Artisan Awards, including Producer of the Year for Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes). The self-produced Apocalypso, which spawned the gritty hit single My People, has sealed THE PRESETS as Australia’s premiere electronic act.

The extraordinary rise of the gifted GEOFFREY GURRUMUL YUNUPINGU continues with 2 ARIA Awards to his credit. Adding to the Award he received at the ARIA Fine Arts Awards for BEST WORLD MUSIC ALBUM, he has received the ARIA Award in the category of BEST INDEPENDENT ALBUM for his breathtaking solo debut album Gurrumul.

Viva La Rock! THE LIVING END has walked away with the ARIA Award for BEST ROCK ALBUM for the scorching White Noise – their fifth full length album and arguably their most successful to date. Also storming home with an ARIA Award, on the back of last year’s rock epic Dig, Lazarus Dig!!!, an album recorded with his band THE BAD SEEDS, is NICK CAVE. The prophet of Australian rock n’ roll, and 2007 ARIA Hall of Fame recipient, has been named BEST MALE ARTIST, an Award he also received in 2001.

Energetic hip-hop three piece BLISS N’ ESO has scored the ARIA Award for BEST URBAN ALBUM for Flying Colours. Recorded at the famous Sing Sing studios in Melbourne, the album demonstrates Bliss N Eso’s artistic growth and evolving maturity, both through lyrics and production in what is widely regarded as their best and most dynamic work to date.

Receiving their first ever ARIA Award is THE PANICS, who have taken home the ARIA Award in the category of BEST ADULT CONTEMPORARY ALBUM for their infectious debut Cruel Guards. The album, which has received a heap of critical praise, also took out the coveted 2007 J Award.

Popular Melbourne outfit THE AUDREYS have won their second ARIA Award, again in the category of BEST BLUES AND ROOTS ALBUM. Their second album When The Flood Comes has been described as ‘”Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant”(Daily Telegraph, Sydney) and “Gorgeous” by music bible, Rolling Stone.
The songwriting partnership of KASEY CHAMBERS & SHANE NICHOLSON has proved to be a winning combination with the duo receiving an ARIA Award in the category of BEST COUNTRY ALBUM for their outstanding release Rattlin’ Bones. And the divineDELTA GOODREM has added to her trophy cabinet by receiving the ARIA Award for HIGHEST SELLING ALBUM for her chart topping, smash hit, self-titled long player.

The DVD release from last year’s massive Across The Great Divide tour, featuring rock heavyweights POWDERFINGER andSILVERCHAIR, has received the ARIA Award in the category of BEST MUSIC DVD.

The wonderful WIGGLES have received the ARIA Award in the category of BEST CHILDREN’S ALBUM for their delightful toe-tapping kid’s CD You Make Me Feel Like Dancing.

And last but certainly not least, the inimitable SHAUN MICALLEF has taken out the ARIA Award for BEST COMEDY RELEASE for his long player with the equally long title – The Expurgated Micallef Tonight: The Very Best of Shaun Micallef’s Short-Lived but Brilliant Tonight.

Again highlighting the depth and diversity of talent across all genres of the Australian music community, ARIA congratulates all winners in the 2008 ARIA Awards, proudly presented by Motorola.

33 Responses

  1. Congrats to Gabriella Cilmi for her six wins. Can’t blame her for not knowing what to say when she has said it previously for her other wins. And well, yes she won because of her single “Sweet About Me” not because of her album, when she was on Idol they gave her a large frame for her single not her album. But she’s got talent and Sweet About Me is a great song. I thought Vanessa Amorosi would’ve got a nomination at least. And I was hoping Sam Sparro would win something, but oh well.

  2. Love the Presets!!!

    Who was buying Delta’s album??? Brian probably bought them all.

    Gabriella’s just the flavour of the month. Time will tell is she can back it up with a decent new album.

    Hamish and Andy need to stick to their radio show. They’re just not funny or entertaining on TV.

  3. Vixen, The Presets’ latest album does indeed sound like Depeche Mode a LOT in places. I’m talking mid-80s Mode – “Some Great Reward”, “Construction Time Again”, that era. It’s not a payout, it’s a compliment.

    Bye way, “grinding 3rds with no instrumental melody only vocal”? Have you ever listened to any Depeche Mode? Doesn’t sound like it.

    Cilmi scooped the awards without anyone showing much love for the album. The second single sold a tiny fraction of what “Sweet About Me” did. And yes, she’s got talent and a great voice, “Sweet About Me” is a great song and so on. I just get tired of the ARIA voting thing where an artist that’s had a ton of exposure suddenly becomes the default winner in every category they’re nominated in. It’s lazy voting – but then, lazy voting has ALWAYS plagued the ARIAs. I know this. I’ve seen it.

    Oh, and if Delta’s album bombed so badly, explain how it scored an award for being the highest selling album of the year, an album which debuted at #1 on the charts and has gone triple platinum… 🙂

  4. have you noticed that we don’t have any RnB singers and i wanted operator please to win just one but didn’t because of Gabriella after she won 4 arias i knew she was going to be unstoppable the people who were nominated with her must feel bad because she got all of she had 6 noms and won all of them but congrats to her and i must agree i liked her song at first but now it’s just annoying i would die if i hear it again

  5. Same with the Potbellyz song, was released two years ago. Still got a nom,
    This wasn’t about awarding artists, it was trying to push people into the international arena.
    Gabriella was just on ACA, she was talking about a “Bob Dylan” song and was then asked to sing a few bars, she broke into “Ring Of Fire” by Johnny Cash.
    This is Australia’s highest profile musician/performer.

  6. Benno I was gonna write the same thing about Faker before I read your comment. A woeful performance.

    I like Gabriella but it would have been nice to have seen the awards spread around a bit.

    And what about Delta and Vanessa Amorosi not even getting a nom? Vanessa’s seven year comeback didn’t even translate into one nomination, and her album’s not bad either. Yet Operator Please’s Yes Yes Vindictive and Missy Higgins’ “Peachy” are both old releases and they still got nominated!!

  7. I stayed to watch the Arias after Idol last night. The hosts rocked and yes we could say that James was the professional one. The opening act with Hamish and Andy was great…

    I really had to switch of when Gabriella Cilme won all the awards. I am not a fan of her or her song and i think that song is annoying as hell. But congrats to her for winning… however she was the reason why i couldn’t watch the whole show. Those speeches were bad!..

    I watched a clip about it on Sunrise today and shes so stupid!- “And like i’d like to thank everyone, like i should be saying something, like”

    … like seriously! she sucks.

    I was really wondering what ratings Idol received in its earlier time slow. I wanna know cuz i’m scared if TEN will make 6.30 a permanent time slot if it got good ratings.

    thanks guys 😉

  8. @ Clarrisani, Gabriella Chilmi has no talent?? whilst her song is somewhat annoying because it’s been thrashed by the radio stations, she has an amazing voice, especially for a 17 year old! Whilst I don’t like her style of music or her songs as such, even I can identify enormous amounts of talent. Now, the Veronicas on the other hand, how pathetic! They should stop ‘performing’ live to avoid the embarrassment. If not for the backing track that would’ve been close to the worst live performance i’ve seen. Gosh, i would’ve rathered them mime!!

  9. Faker were terrible I agree. I swear the lead singer was totally drunk or something similar.

    Pink rocked the house. She was definitely the highlight of the night now that I think back. A true performer.

  10. Presets sound like Depeche mode? Hardly, grinding 3rds with no instrumental melody only vocal is NOTHING like what the Presets do.
    Gabriella? What do you think they voted on? Her gender? Her personality?
    For her age the song is brilliant and you cant blame her for trying to find things to say after being up and down from the stage so many times. not to mention the quick comment breaks during presentations.
    Personally, I felt I was watching a show made not for the audience, not for the artists either but I felt like I was watching a show that was made to impress our big Cousin the US.
    Australia does music its own way, its one of the strongest forms of individualism, but our moronic execs at BMG and Universal only sign acts that can compete internationally, and they rarely do. Modular and Bug indie labels had a few artists win awards but barely a mention of the independent arena.
    Also noticed Delta was as far away as possible from the awards, her album bombed BADLY and it seems if the event isn’t about her being awesome then no go,
    Trying to turn Aussie Music into a glitzy glam RNB event but with out the RNB artists, the cool characters, the bling or the money.

  11. Nobody mentioned Pink??? She is an amazing artist and woman! This is the kind of girl you want for your daughters role model. Only a true professional can move around in heels like that!!!!!!!

  13. If you won’t say it Benno, I will. Faker lived up to their name last night. I didn’t see a whole lot of the show, but I did have the misfortune of seeing them ‘perform’ live last night. Ouch!! They were utterly abysmal. I’ve seen that song performed on TV live twice now and on both occasions it’s been a horrible, massively sub-par effort. “Auto-Tune” has a lot to answer for. Back to the safety of a recording studio Faker.

  15. RE: toriwannabe

    I was confused too, but realised they read it out wrong. The award was for highest selling female single (or album, not sure). Therefore they should have read from 5th hightest to 4th, 3rd, 2nd to 1st (Delta).

  16. It’s always disappointing seeing a band live, even on tv, and they sound horrible compared to their recorded music. Some pull it off, like when i saw the living end live in Brisbane, others who i won’t mention, just shouldn’t perform live.

  17. My husband and I were a bit confused by Delta’s award. We don’t even recall Delta being announced as a NOMINEE, so for her to win was a bit of a suprise to us.

    Maybe we weren’t paying attention. I think I was distracted by Hamish in a towel…

  18. The Living End was cheated, imo. And seriously, Gabriella Cilmi? Just goes to show that all you need is an annoying song, no talent, and friends in the right places to win.

    Well done to The Presets, though. I was very pleased to see they’re as good live as on their album. And no, they definitely weren’t lip-sincing that song.

    And just for the record, how many people are going to sue over those stupid stairs they had? Talk about dangerous. Everyone almost fell down them.

  22. I was completely underwhelmed by the show… apart form The Living End’s opening number – that was fantastic.

    I’m not a fan of Hamish and Andy on the radio, so them as hosts was never going to inspire me.

  24. What a night! Congrats to Gabriella Cilmi, her song is incredible. GO THE PRESETS! It’s so good to see some new talent walking away the awards.

    I was also in awe at Gurrumul – what an amazing artist. His song almost brought tears to my eyes.

  25. What else is there for Gabriella Cilmi to say? Hopefully nothing until she, well, actually HAS something to say! It was like being at the drunken end of a 16th birthday party 🙂

    Six awards for one song. Impressive. And no, nobody should go pretending that anyone voted for her because of the album.

    Nice to see wins by The Audreys (and Taasha with her near-transparent top should have made it to your gallery there David!) and of course Depeche Mode… err I mean The Presets (good on ’em 🙂

Leave a Reply