Arias 2016: Flume cleans up as Crowded House joins Hall of Fame – as it happened
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Flume, Troye Sivan and Violent Soho racked up the pointy awards and the Veronicas performed in body glitter on the 30th anniversary of the Australian music industry’s night of nights
Sydney artist Montaigne, aka Jess Cerro, accepts the Aria for breakthrough artist during the 30th annual Aria awards at The Star in Sydney on Wednesday night. Photograph: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images
Sydney artist Montaigne, aka Jess Cerro, accepts the Aria for breakthrough artist during the 30th annual Aria awards at The Star in Sydney on Wednesday night. Photograph: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images
Flume cleans up at Australian music's night of nights
Elle Hunt
He led the nominations and came out on top with awards, too – Flume won five Arias for his album Skin, including Album of the Year (“the one I really wanted”) and Best Male Artist.
Flume with his Aria loot. Photograph: Cole Bennetts/Getty Images
He used one of his appearances at the podium to rally against Sydney’s lockout laws, which he says deny others the creative opportunities he’s benefited from. Other artists, Montaigne and Sarah Blasko, also expressed support for the campaign to Keep Sydney Open.
Troye Sivan won two Aria awards for Youth: Best Video and Apple Music Song of the Year, the latter presented to him by a cheerily disdainful Robbie Williams. Sivan claimed his wins for all of Australia’s LGBTQI community, while Sia’s award for Best Female Artist was accepted on her behalf by a marriage equality campaigner.
Violent Soho won Best Rock Album and Best Group, while Montaigne was named Breakthrough Artist and Hilltop Hoods, Best Live Act.
Crowded House were inducted into the Aria Hall of Fame, in spite of some territorial posturing on behalf of New Zealand by the Flight of the Conchords. Their performance of Distant Sun raised one of the biggest responses from the crowd of the night, as well as John Farnham’s You’re the Voice, which closed the ceremony.
If you’ve not had your fill of the Arias, Channel Ten is broadcasting a retrospective of 30 years of the event – but on behalf of Guardian Australia, I’m tagging out for the night. Thanks for following along with our liveblog. I for one welcome our new overlord Flume.
John Farnham’s on stage to perform “Australia’s unofficial anthem” – you know the one. Thirty years old this year, just like the Arias. (The Veronicas actually bowed down to Farnham as he took the stage.)
You’re the Voice, actually written by four British songwriters – Chris Thompson, Andy Qunta, Keith Reid, Maggie Ryder – began its life on 25 October 1985, the same day some 100,000 people took to the streets of London to march in support of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
Thompson, who was kicking himself for missing the march, watched it on TV instead. It was the protesters’ passion that inspired the song’s refrain and title.
The songwriters knew they’d penned something special, but Thompson was adamant an Australian “joke” like Farnsy, who was then best-known for Sadie the Cleaning Lady, would never get his mitts on the track.
But he did, adding it to his 12th studio album, 1986’s Whispering Jack – still the best-selling Australian album of all time, having racked up some 1,680,000 sales.
John Farnham’s performance tonight is rousing, spine-tingling, but he has some mishaps with his mic stands, in his sheer excitement throwing it in the air and failing to catch it.
Bernard Fanning and Missy Higgins – past recipients of Album of the Year – have presented Flume with his fifth and final Aria award. Not a bad return from 11 nominations.
Flume says in his acceptance speech: “In a time of singles and songs, albums still matter.”
Flume – in case it’s his last award for the night – is thanking everyone with a peripheral connection to his career. There’s only album of the year to go, but he’s nominated for that, too.
Flume accepts the Aria for Best Male Artist. Photograph: Paul Miller/AAP
John “The Voice” Farnham is closing the show with a performance of – I’m betting – You’re The Voice.
And what do you know – here are Kylie Minogue and Joshua Sasse now, on stage to introduce Troye Sivan, who’s performing his Song of the Year, Youth.
Minogue and Sasse encourage the audience to get behind the campaign to Say “I Do” Down Under, with Sasse adding that 2017 could be the year that Australia is “back on the right side of history”.
Kylie Minogue and Joshua Sasse show us their pro marriage equality T-shirts at the Aria awards. Photograph: Paul Miller/AAP
Kylie at the #Arias calling for marriage equality. Get on with it, Australian government
What with Flume, Sarah Blasko and Montaigne rallying against the lockout laws, and Troye Sivan and Sia claiming wins for the LGBTQI community, it’s been quite a socially progressive Arias, really.
Just as I typed that, John Butler and Ben Lee, on stage to present the artist for Best Male Artist, acknowledged the traditional custodians of the land for the first time (on the television broadcast, at least) tonight. Lee also adds: “We also want to use this opportunity to say we stand with Standing Rock.”
Sia, nominated for a handful of awards tonight, has won a big one: Best Female Artist for This Is Acting.
The notoriously private artist is not on hand to accept it herself, and there’s a moment of confusion when an unknown blonde woman takes her place at the podium. She introduces herself as Angie Greene, a campaigner for marriage equality in Australia – and receives one of the biggest responses of the night.
“I can just walk off now,” she jokes after the sustained applause.
Sia had asked her to accept the award, she said, on behalf of “every single non-hetero and gender-diverse person, who can currently not marry the person that they love in this country”.
She’s wearing the same shirt as Margot Robbie did on Saturday Night Live, a design by Kylie Minogue’s fiancé, Joshua Sasse.
If you’re watching the Channel Ten broadcast, you just saw how the television event covers an awards ceremony that’s been going for more than four hours and is still underway – that is, at breakneck speed.
There was a little medley of smaller award presentations, in which One Direction – in the past, one of the Arias’ big tickets – followed Sara Storer.
After a lengthy acceptance speech from Neil Finn, as well as a few words from other members of Crowded House, their induction into the Hall of Fame has been marked by performances of Fall at Your Feet by Missy Higgins and Better Be Home Soon by Bernard Fanning.
They’re both lovely covers that do justice to the place this band occupies in New Zealand’s (and, I suppose, Australia’s) history. Higgins is on her first orchestral tour of Australia at the moment and if this performance – on grand piano, backed by string quartet – is a fair representation, it would be worth heading along to.
I’m told there are journalists in the green room reaching for their tissues. Then again, it is the first dry Arias – as you can’t help but be reminded of whenever the camera shows the “moshpit”.
Crowded House are now performing Distant Sun from their 1993 album Together Alone, Neil Finn still in his very purple suit.
In mid-show break, we received reports that the vibe inside the event centre is “stilted” and “a bit bleak”, with quite a few leaving early to hit a nearby pub.
The Arias are a dry event this year, meaning there was no booze until half-time. If an hour and a half without a beer doesn’t sound like a downright tragedy to you, you are clearly not a member of the Australian music industry – as the break wrapped up and the second half began, there seemed to be a heap of empty seats.
If the broadcast runs late, and/or is packed with ad breaks – a bunch of label execs running to the bar for a final drink could be one of the reasons why...
Here’s a glimpse of the bar during the half-time break. Spot the stars, if you can...
The Flight of the Conchords are on stage to welcome Crowded House into the Arias Hall of Fame. The “partially Australian, partially New Zealand” band is claimed by both countries, though that is obviously a cop-out because everyone knows that Crowded House would have been nothing without Neil Finn and he’s a New Zealander, so. (As am I.)
Brett McKenzie and Jemaine Clement say they’ve been sent by the New Zealand government “to stop it from happening”, brandishing a letter to that effect from “John”. If you have any knowledge of the New Zealand government and its head, prime minister John Key, this is not unbelievable.
“We can’t let this happen. You have enough bands in Australia,” says Clement.
“We really need Crowded House, our musical Hall of Fame is more of a Doorway of Fame. So stop it Australia,” says McKenzie.
Taking the stage to accept the award, flanked by members of Crowded House, Neil Finn expresses surprise that the duo were let in by Australian immigration, given their “subversive message”.
He also makes a sly dig at Montaigne for reading her speech from her iPhone – he appears to have written his on the back of a run sheet.
But I am especially pleased that Finn gives a shout-out to his wife Sharon Finn. She owns a shop in Auckland that sells chandeliers, called Sharondelier – a fact I find myself regaling people with surprisingly often.
Crowded House accept the Aria hall of fame induction, with Neil Finn thanking their late drummer Paul Hester: ‘We wouldn’t have been anywhere near as engaging or amusing ... without Paul. I’m so happy his beautiful daughters, Sunday and Olive are with us tonight.’ Photograph: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images
On the television broadcast, Violent Soho have just been named Best Group. They were presented with the award by three members of Sheppard, who are still coasting on their hit Geronimo!, now two and a half years old.
“We’re up to present the award for Best Group, which is probably Aria reminding us that we’re not up for any awards this evening,” says George Sheppard, flanked by his two sisters, dressed as 2010 Katy Perry, as they are every year.
No one really seems to laugh, and the awkward moment is extended as it becomes apparent that Violent Soho are not in the venue – “perhaps celebrating their previous win”.
After an excruciatingly long pause, during which the Sheppard siblings stand on stage stony-faced, what seems to be a random assortment of women – but turns out to be their partners – accept the award on Violent Soho’s behalf. It is the best bit of the television broadcast so far.
In her acceptance speech for Breakthrough Artist, just aired on the television broadcast, Montaigne read quotes from her namesake 16th century philosopher off her phone and referenced her bowel movements – three times a week, apparently.
If you’ve been following Montaigne’s career, however, this won’t be news to you. In April last year she told Guardian Australia that her favourite Michel de Montaigne line is “Kings and philosophers shit, and so do ladies. Even on the highest throne in the world, we are seated still upon our arses”.
Try as I might, I can’t immediately verify that quote.
Robbie Williams wore this green, satin (... sateen?) jacket to present Troye Sivan with Song of the Year, and said no more than 100 words total before legging it off the stage. Maybe not even that.
I don’t know if he’s been paid to appear here, but if so, that’s a good dollar-per-word rate.
Another win for Violent Soho, and one they weren’t expecting. In fact they were drinking beers downstairs when the award was announced, and they had to weave their way back up to the main event while their partners took to the stage to accept on their behalf.
“How do you keep your hair looking so great?” is an excellent question posed in the green room.
“Grapeseed oil and coconut oil,” is the reply. It is unclear if it’s a joke.
Violent Soho pose in the awards room with one of their Arias. Photograph: Cole Bennetts/Getty Images
