Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards 2010 Wrap-Up

Especially in the context of an award show, medley’s never work particularly well, and from the onset of the awards it didn’t look good with a mash-up of all the most memorable bits of songs from Stan Walker, J. Williams and Dane Rumble. It was a short-sighted move, designed to help remind us that pop music is back in a big way in New Zealand but the life was sucked out of each rendition, and it wouldn’t be dishonest to say that at certain moments the performance verged on terrible.

And at times the award show felt similar; these might be made-for-TV awards but there were times when they felt lackluster.  Perhaps it was the presenters, who weren’t exactly comedy gold (so glad Hurley got the Paul Henry quips out the way early on) but that’s the nature of these things and by way of saying that there were the usual painful moments that plagued the night, it’s still a show which holds its own next to any overseas equal (Grammy’s, MTV awards, the Brits etc). And besides, there was still a solid crop of winners and performers this year, which is really what this is all about.

Despite winning Australian Idol, Stan Walker never really took off over the Tasman (first single Black Box stunted at number two on the ARIA chart), but his success has translated ten-fold back home. He ended up taking away four awards including the People’s Choice Award and almost couldn’t keep it together when he was asked to come to the stage to collect his first trophy of the night. However it turns out that it wasn’t going to be anyone’s clean-sweep — certainly not Rumble’s anyway, considering he only won 1/6 awards that he was nominated for — but it was still clearly Gin Wigmore’s night as she took away the awards for Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, Best Pop Album and Highest Selling NZ Album.

Semi-drunk and oozing cougar potential, Wigmore looked like a wet dream come to life (she was decked out in heels, thigh high stockings and a see-through camisole) and she brought the energy, attitude and personality to the stage; during her acceptance speeches she half-jokingly thanked her ex-management, dropped a few f-bombs and at one point slapped Robyn Malcolm’s ass. Until Brooke Fraser is ready to reclaim it, that light will continue to shine on Gin as she begins her nationwide tour and soaks up the award wins. And perhaps fittingly, it was also Fraser who presented the award for Album of the Year to Gin (along with co-host Ronan Keating who made a BJ joke!), an award that she’ll no doubt be nominated for come next year.

With the minor exception of The Phoenix Foundation (it’s still mystifying that they lost the Best Rock Album prize to the now impressively bearded Checks though), this wasn’t a year for us to be celebrating the underdog. Previous years wins from Fat Freddy’s Drop, The Mint Chicks and most recently, Ladyhawke, all felt extra-special. It wasn’t that these awards were that predictable, it’s just that there weren’t as many genuine memorable moments as there have been in the past. For the most part, the payoffs came when the awards weren’t being given out with noteworthy performances from The Phoenix Foundation,  David Dallas, Wigmore and Anika Moa.

The last part of the evening was dedicated to Shihad, who received the New Zealand Herald Legacy Award, or as Chris Graham cleverly dubbed it “the old men prize”, given to a bunch of guys that aren’t even pushing middle age. Their thank you list was fittingly long and among the notable people on their list were Pagan Records Trevor Reekie and Wildside’s Murray Cammick, two individual’s integral to the band’s success. And in the same vein of the opening sequence, we were left with a medley of classic Shihad material performed by a Jimmy Christmas led covers group with two drummers. Not really the finest performance to end on but it didn’t taint the prestige of the award. Eight years on from their Pacifier career misstep in which they asked themselves (in this song) “What have we become?” and they finally have an answer: local rock legends.