After a year off, the most raucous night in music returns with the NME Awards back in 2020. Tickets will be available here.
Returning on February 12, the NME Awards will be back at the O2 Academy Brixton in London to celebrate the best of the last 12 months in music – with big name guests and plenty of chaotic and unpredictable moments. Expect the night to be bigger, better and louder than ever.
The first acts announced to perform on the night are two of the most exciting rising artists around, with Yungblud and Beabadoobee confirmed to tear up the legendary Brixton stage. More acts will be announced in the weeks ahead, and you’ll have the chance to be there with tickets on sale at NME.com from 9am Friday December 13 and will be available here.
“We’re excited to announce that, after a fallow year, The NME Awards are back, back, back at the iconic O2 Academy Brixton for 2020,” said NME Editor Charlotte Gunn. “It’s been a huge year for music and NME has been there to cover it every step of the way, with our audience growing bigger and faster than ever, so there’s plenty to celebrate.
“We can promise a night like no other, featuring the best new and established acts from around the world; massive characters and even bigger tunes; and the wildest, most unpredictable performances. It’s not been the same without us – so get your tickets now and we’ll see you at Brixton in February.”
“He’s gobby, he’s hyperactive, he’s outspoken, he’s fearless, he feels sexy in a dress, and he’s a new breed of rock star,” said NME of Yungblud when interviewed for The Big Read earlier this year.
Born in Yorkshire, Dominic Harrison is a 22-year-old multi-instrumentalist who plays guitar, bass, piano, and drums, and first picked up a guitar at age two and began writing his own songs at age 10.
Exploding immediately with his self-titled debut EP in early-2018, NME praised Yungblud for delivering “the lyrics of a young Alex Turner, the fury of Sex Pistols leader John Lydon, the swagger of hip-hop king Travis Scott and a whole load of spirit that’s all his own.” His incredible 2019 began with the global hit single ‘11 Minutes’ with Halsey and Blink-182‘s Travis Barker.
His full-length debut album, ’21st Century Liability’, was released to critical acclaim last summer and was swiftly followed by October’s ‘The Underrated Youth’ EP, which entered the UK album chart at number 6, saw him sell out the O2 Academy Brixton and announce a residency at The Forum in London for next Spring.
“I wanna be the rock star for the 2020 generation,” Yungblud told NME when interviewed for The Big Read earlier this year. “People always advise me: don’t say that you want to be something, just in case you don’t turn out to be it. But I’m not afraid to say that I wanna be the rock kid for them. I hate it when people say: ‘rock isn’t cool’. Rock is so fucking cool. Pouring your heart out is cool.”
Born in the Philippines and raised in London, Bea Kristi began recording music as Beabadoobee in 2017. At just 19-years-old, Beabadoobee has built her huge, dedicated Gen-Z fan base with her flawless output of confessional bedroom pop songs and DIY aesthetic. Her first track, ‘Coffee’ gathered hundreds of thousands of streams in a matter of days, through a fan-uploaded video.
Since then, her songs have amassed millions of streams between her own self-released recordings and her trio of acclaimed EPs, ‘Space Cadet’, ‘Patched Up’ and ‘Loveworm’, all released within just 12 months of each other. Fresh from a US tour with Clairo, Bea is currently leading the Dirty Hit UK label tour around the UK with No Rome and Oscar Lang, and will join other labelmates The 1975 on their UK arena tour in February-March 2020.
In October, Bea landed an NME Big Read which christened her “ an icon for a generation of kids crying out for a new breed of guitar hero”. Last month she was one of three artists shortlisted for the BRITs Rising Star Award, predicting bright things for 2020.
“I love NME and I’m really excited to be performing for them at the NME Awards,” she said. “It’s going to be a great night, I hope you all are ready.”
The NME Awards 2020 – What you need to know
Where? O2 Academy Brixton
When? February 12
Why? You don’t want to miss out on the biggest music night of the year.
How do I get in? Tickets available here from Friday December 13 at 9am.