Well, the VO5 NME Awards has come and gone, and the O2 Brixton Academy will never be the same again. Skepta and Stefflon Don performed their bizarre yet brilliant Simpsons-referencing ‘My Ding-A-Ling’ and Big Narstie was the most relentlessly hilarious man in the backstage area, at one point accidentally referring to rapper Loyle Carner – who won Best British Solo Artist supported by VO5 – as “Lyle Corner”. Liam Gallagher, recipient of the Godlike Genius award, belted out Oasis bangers and solo material in a barnstorming set that proved, without a shadow of a doubt, that no-one else could have taken the accolade this year.
Most of the stars hit one of two raging after-parties, one at The Cuckoo Club in the West End and another at swanky central London institution The Ivy. Let’s peer behind the velvet rope and see what everyone got up to, shall we?
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Professor Green, who presented Avelino with the Best Mixtape award supported by Bulldog Gin, was having a right laugh all night.
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The model Fae Williams, who’s dating Professor Green, was in a similarly lolzy mood.
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Tom from Kasabian, snapped here at The Ivy, told us that without Liam Gallagher, there’d be no Kasabian – a thought too awful too contemplate.
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DJ Clara Amfo was out on the town, too, having told NME that she was delighted that Charlie XCX won Best Track supported by Estrella Galicia for her low-key banger ‘Boys’.
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We think Muse frontman Matt Bellamy just spotted a drone.
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Love Island stars Gabrielle Allen and Marcel Somerville braved the south London drizzle, which is a million miles from the sunny Spanish island on which they met.
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Over in the West End, Haim met their biggest fan.
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Liam drank deeply from the well of life.
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He was spotted walking up and down the queue for the men’s toilets at The Ivy after-party, asking, “Do you love your mum? Do you love your mum? Do you love your mum? I love my mum – she’s the real Godlike Genius.”