Last weekend, NME's annual celebration of the best artists around rolled into Manchester for another leg of the awards tour. Fuse FM's reporter Leanne Fata headed down to check out the gig which featured Azaelia Banks, Tribes, Metronomy and was headlined by Two Door Cinema Club (pictured). Click 'read more' for the scoop!
On seeing the line up for this years NME Awards Tour, excitement ensued. Two up and coming artists in the shape of Azealia Banks and Tribes alongside two hugely popular bands Metronomy and Two Door Cinema Club seemed to be an instant recipe for success. But how did it pan out on the night? The second Manchester night was packed out as expected (and with a majority of 14 year old ‘alternative’ moshers... as expected).
Azealia Banks took straight to the stage not long after the doors opened to a strange reception. With a mammoth queue still outside it seemed a shame to put someone on stage who could get a crowd going in an instant when only a handful were actually in the building. Having become pretty well known in a short amount of time after being listed in the BBC’s Sound of 2012 and hailed by the likes of Annie Mac with her track ‘212’ I was looking forward to see how she would be live. She lived up to my expectations of being pretty mad and commanding the stage, and getting the crowd excited about her music despite not knowing much of it. Finishing with 212 and a rendition of The Prodigy’s Firestarter, she had everyone suitably excited for some live music for the night. 
Unfortunately, it seemed that this spirit was soon dampened by Tribes. Another band seeing fast popularity, who have been dipping in and out of Radio 1’s playlist and I was excited to see what they had to offer. This turned out to be not much but something that was reminiscent to watching an entry at a high school’s battle of the bands. Their music is not bad, however in the context of the line up, it seemed to bring down the atmosphere after the hype of Azealia Banks. Perhaps they should have been put on first as they proved to be quite good background music to a half an hour conversation that ensued between myself and a fellow gig-goer. 
Having seen Metronomy twice before at festivals over the summer, I was interested to see how they would come across indoors (and not in broad daylight). Being a huge fan of their last album ‘The English Riviera’ and being mighty impressed by previous live performances they had a high standard to live up to. Luckily they exceeded that and had me reduced to a screaming fangirl much like the other fifteen year olds I was surrounded by. Their stage presence was captivating and kudos to the light technicians who made the show even more spectacular on top of tracks such as ‘The Look’ and ‘Radio Ladio’. I would even go as far to say as this is one of those rare bands who’s music is better live than on record. Yes. I said it and I stand by it. I will continue my mission to ensure every music lover sees this band live!
Finishing the bill was Two Door Cinema Club. The second headlining set I had seen them do following last years Parklife and once more their performance was uplifting to all in the room (the majority of whom were clearly there just for them as you could tell from the deafening screams). Although they had an hours set, it is always a risky move when on a tour of this kind to try out new material, however Two Door Cinema Club rose to the challenge and gave it a go to a brilliant reception. The new tracks were in keeping with the band’s upbeat sound and went down a storm leaving the crowd excited for their second album’s release. Again, the tour had put a lot into the staging and the impressive use of lighting during the set really gave it the edge that a headliner should have. All in all an impressive set leaving me excited for their new music and the next chance I get to see them live.
The night proved to have a very different vibe to last years tour of Magnetic Man, Everything Everything and Crystal Castles but ultimately still showed the spectrum of brilliant music that is currently about. Well done NME, well done.