After more than 30 years, the Mercury Prize will take place outside
London for the first time this year - at Newcastle's Utilita Arena on 16
October.
This is a huge year for the event, which will take place outside London for the first time after more than 30 years - at Newcastle's Utilita Arena on 16 October. Last year, it was noted by winners English Teacher
that they were the first act from outside London to pick up the prize
in 10 years.
This year's nominees include artists from Leeds, Sheffield,
Gloucestershire, Coventry and Kent, as well as the capital, and more
acts from, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
Ahead of the show, a week-long fringe festival will take place across
Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside,
Durham and Northumberland to spotlight the North East's music scene.
One of the biggest stars to emerge from that scene in recent years is of course Sam Fender,
from North Shields. The indie-rock singer-songwriter was first
nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2022, for his second album, Seventeen
Going Under, and returns to the shortlist this year with his third
chart-topper, People Watching. Pulp also
shortlisted for their big comeback, and Wolf Alice breaking a record.
Other acts announced by judges today include the genre-bending FKA Twigs, indie-pop star CMAT and post-punk band Fontaines DC, who are all up for the award for the second time. Folk musician Martin Carthy is now believed to be the oldest ever
nominee at 84 - and joins his daughter, Eliza Carthy, and late wife
Norma Waterson, on the list of Mercury Prize shortlist alumni.
Other first-timers include Jacob Alon and Joe Webb, who are both
nominated for debuts, as well as Emma-Jean Thackray, Pa Salieu and
PinkPantheress.
Previous Mercury winners Pulp and Wolf Alice are both nominated for the fourth time. For Wolf Alice, who first made the cut with their debut My Love Is Cool in 2015 and won with their second album Visions Of A Life in 2018
before a third nod for Blue Weekend in 2021, this latest recognition
for The Clearing means that every single one of the four albums they
have ever released has been in the running.
Pulp were first
nominated for their fourth album His'n'Hers in 1994 and won with
Different Class, one of the most famous albums of the Britpop era, in
1996. A nomination for This Is Hardcore followed in 1998 - and now More,
their first album in more than 20 years, has earned them a nod once
again.
And CMAT returns for the second year in a row, after being
nominated for her second album, Crazymad, For Me, in 2024, and now
Euro-Country.
The Mercury Prize launched in 1992, when Simply Red's Stars, U2's
Achtung Baby, and The Jesus And Mary Chain's Honey's Dead were among the
nominees - and Primal Scream's Screamadelica took the inaugural award.
It
celebrates music by British and Irish acts and spans a huge range of
different musical genres and artists throughout all stages of their
careers, from newcomers to veterans.
