NEWCASTLE'S vibrant music scene was out in force last week when the second annual 1233 ABC NEWCASTLE MUSIC AWARDS returned to CIVIC THEATRE NEWCASTLE .
This year organisers had more than 460 entries to sort through from 260 entrants.
With an overall improvement in the quality of this year's entries, it was obvious that Newcastle's music scene had benefited from the event's inception in 2002.
The awards opened with a performance from last year's folk category winner ANOUSHA VICTOIRE, one of several acts to perform throughout the evening.
A swag of awards were up for grabs this year and the rock category was divided into three sections.
SUPERSONIC took out the Soft Rock Award for Out of Sight Out of Mind , PAPERHALO won the Heavy Rock Award for Sexual Applause and Muzzy Pep won the Rock Award for Pleasure Lovers .
MUZZY PEP also walked away with the Broadcasters Choice Award.
Up-and-coming youngsters COTTON SIDEWALK were given a boost when they picked up the award for Best Young Talent.
A number of artists followed on from their success at last year's event including IONIC who won the dance category for the track Meshes in E and JULIE WILSON, who took out the country section for her tune Hide and Seek .
The evening closed with a stirring performance from EMPRESS who was named Act of the Year in 2002.
Empress performed two tracks from her EP Walls before she presented the 2003 award for Best New Act to electronic act ON , formerly known as ON INC .
The win saw On walk away with a recording deal and publishing contract with ABC MUSIC.
Other awards winner included SUE CARSON for Best Female Vocals and PHIL TWEED for Best Male Vocals.
|
