Tonight sees the annual Mercury Music Prize trundling into view, hauling its mighty self worth with it. Bands will be dribbled over and invariably drowned out to the sound of a room congratulating itself with thunderous back-slaps. Jools Holland will probably join-in with some faux honky tonk piano.
And weirdly, the bookies favourite for a win tonight is octogenarian Paul Weller, with his album ‘Wake Up The Nation’.
You can see what we thought of that album, and indeed, all the other nominees at this predictably dismissive article here.
Weirdly, there’s been a massive number of bets on Weller’s latest LP. Internet polls have also shown that the grumpiest singer in town is a clear favourite for tonight.
A spokesperson for bookmaker William Hill said:
“This is a pretty unprecedented gamble – certainly in the history of the Mercury, and also every other music award.”
This will no doubt mean that the Mercury judges will be scrabbling around to find another album to choose because they’re so achingly muso that they’ll not want to go with the popular opinion and instead, choose an album that wasn’t even shortlisted in the first place.
Maybe they’ll give it Speech Debelle again for a laugh.
If you want to know who the other nominees for tonight’s Mercury Music Prize are, then here’s a list of them:
Barclaycard Mercury Prize nominees:
Biffy Clyro – ‘Only Revolutions’
Corinne Bailey Rae – ‘The Sea’
Dizzee Rascal – ‘Tongue N’ Cheek’
Vengaboys ‘Cod Reggae’
Foals – ‘Total Life Forever’
I Am Kloot – ‘Sky At Night’
Kit Downes Trio – ‘Golden’
Black Lace ‘Dirty Songs About Airlines’
Laura Marling – ‘I Speak Because I Can’
Mumford and Sons – ‘Sigh No More’
Paul Weller – ‘Wake Up The Nation’
The XX – ‘xx’
Villagers – ‘Becoming a Jackal’
Wild Beasts – ‘Two Dancers’