Mercury Prize 2024: Details of revamped ceremony revealed
As one of the most hotly anticipated days in British and Irish music looms large, details surrounding this year’s Mercury Prize ceremony have been revealed. A total of 12 albums, spanning all genres, have been chosen for the shortlist, which is particularly strong this year, but the ceremony will be significantly different to previous years.
Usually, the ceremony is at a prestigious venue, such as the Eventim Apollo in London, and is complemented by performances from the shortlisted artists throughout the evening. Once the winner of the award is announced, they will then usually return to the stage for another performance.
This old system gave casual viewers watching from home on television the chance to sample a few tracks from the nominated albums before the ultimate victor was announced. Furthermore, it also gave artists an opportunity to perform in-front of huge televised audiences, potentially winning over new fans.
In contrast, plans for this year’s broadcast, announced today by the BBC, will divert away from that format. Broadcast live from Abbey Road Studios on September 5th, the ceremony will be covered by BBC Four as well as BBC Radio 6 Music, who are dedicating a significant portion of their output in the run-up to the Mercury Prize to celebrating those who have been nominated.
The ceremony will still see each of the twelve albums equally represented in its coverage. A press statement announcing details of the evening claims the Mercury Prize will “see artists come together to watch each other’s recent recorded performances from across the BBC and celebrate each other’s work.”
It is unclear, therefore, whether these artists will still all be performing live on the night, or whether this segment of the ceremony will be taken up by pre-recorded performances.
During the radio coverage of the event, which will be presented by 6 Music stalwarts Tom Ravenscroft and Deb Grant, the winner of the prize will be announced, and the victorious album will then be played, in full, on air.
The broadcast will be followed by a series of programmes on BBC Sounds, presented by Matt Everitt, taking a deep dive into each of the nominated albums. Thus creating a cross-platform event, rather than placing focus entirely on the televised broadcast.
This year’s Mercury Prize nominees
This strength of this year’s shortlist will make choosing a winner a particularly difficult task for the judging panel, which includes critics, broadcasters, and journalists from across the musical landscape of the UK and Ireland.
Featuring the likes of The Last Dinner Party, Barry Can’t Swim, Beth Gibbons, Charli XCX, and CMAT, to name a few, the award is particularly contested this year.
The shortlist also has an overwhelming representation of the West Yorkshire music scene in the form of Nia Archives, Corrine Bailey Rae, and English Teacher – speaking to the all-encompassing power of local scenes in cities like Leeds.
Praising the eclectic nature of this year’s nominees, Far Out’s music editor, Tom Taylor, wrote: The wider effect of this can be seen in culture’s interplay with society. The class of 2024 nominees reflect a world where identity is fluid and multifaceted. That goes right down to our music tastes and the inspirations of those moulding it. Hell, even cancel culture may have put an end to our reverence of the past and the revivalism that followed, because none of the records really have a notable counterpart from the past. So, it mightn’t be a list of masterpieces, but at least it’s refreshing.
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