BERWYN and Chvrches with The Cure‘s Robert Smith will be performing at the BandLab NME Awards 2022, with Daisy May Cooper and Lady Leshurr set to co-host on the night.
The wildest night in music will return to London’s O2 Academy Brixton on Wednesday, March 2 to celebrate the best in music and entertainment from around the globe. Tickets to the event are on sale now and available here.
Sponsored by leading social music creation platform BandLab, the night will see epic performances, big-name guests and some pretty unpredictable moments as we honour the music, films, TV and video games that shaped pop culture over the past year.
As well as revealing the winners of the BandLab NME Awards 2022 categories for Asia and Australia, we can now announce that our hosts for the evening will be Daisy May Cooper and Lady Leshurr.
Comedian, actress and writer Daisy May Cooper will be steering through the chaos in Brixton following on from her Number One Sunday Times bestselling book Don’t Laugh, It’ll Only Encourage Her, her run as team captain on the reboot of the legendary Never Mind The Buzzcocks, and her BAFTA for co-creating, co-writing and starring in BBC Three’s This Country.
She’ll be joined by Birmingham grime trailblazer Lady Leshurr. After releasing her first mixtape at 14 and rising to fame with her ‘Queen’s Speech’ freestyle series, Leshurr went on to become a household name, with TV appearances ranging from The Celebrity Circle to Celebrity MasterChef and Dancing On Ice. The rapper currently hosts her own show on BBC Radio 1Xtra every Saturday, where she supports her favourite upcoming talent across hip-hop, reggae, R&B and more.
“To go from being on the front cover of NME in 2016, to now hosting it six years later is incredible to say the least!” said Leshurr. “I am so thrilled to be hosting such an important music awards show in 2022. This is going to be my first time presenting on such a huge platform like this, so I’m nervous but excited, and know I’ll be able to provide great entertainment and giggles for all!”
Joining previously announced live performances from Sam Fender, Griff and Rina Sawayama – as well as this year’s Innovation Award winner Halsey – will be Chvrches and The Cure’s Robert Smith, performing their acclaimed collaboration ‘How Not To Drown‘ from Chvrches’ 2021 album ‘Screen Violence’. This will be the first time that the Scottish electro-pop trio have ever performed the track live with the iconic Cure frontman and previous Godlike Genius winner.
“Getting to work with Robert on ‘Screen Violence’ was incredible, and we’re really excited to finally be able to play ‘How Not To Drown’ live with him,” said Chvrches frontwoman Lauren Mayberry. “Releasing an album in this time period has been surreal, in good ways and bad, because the pandemic landscape is so different. We’ve never even met Robert in real life, so the NME Awards will be a real red letter day.”
This comes after Smith attended the 2020 NME Awards to pick up the prize for Best Festival Headliner.
Mercury-nominated London rapper and multi-instrumentalist BERWYN is also confirmed to perform on the night to celebrate the success of his debut mixtape ‘DEMOTAPE/VEGA’ and stellar follow-up ‘TAPE 2/FOMALHAUT‘.
“It’s an honour to have been asked to perform at the NME Awards, especially at such an early stage in everything,” said BERWYN. “I can’t wait to perform and hopefully show everyone my worth.”
This year’s official charity partner for the BandLab NME Awards 2022 will be the Music Venue Trust, continuing our ongoing work with the MVT to support, protect and promote the UK’s grassroots live music scene.
A full list of nominations, as well as the recipient of this year’s coveted Godlike Genius award, and more live performances will be announced in the coming weeks.
For tickets and more information on the BandLab NME Awards 2022, visit here.