‘The kinetic energy is palpable’: Manchester embraces its first Brit awards

Visitors to Manchester this week have been visibly amused to be arriving into Olivia Deansgate station, with many posing for selfies in front of the temporary sign. The tribute to the chart-busting musician is just one indication of how Manchester is embracing the arrival of the Brit Awards on Saturday, the event’s first venture outside London in its five-decade history.Stacey Tang, theBrit awards chair, said the move to the Co-op Live arena was about recognising the geographical diversity of the country’s music talent. “Creativity doesn’t happen in one postcode in the UK … so the idea that the biggest night in music should always be in London, I think, is ageing out,” she said.The approach from the local authority and from Andy Burnham, the mayor of Manchester" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="1694" data-entity-type="location">Greater Manchester, has been “really different” to what she has experienced in London. “They’ve just really opened up the city,” she said.The awards organisers have been running a fringe event in Manchester featuring work with grassroots artists as well as intimate shows by pop stars including Olivia Dean – nominated in five categories – and Robbie Williams in aid of the charity War Child.Tang, who is also a co-president of RCA Records, part of Sony, said Manchester had a creative positivity that was not always shown in London. “The investment that’s being made in Manchester, the kinetic energy around the city is really palpable,” she said. “There’s always something that you can go to, meet other people who are like-minded, but also feel like ‘oh, wow, I belong in this city’, regardless of whether you live there or not.”Deansgate railway station has been renamed Olivia Deansgate for Brits week. Photograph: Jason Roberts/MEN MediaThe Manchester Brits ceremony trails behind the Mobo awards, which have been held in several northern cities and will celebrate their 30th anniversary in Manchester at the end of March. The MTV European music awards were held at Co-op Live in 2024, the same year as the Northern music awards launched in Manchester.Jo Twist, the chief executive of the BPI, the record industry’s trade association, said the organisation’s research showed Manchester had consistently been the UK’s top location for producing chart-toppers.She said: “Perhaps there has been a bit of a recent shift where the industry has recognised it should do more in actively finding talent and being there on its doorstep, supporting the ecosystem in meaningful ways. Global success stories do not just happen and artists don’t become global successes overnight either – they can take years of label support.”Twist said this was part of the decision behind the BPI moving the Mercury prize to Newcastle last year for the first time, after the Leeds band English Teacher finally broke a decade-long streak of London winners in 2024. The 2025 prize went to Sam Fender, North Shields born and raised, who was able to celebrate in his home city.Sam Fender at the Mercury prize awards show in Newcastle last October. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PAScott Lewis, the label manager at EMI North based in Leeds, has spent the week in workshops with up-and-coming artists, including giving them advice on how to approach labels and sharing feedback on their demos. He said it was important that these large music events were held in the north. “I do believe in the adage ‘if you can see it, you can be it’,” he said.His role was established in 2023 at what was the first major label office outside London, which he said was about recognising that it can be harder for northern musicians to get a look-in. “It’s a case of talent being everywhere but opportunity not necessarily being everywhere,” Lewis said.Serious progress has been made, though. Alongside organisations such as Brighter Sound in Manchester, Generator in Newcastle and Launchpad in Leeds, which are quietly helping to nurture fresh talent without much recognition, in 2028 the new Brit school will open in Bradford, a young, energetic northern city with a rich cultural heritage and an enormous grassroots arts scene to build upon.Lewis felt there was a “real integrity and humour” to artists from the north of England, such as Lily Fontaine from English Teacher, the Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner, John Cooper Clarke, Jarvis Cocker and Self Esteem.“Northern artists, to me, are storytellers,” he said. “I think it’s a bit of a northern trait to be a storyteller. I think you can pop down a coffee shop, or a pub, and end up sitting next to somebody, you’ll end up chatting, and they’ll tell you one of the best stories you’ve heard in your life. And you may never speak to them again but you take that with you. There’s a real beauty to that.”