Photos By Derek Kouyoumjian
Warning: there will be no analysis of the importance (or lack thereof) of the Boston Music Awards beyond this point. Yes, it is the cause of an unnecessarily high amount of hand-wringing by artists and journalists every year, and yes, it doesn’t necessarily represent the totality of the city’s deep and rich scene. But as anyone who attended last night’s event at the Revere Hotel can tell you, it’s more of a party than anything else.
And, more importantly, an excuse to give the bands and artists a proper party to do their thing. With two stages split between the hotel’s large seated theater and its open event space, there was plenty of space to take in the performances, giving more the feel of a real concert than at some of the past award shows at the Liberty Hotel. The lobby connecting the two rooms was decidedly less roomy, forcing the artists performing there into a minor clusterfuck of people waiting for drinks, looking for the bathroom, dropping off coats and just about everything else — maybe not the ideal situation to take in the muscular Latin percussion of Marcus Santos’ Grooversity band. But the gala pageantry played perfectly into the hands of acts on the big stages like glam rockers Sidewalk Driver and Rock ‘n’ Roll Rumble winners Goddamn Draculas, and even after the awards had been announced, there was plenty of reason to stick around: STL GLD, Tigerman Woah, Hallelujah the Hills, and Dutch ReBelle anyone?
Oh yeah, and along the way, there were some awards too, many of whom you may have read about in the Dig over the last 12 months. Capping off his banner year, Will Dailey picked up the trophies for Artist of the Year and Album/EP of the Year for his stellar National Throat, which he discussed in depth with us last week, but was trumped by Jesse Dee as Male Artist of the Year. Perennial favorites Bad Rabbits also scored a double success, with awards of Live Artist of the Year and Pop/R&B Artist of the year. Two of the stars from this fall’s Boston Calling were notable winners too, as Lake Street Dive’s “Bad Self Portraits” took home the Song of the Year and St. Nothing won Electronic Artist of the Year. See the complete list of winners below.
For another year, the BMAs gave us another fine night to come out and celebrate the luxury of living in a city with a world-class music scene.
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Will Dailey
ALBUM/EP OF THE YEAR
Will Dailey – National Throat
SONG OF THE YEAR
Lake Street Dive “Bad Self Portraits”
NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
When Particles Collide
LIVE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Bad Rabbits
ROCK ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Hallelujah The Hills
HIP-HOP ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Dutch ReBelle
POP/R&B ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Bad Rabbits
AMERICANA ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Cask Mouse
BLUES ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Gracie Curran And The High Falutin’
DJ ARTIST OF THE YEAR
DJ Frank White
ELECTRONIC ARTIST OF THE YEAR
St. Nothing
FOLK ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Dan Blakeslee
INTERNATIONAL ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Los Rumberos de Boston
JAZZ ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Lake Street Dive
METAL/HARDCORE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Converge
PUNK ARTIST OF THE YEAR
The Hotelier
SINGER-SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
Lori McKenna
FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Ruby Rose Fox
MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Jesse Dee
PRODUCER OF THE YEAR
Ed Valauskas
VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Hallelujah The Hills “I Stand Corrected”
BEST BOSTON ARTIST THAT DOESN’T LIVE IN BOSTON
Skaters
BEST DANCE NIGHT
Heroes at TT The Bear’s Place
BEST LIVE MUSIC VENUE
The Sinclair
BEST LIVE ONGOING RESIDENCY
Louie Bello At Abby Lane
HALL OF FAME
Johnny A
UNSUNG HERO
Randi Millman
BEST MUSIC BLOG
ALLSTON PUDDING
