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Brit awards swap London for Manchester to ‘invigorate’ show
Organisers say move to Co-op Live as part of 50th anniversary plans honours city’s legendary music heritage
Next year is the first of three years of Sony stewardship for the Brit awards, responsible for some the UK’s most famous music moments led by northern acts, including Jarvis Cocker mooning at Michael Jackson in 1996, Chumbawamba dumping a bucket of ice water over the then deputy prime minister John Prescott in 1998, and Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner’s literal mic-drop after his speech trashing the music industry in 2014. “Moving to Manchester, the home of some of the most iconic and defining artists of our lifetime, will invigorate the show and build on the Brits legacy of celebrating and reinvesting in world-class music,” he said. The Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, pointed to the “unparalleled music heritage” of the city, which has spawned artists such as Oasis, The Smiths, The Stone Roses, Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays and Take That.
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