18 December 2012
Newsdesk
Five of music’s hottest artists continued the festivities tonight (Monday 17th December) at the second date of Xfm’s annual Winter Wonderland with Rocksmith, at London’s O2 Academy Brixton. A sold-out crowd of revellers were thrilled by special live performances from Editors, The Courteeners, The Temper Trap, Lucy Rose and Theme Park at the show, now in its ninth consecutive year.
Hot on the heels of Manchester’s event headlined by Bloc Party earlier on in the month, the second night of Winter Wonderland – once again in aid of War Child - kicked-off with a performance from Xfm favourites Theme Park who opened the show with future anthems such as ‘Jamaica’ and ‘Two Hours’.
Rapidly rising star Lucy Rose wowed the audience with renditions of ‘Middle of the Bed’ and ‘Bikes’. Australian five-piece The Temper Trap kept the party going with singles like ‘Sweet Disposition’ and ‘Trembling Hands’ - followed by The Courteeners who rocked the stage with current single ‘Lose Control’ and the call to arms that is ‘Not 19 Forever’. The night culminated with a spectacular live set from headliners Editors who brought the house down with their hits ‘Munich’ and ‘Blood’ and some exclusive new material, including tracks ‘Formaldehyde’ and ‘Nothing’.
The night also saw legendary Xfm presenter John Kennedy being crowned the surprise winner of the Xfm Inspiration Award, for 20 years of inspiring music on the station. Previously presenting the award to the likes of The Strokes, The Clash, Suede and Manic Street Preachers, this year John was led to believe he would be presenting the accolade to Mumford & Sons before the ‘biggest band in the world’ announced that he was the recipient.
On receiving the award, Xfm presenter John Kennedy said: “Mumford & Sons are an amazing band and I was going to say in my speech, that I prepared for hours, how they are so great. They stuck to themselves, they followed their own vision and they made it work. There are too many highlights to mention from my years at Xfm but this is definitely up there. I feel honoured to receive this award.”
Ted Dwayne from Mumford & Sons said: “John’s had a place in our hearts before we were even a band. We all grew up in London listening to Xfm, listening to Xposure as any self-respecting teenager does in London, and John showed us loads of great music and continues to do so for loads of people every night of the week and we’re just really grateful that John does what he does and stays true it.”
Xfm broadcasts on 104.9 FM in London on 97.7 FM in Manchester, across the country on digital radio and TV and online at xfm.co.uk
According to the latest radio industry figures released by RAJAR *, 894,000 people are now tuning into Xfm across the UK each week.
