The Maccabees, Bombay Bicycle Club, the Big Pink, and the Drums have been named for the lineup of the Shockwaves NME Awards Tour 2010. The tour runs for a little over a fortnight in February, starting in Newcastle on 4 February 2010.

NME.com reports that general tickets go on sale at 9 AM GMT on Friday 13 November, but it appears that presale tickets are already available through Seetickets. The tour will call at:

Thursday 4th February 2010 – Newcastle O2 Academy
Friday 5th February 2010 – Glasgow Barrowland
Saturday 6th February 2010 – Manchester Academy
Sunday 7th February 2010 – Leeds O2 Academy
Tuesday 9th February 2010 – Nottingham Rock City
Wednesday 10th February 2010 - Norwich UEA
Thursday 11th February 2010 – Birmingham O2 Academy
Saturday 13th February 2010 – Cardiff University
Sunday 14th February 2010 – Bristol O2 Academy
Monday 15th February 2010 – Brighton Dome
Tuesday 16th February 2010 – Bournemouth O2 Academy
Thursday 18th February 2010 – Portsmouth Pyramids Centre
Friday 19th February 2010 – Cambridge Corn Exchange
Saturday 20th February 2010 – Brixton O2 Academy

Next week, one of the most respected awards ceremonies in the UK music calendar takes place in London. Yes, it’s the Ivor Novello Awards. Now in its 54th year, the awards celebrate the best in British music, and whilst not as widely publicised as, say, The Brit Awards or the Mercury prize, they’re just as coveted by the winners.

This year’s awards feature Elbow, Duffy and Coldplay (pictured right) all nominated for numerous awards. Like the Mercury prize, there are also a few unknowns thrown in for good measure – this year, The Leisure Society are nominated for the prize of “Best song musically and lyrically”, alongside The Last Shadow Puppets’ (pictured top) “My Mistakes Were Made For You” and Elbow’s “One Day Like This”.

The first awards were held on 11th March 1956, to recognise entries released in 1955, at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. It was hoped that they would not only celebrate British writing talent, but boost the Songwriters Guild’s campaign for British music; at the time of the Awards’ inception, only around 20% of music broadcast by the BBC was British. In 1974, the Performing Right Society became the main sponsor of the Ivors and has remained a valued supporter ever since. Named after the famous Welsh composer, singer and actor Ivor Novello, he was author of the immortal line “Me Tarzan, you Jane” for the film “Tarzan the Apeman”, amongst other famous credits.

Previous winners of the Ivors reads like a who’s who of famous stars – Amy Winehouse (pictured top), Led Zeppelin, Oasis, Spice Girls, The Beatles, Pet Shop Boys, The Bee Gees, Pink Floyd, oh, and The Darkness have all won awards, which are split into three categories

• Nominated categories. These are judged by a jury made up of songwriters and composers of writers and acknowledge achievement in the previous calendar year. They include Best Song Musically and Lyrically, the Album Award and Best Original Film Score
• Statistical categories. These include Best Selling British Song and PRS for Music Most Performed Work. The recipients are decided by sales/download figures and statistics for ‘performance’ according to PRS for Music data. This is a combination of radio play, live and general usage.
• Gift of the Academy categories. These are decided by the Ivors Committee and recognise achievement over a longer period. Categories include Lifetime Achievement, Outstanding Song Collection, The Ivors Classical Music Award and The Ivors Inspiration Award.

So, if you ever were a bit hazy about the awards, you now have no excuse with the amount of information you’ve got there!

The Ivors presented by BASCA in association with PRS for Music take place on Thursday 21st May at London’s Grosvenor Hotel.

So it’s that time of year again, the NME awards are fast approaching, the tours almost over, this year Glasvegas and White Lies headlined to bring back post punk, supported by Friendly Fires and Florence. The tour seems to have gone down well, but now all eyes are on the awards, a short week away… I bring you part two of who I think should win…

Best Track -This award goes straight to MGMT (pictured top). The Ting Tings (pictured right) and Kings of Leon provided us with musical sex with their efforts and Shadow Puppets songwriting was far superior to the other contenders, but on a whole the synth-pop ‘Time to Pretend’ was an instant classic and there’s no question who deserves this the most.

Best Video – Come on! Who doesn’t like seeing a load of wanabee Noel and Liams from around the world?? Of the selection Oasis walk away with the prize. It’s one of the less respected awards but hey, a prize is a prize right.. (NOTE: expect shocking results, last year Justice’s brilliant video for D.A.N.C.E. lost out to the Monkeys studio vid – Teddy Picker, a true WTF moment..)

Best Live Event -Reading - based on line up alone..

Best TV Show – The Mighty Boosh would seem favourites though they haven’t actually put anything out this year.. Skins would’ve been alright if it was last years series, this year our screens were graced with the same old thing marketed as a ‘new breed.’ It’s getting better though, and Effy being sex-on-legs keeps up watching.. Before I go to far on a tangent, this one is up to whoever…

Best Film -The Dark Knight. Easily beats the rest, there’s no need to even look at the other contenders..

Best DVD -This one’s easy too.. the Rolling Stones continue in their pathetic attempt to hold on to their former glory.. washed up and washed out they need to stop trying.. Arctic Monkeys scoop this one, their film actually made it into Vue so it must have done something right, plus it came with an uber trendy free poster..

Best Website -Seeing as we didn’t quite gather enough votes to be in the running, I’ll have to go Last.fm..

Best Band Blog – No Lily Allen?? WTF! If we have to chose from the rest then Foals (pictured left)with the tour shenanigans and free downloads walk away with this one..

Best Album Artwork- The Killers

Best Dancefloor Filler – Dizzee & Calvin

Best Venue – Astoria

Hero of the  Year – Let’s say Obama, purely because I think he’s a sincere guy, though if he screws up don’t point to this as us jumping on the badwagon..

Villain of the Year – John McCain, not because he ran against our hero, but because he’s a stupid bible bashing  idiot.. the man is a grade A fool and was better off out of the race in my much insignificant opinion.. he’s an absolute twat, and the most deserving wanker for this award.. (Where is Boris Johnson?? the man’s a tool, and now I can’t drink on the tube – not that I (or anyone else) ever did…)

Best Dressed – Noel Feilding.. Sorry Alexa .x.

Worst Dressed – Johhny Borell - purely because he needs to be given an award with ‘worst’ at the front..

Worst Album -Jonas Brothers, I don’t even have to listen to it, these guys are a disgrace to music and need to take their disney-emo-wankshit and flush it down the corporate toilet, we can’t wait to see these guys crash’n'burn..

Worst Band -We’re spoilt for choice, do we chose the ‘gender-confused-but-not-enough-balls-to-become-a-tranny’ Tokio Hotel, emo-pin ups Fall Out Boy or the revolting Jonas Bros. it’s up to which one makes you churn the most..

Sexiest Man - In my heterosexual opinion – Miles Kane..

Sexiest Woman – Tbh I’m not a fan of any of them.. some of them (no names) look too much like men to do anything for me..

The NME awards are around the corner, if you want to have your say head on over to the nominations page and cast your votes now! Voting closes at 4pm today (19th February)

Ahh…The Brits. Perhaps more famous for Jarvis Cocker’s stage invasion, or Arctic Monkey’s drunken speeches rather than for it’s showcasing of the best of British music. Either way, every year it certainly proves an interesting watch and this 2009, the controversial show will be presented by disco diva, Kylie Minogue and Gavin and Stacey stars, Mathew Horne and James Corden. There will be performances from Kings of Leon, U2 and Take That to name but a few. You can catch all the action live on ITV1 on February 18th, but if you can’t wait till then, There Goes The Fear is here to tell you about the successful nominees that were announced earlier this week.

The artists leading the way with the highest amount of nominations this year are Welsh songstress, Duffy and Coldplay – both tallying up a total of four nods. Both artists had number 1 albums last year – Duffy with ‘Rockferry‘ and Coldplay with ‘Viva la Vida‘ (pictured right) – so are unsurprisingly up for Mastercard’s Best British Album alongside Elbow, Radiohead and The Ting Tings. Duffy’s ‘Mercy’ and Coldplay’s ‘Viva la Vida’ will also be going head to head in Best British Single category alongside the likes of Estelle’s ‘American Boy’, Adele with ‘Chasing Pavements’ and the X Factor Finalists’ ‘Hero’.

Duffy also features in the Best British Female Solo Artist category alongside Adele, Beth Rowley, Estelle and MIA, while the nominees in male counterpart include Ian Brown, James Morrison, Paul Weller, Streets and Will Young. Best British Group has seen the nomination of the ever-popular Coldplay, Elbow, Radiohead, Take That and Girls Aloud.

New music recieving nods in this year’s Best British Breakthrough Act include Last Shadow Puppets and Scouting For Girls, while 2009’s Best British Live Act showcases everyone from Iron Maiden and The Verve, to Elbow.

Singer-songwriter, Florence and the Machine (who we featured here), is tracing the footsteps of 2008 winner Adele through gaining the coveted Critics Choice Award which recognises upcoming music talent. Meanwhile, Pet Shop Boys have been intriguingly awarded the Outstanding Contribution Award, following on from Beatle Sir Paul McCartney’s win last year.

Band’s receiving nods in the international categories including Best International Group and Best International Album are Kings of Leon, The Killers, AC/DC, MGMT and Fleet Foxes. Solo artists featuring in the categories honouring oversea talent include Katy Perry, Gabriella Cilmi, Seasick Steve, Beck and Kanye West.

To see the nominations in full, check out the official Brits website.

There’s nothing like a good photo of a gig that manages to capture the perfect memory. Something that will stay with you forever. I know I’ve got a few from gigs this year that just bring a smile to my face, be it the smirk on Kele from Bloc Party’s face as they headlined Hydro Connect this summer (right), or the intimacy of Delays on a Sunday afternoon (below left).

Either way, there’s finally recognition for us amateur photographers out there. Sony have launched the World Photography Awards, and are accepting entries until the end of the month (31st December) for entries in the categories of Architecture; Conceptual and Constructed; Fashion; Landscape; Music; Natural History; Portraiture and Sport, so those of you who are interested in stuff outside of music can branch out and let your artistic flair go.

Now, looking at last year’s winner in the professional music category (top), and the amateur winner, my snaps aren’t going to win any awards, but if yours are looking a bit better you’ll probably want to enter – the prizes look pretty darned good.

The overall winner and a guest will be flown to Cannes, receive two nights’ accommodation in a luxury hotel on the famous Croisette, receive VIP tickets to attend the evening gala awards ceremony on the 16th of April, 2009, and collect their prize of $5,000 and a Sony gift. The winner will also receive week-long passes to attend the World Photography Festival screenings, workshops, exhibitions, talks and other events taking place throughout the city of Cannes from the 14th – 19th of April.

The winner will be announced early next year on 17th March, and if you want to be in with a chance just go over to their website and enter.

An exhibition of the finalists’ work – in both the professional and amateur categories – will be held at the Palais des Festival in Cannes from 14-18 April 2009.

The sensational Shockwaves NME Awards shows have been announced for next January and February to start off a 2009 in great style. The likes of Franz Ferdinand, The Wombats and Simian Mobile Disco are among this year’s great gigs, with more to be announced shortly.

Franz Ferdinand’s frontman Alex Kapranos said of their opening night honour: “We’re going to play the gig to celebrate ‘Ulysess’ coming out and Heaven is the best place to go and celebrate. The new songs are the type that should be heard in clubs so we liked the idea of playing a show in one. We want people close to us who are dancing and sweating, that’s the vibe that we want. We definitely don’t want polite theatre shows for this record- we want some excitement!”

Tickets are available exclusively at NME from 9am on Wednesday, 26th November and then go on general sale on Monday 1st December.

UPDATE: More gigs added today (2nd December 2008) – full details below.

Catch the full details of the gigs below:

Tuesday 20th January 2009 – Franz Ferdinand @ London Heaven
Sunday 8th February 2009 – The Gaslight Anthems, Frank Turner and The Polar Bear Club @ London Shepherds Bush Empire
Monday 9th February 2009 – Howling Bells @ London Islington Academy
Tuesday 10th February 2009 – The View @ London Koko
Wednesday 11th February 2009 – Ida Maria @ London Koko
Thursday 12th February 2009 – Ida Maria @ Manchester Club Academy
Thursday 12th February 2009 – Simian Mobile Disco and Chrome Hoof @ London Koko
Friday 13th February 2009 – Ida Maria @ Glasgow Garage
Friday 13th February 2009 – Mystery Jets and Little Boots @ London Shepherds Bush Empire
Sunday 15th February 2009 – Black Lips and Vivian Girls @ London Islington Academy
Monday 16th February 2009 – Secret Machines @ London Islington Academy
Tuesday 17th February 2009 – Iglu and Hartley @ London Islington Academy
Wednesday 18th February 2009 – Black Kids, Boy Crisis, Passion Pit @ London Koko
Wednesday 18th February 2009 – Tricky @ Manchester Club Academy
Wednesday 18th February 2009 – Iglu and Hartley @ Manchester Academy 3
Thursday 19th February 2009 – Tricky @ Glasgow Arches
Thursday 19th February 2009 – Iglu and Hartley @ Glasgow QMU
Thursday 19th February 2009 – Roots Manuva @ London Koko
Friday 20th February 2009 – Tricky @ London Shepherds Bush Empire
Monday 23rd February 2009 – Wombats @ London Shepherds Bush Empire
Tuesday 24th February 2009 – Metronomy @ London Koko
Tuesday 24th February 2009 – Wombats @ Manchester Academy
Thursday 26th February 2009 – Wombats @ Glasgow Barrowlands