ARIA Awards 2006

Wolfmother on the red carpet

Last night saw the 20th anniversary of Australia’s premier music awards, The ARIA Awards, held at the Acer Arena in Sydney (on the site of the 2000 Olympic Games).  The ARIA Awards are the Australian equivalent of the Grammys in the States of the Brit’s in the UK.  The awards ceremony was a fairly boring affair – as per most awards ceremonies – but there were excellent performances by Silverchair (who covered Midnight Oil) and Bernard Fanning who performed with Clare Bowditch and Kasey Chambers. Hopefully there will be some footage from the night up on YouTube soon.  The afterparty was a fairly uneventful affair as well, but with free alcohol I’m never going to complain.

There were some pointless guest appearances from Johnny Knoxville, Jesse McCartney and John Mayer.  Most of the award recipients were predictable and as usual those who deserved the awards didn’t receive them.  Though thankfully both Bob Evans and Clare Bowditch picked up deserved ARIA Awards. Below is a list of all the winners.

Best Breakthrough Album
Wolfmother – Wolfmother

Best Breakthrough Single
Youth Group – ‘Forever Young’

Best Ubran Release
Hilltop Hoods – The Hard Road

Best Pop Release
The Veronicas – The Secret Life Of…

Best Country Release
Troy Cassar-Daly – Brighter Day

Best Independent Release
Hilltop Hoods – The Hard Road

Best Rock Album
Wolfmother – Wolfmother

Best Adult Contemporary Album
Bob Evans – Suburban Songbook

Best Music DVD
Eskimo Joe – Eskimo Joe – The DVD

Best Dance Release
TV Rock feat. Seany B – ‘Flaunt It’

Highest Selling Album
Human Nature – Reach Out: The Motown Record

Highest Selling Single
TV Rock feat. Seany B – ‘Flaunt It’

Best Group
Wolfmother

Best Cover Art 
Debaser (Bernard Fanning – Tea and Sympathy)

Best Video 
Head Pictures (Bernard Fanning – ‘Wish You Well’)

Engineer of the Year
Matt Lovell (Eskimo Joe – Black Fingernails, Red Wine)

Producer of the Year
Eskimo Joe (Eskimo Joe – Black Fingernails, Red Wine)

Best Classical Album
Richard Tognetti – Bach Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin

Best Jazz Album
The Necks – Chemist      

Best Original Soundtrack/Cast/Show Album
Paul Kelly, Dan Luscombe Featuring Soteria Bell – Jindabyne

Best World Music Album
The Cat Empire – Cities: The Cat Empire Project

Best Children’s Album
The Wiggles – Running to the Rainbow

Best Comedy Release
Lano & Woodley – Lano & Woodley Sing Songs

Best Blues & Roots Album
The Audreys – Between Last Night & Us

Best Female Artist
Clare Bowditch

Best Male Artist
Bernard Fanning

Hall of Fame Inductees
Midnight Oil

Single of the Year
Eskimo Joe - ‘Black Fingernails, Red Wine’

Album of the Year
Bernard Fanning – Tea & Sympathy

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