Gang of Youths and Paul Kelly sweep the 2017 ARIA Awards

Last night belonged to Gang of Youths and Paul Kelly, with the band from Sydney’s inner west and one of Australia’s most beloved songwriters taking home four ARIA Awards apiece at the 2017 ceremony held at The Star Event Centre.

Along with them, the ARIAs proved to be huge for A.B. Original, who won ARIAs in the Best Urban and Best Independent Release categories, with Reclaim Australia being recognised on arguably the biggest stage in the Australian music industry. “Change doesn’t come from being comfortable,” Briggs said during their acceptance speech. It’s a simple enough sentiment but it rang out loud.

For Gang of Youths, their four wins saw David Le’aupepe thank a multitude of people who helped bring their acclaimed sophomore album, Go Farther In Lightness, to life, before acknowledging the significance of the Pacific Islander community and urging anybody with an inkling to create music to pick up an instrument or download the necessary software to bring more music into the world.

Other major winners on the night included Amy Shark, who took ARIAs for Best Pop and Breakthrough Artist, while Illy was crowned Best Australian Live Act – the public voted award that has come off the back of a mammoth run of touring for the Melbourne MC. Peking Duk took the Apple Music Song of the Year for their collab with Elliphant on “Stranger”, while PNAU cemented their return to the scene, taking Best Dance Release with “Chameleon”.

On deck to perform, receive and present awards, two international visitors in Harry Styles and Lorde impressed, while Daryl Braithwaite was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.

Check out the full list of winners below.

2017 ARIA AWARD WINNERS

 

Apple Music Album Of The Year
Go Farther in Lightness – Gang of Youths

Best Male Artist
Paul Kelly

Best Female Artist
Sia

Best Dance Release
“Chameleon” – PNAU

Best Group
Gang of Youths

Breakthrough Artist
Amy Shark

Best Pop Release
“Night Thinker” – Amy Shark

Best Urban Album
Reclaim Australia – A.B. Original

Best Independent Release
Reclaim Australia
– A.B. Original

Best Rock Album
Go Farther in Lightness – Gang of Youths

Best Adult Contemporary Album
Life is Fine – Paul Kelly

Best Country Album
Dragonfly – Kasey Chambers

Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Album
Mesmer – Northlane

Best Blues & Roots Album
When We Fall – All Our Exes Live in Texas

Best Children’s Album
Och Aye the G’Nu! – Jimmy Barnes

Best Video
“Moments” – Bliss n Eso ft. Gavin James

Best Australian Live Act
Illy

Apple Music Song Of The Year
“Stranger” – Peking Duk ft. Elliphant

Best International Artist
Harry Styles

Music Teacher of the Year
Renee McCarthy (Woodcroft College, Morphett Vale SA)

2017 ARTISAN AWARDS

Producer Of The Year
Go Farther In Lightness – Gang of Youths and Adrian Breakspear 

Engineer Of The Year
Life is Fine – Steven Schram for Paul Kelly

Best Cover Art
Life is Fine – Peter Salmon-Lomas for Paul Kelly

2017 ARIA FINE ARTS AWARDS

Best Classical Album
Bach: Cello Suites Volume I – Slava Grigoryan

Best Jazz Album
The Great American Songbook – James Morrison, BBC Concert Orchestra, Keith Lockhart, Harry Morrison & William Morrison

Best Original Soundtrack/Cast/Show Album
Ali’s Wedding – Nigel Westlake & Sydney Symphony Orchestra with Joseph Tawadros, Slava Grigoryan & Lior

Best World Music Album
Songs of the Latin Skies – Katie Noonan and Karin Schaupp

BEST COMEDY RELEASE
Clarke’s Classics – John Clarke

———-

This content has recently been ported from its original home on The AU Review: Music and may have formatting errors – images may not be showing up, or duplicated, and galleries may not be working. We are slowly fixing these issue. If you spot any major malfunctions making it impossible to read the content, however, please let us know at editor AT theaureview.com.