Mona Foma, Paul McCartney, Gotye take out contemporary rock wins at Helpmann Awards Act 2

There’s something reassuring about the wins in the contemporary music section of the Helpmanns – held last night at the Capitol Theatre for the second part of the awards, or Act 2 –   that the obvious don’t always make it to the final cut.

In the year of Ed Sheeran, the British singer-songwriter had to play second to Sir Paul McCartney – the man who helped define ‘British singer-songwriter’ “many years ago” – for best international contemporary concert.

McCartney sent a video message thanking tour promoters Marshall Arts and Frontier Touring. “I was going to say I deserved it but that would have been immodest,” he quipped.

The trophy was picked up by Frontier Touring’s Michael Gudinski who revealed it had taken the company 20 years to get McCartney.

Given that Frontier had a number of other nominations this year, Gudinski was right when he said, “It’s been an amazing year for Frontier”.

In Pollstar’s global mid-year ticket report, Frontier ranked #6 in the world’s top 100 promoters, selling over 1.5 million tickets.

Glenn A Baker AM and Christine Anu co-presented the contemporary music section. Sheppard and My Friend The Chocolate Cake were among the performers.

Tasmania’s cutting-edge Mona Foma won for a second consecutive year for best contemporary music festival, winning over WOMADelaide, CMC Rocks and Laneway.

Best Australian contemporary music concert went to Gotye’stribute to the late French electronic pioneer Jean-Jacques Perrey at Mona and the Sydney Festival.

“It was an honour to share his music with people,” Gotye said, using the opportunity to encourage the audience (and national ABC viewers) to go out and seek his work.

Nominated in the category were Midnight Oil, Gang of Youths and Armand Van Helden.

23 Helpmann trophies were presented last night, also for comedy, cabaret, musicals, opera, classical music, theatre and ballet, dance and physical theatre.

Twenty were handed out on Sunday night at Act 1, held at the Sydney Town Hall.

NSW minister for the arts Don Harwin said, “The Helpmann awards celebrate Australia’s exceptional live performance industry and showcase the remarkable talent across the sector.

“This year’s winners have made such a positive impact on our artistic and cultural experiences, and I extend my congratulations to all of them for their wonderful contribution to the industry.”

The show closed with the biggest line up of Australia’s leading vocalists from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s concert production of Funny Girl.

They included Trevor Ashley (Hairspray), Michaela Banas (Upper Middle Bogan), Natalie Bassingthwaighte, Casey Donovan, Dami Im, Virginia Gay (First Tuesday Book Club), Verity Hunt-Ballard (Mary Poppins), Maggie McKenna (Muriel’s Wedding), Zahra Newman (Book of Mormon) and West End and Broadway star Caroline O’Connor.