Annabel Rackham
Culture reporter, at the Mercury Prize awards

Sadly Dave couldn’t be in attendance tonight, so the audience was treated to a performance of his number one hit Raindance from this summer’s Reading Festival which was a collaboration with Tems.

He’s nominated tonight for his third studio album, The Boy Who Played The Harp, which explores a number of important themes, from his battle with mental health, sobriety, and social and political issues such as war and instability.

Eleanor Doyle
BBC Newsbeat, reporting from the Mercury Prize

A potential first Irish winner? Dove Ellis is from Moycullen, County Galway in the west of Ireland.

An Irish artist has never won the Mercury Prize before in the history of the award so it could be quite the moment if he wins it.

Knats named Dove as their favourite to win. They said his vibe was very Thom Yorke and Radiohead.

Mark Savage
Music correspondent

Image source, Black Butter Records

Galway indie-folk musician Thomas O'Donogue only started releasing music under the name Dove Ellis last year, but his soaring vocals immediately sparked a record label bidding war.

His debut album has drawn comparisons to Radiohead and Jeff Buckley for its moments of abstract beauty and devastating emotional release.

Highest chart position: Number 47

• Listen to Dove Ellis’s Love Is from Blizzard on YouTube, external

Mark Savage
Music correspondent, reporting from the Mercury Prize

Image source, JMEnternational/Getty Images

Time for Dove Ellis - who is the dark horse of this year’s Mercury Prize - a total newcomer; who only started releasing music last year.

The Galway-born songwriter, born Thomas O’Donoghue, recorded his debut album Blizzard in two weeks and released it eight weeks later - working on the theory that immediacy and imperfection was the antidote to algorithmic pop.

To the select few who’ve heard it, his soaring choruses and heartfelt melancholy have become firm favourites.

His performance here - unshowy but beautiful - is bound to win even more new fans. Which is what the Mercury should really be about.

Eleanor Doyle
BBC Newsbeat

Kojey Radical spoke to BBC Newsbeat on the red carpet earlier about whether more opportunities should be given to smaller acts at the awards.

"The Mercury Prize has never been about popularity," he replied.

But he also said everyone on the shortlist deserves to be there.

The Mercury Prize organisers say it’s all about the best British or Irish album judged on musical merit and creativity - not on things like sales, streams or genre.

Mark Savage
Music correspondent

Image source, Atlantic

Kojey Radical's third album was inspired by two separate incidents: a fashion week afterparty where he felt like an outsider, and a birthday bash for a close friend that highlighted a rift in their friendship.

Don't Look Down is an album-length interrogation of his motives, insecurities and role as a father, set to a sparkling fusion of hip-hop, gospel and R&B.

Highest chart position: 59

• Listen to Kojey Radical’s Conversation from Don’t Look Down on YouTube, external

Annabel Rackham
Culture reporter, at the Mercury Prize awards

Image source, JMEnternational/Getty Images

Next up is Kojey Radical - who immediately lifted the mood as soon as he stepped on stage in his matching suit, accessorised with a briefcase that made him look like he’d just stepped out the office.

He was joined on the stage by several of the collaborators on his album for an energetic performance of Conversation, a song about societal pressures worries about growing older.

Mark Savage
Music correspondent

Image source, War Child Records

Only one other compilation has ever been nominated for the Mercury Prize – and it was this album's predecessor, Help, back in 1995.

The sequel, which raises funds to help children affected by war, contains the Arctic Monkeys' best song in a decade, Opening Night; and Olivia Rodrigo singing a tender cover of The Magnetic Fields' Book Of Love. Pulp, The Last Dinner Party, Fontaines DC and Ezra Collective also contribute.

Highest chart position: Number one (UK compilation chart)

• Listen to Pulp's Begging for Change from War Child’s HELP(2), external

Mark Savage
Music correspondent, reporting from the Mercury Prize

Image source, JMEnternational/Getty Images

Pulp are here to play Begging for Change - their contribution to the charity album Help(2).

It’s a track Jarvis Cocker says is a bit "too rocky" to have fitted on last year’s More album (also a Mercury Prize nominee).

Here in Newcastle it sounds massive - with two gospel singers helping chant the chorus as Jarvis does that thing with his arms where he tries to make the shape of every branch on a tree at once.

The band recently announced they were taking a break, following a hugely successful reunion that kicked off in 2023. So drink this in while you can.

Eleanor Doyle
BBC Newsbeat, reporting from the Mercury Prize

Paul McCartney’s album takes us back to post-war Liverpool and a sense of home.

Part of the name - Dungeon Lane - comes from a road near the River Mersey, on the edge of the council estate where he grew up.

Today though, fittingly the road leads us to Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

Mark Savage
Music correspondent, reporting from the Mercury Prize

Image source, Capitol

Sir Paul McCartney's first album in six years is a collection of rock-n-pop glimpses into his childhood.

It's named after a road where the pre-Beatles musician would spend afternoons bird-watching; he paints typically melodic pictures of his family life and teenage crushes, as well as the hitch-hiking trips he took with John Lennon and George Harrison.

Highest chart position: Number one

• Listen to Paul McCartney’s Home to Us from The Boys of Dungeon Lane on YouTube, external

Mark Savage
Music correspondent, reporting from the Mercury Prize

Image source, JMEnternational/Getty Images

Sir Paul isn’t here, but he’s sent us a little video.

"Hello there everyone at the Mercury Prize awards in Newcastle," he says.

"I’m sorry I can’t be there - but just to tell you I’m really chuffed to be included on this list."

Having The Beatles icon on the shortlist is a bit like having Fred Astaire in the cast for Strictly Come Dancing (ask your gran) - but he says he’s amazed to be cited alongside younger acts like Olivia Dean and Raye.

"I was kind of surprised to tell you the truth."

Eleanor Doyle
BBC Newsbeat, reporting from the Mercury Prize

We’ve been chatting to Emily and Laura from Newcastle who’ve reached the barrier.

"I’m here for Jade to be honest and I can’t believe we’ve got to the front. The fact we’re here and it’s here is so cool," Emily says.

For Laura - it’s all about Olivia Dean: "I’ve been listening to her all year.

"It’s so cool we’ve not been before. Last year looked incredible and [for Newcastle] to get it again is so cool."

Mark Savage
Music correspondent

Image source, Polydor

Olivia Dean's second album was born in a rented house in east London, with the singer and her collaborators mixing writing sessions with late night conversations over good food and "lots of red wine".

That easy-going approach inspired a soulful collection of love songs whose easy familiarity feels like a best friend spilling their secrets.

Highest chart position: Number one

• Listen to Olivia Dean’s So Easy, external , external(To, external Fall In Love) from The Art of Loving on YouTube, external

Annabel Rackham
Culture reporter

Olivia Dean is up next on stage, matching her large band in a chic black evening dress as she performed a moving rendition of album track Let Alone The One You Love.

Proving why she has been the standout British artist to watch this year, the ode to heartbreak and romantic disappointment had the audience entranced.

Eleanor Doyle
BBC Newsbeat

Spoken word poet Cooper Robson joined Knats on stage wearing a Newcastle United FC shirt, bringing a bit more of home to the performance.

Bassist Stan Woodward earlier told Newsbeat he wanted Robson's spoken word on the album to make it feel like a "Disney film" with real voices from the local area.

He also features on the album cover too. The home crowd was absolutely vibing with it as expected.

Mark Savage
Music correspondent

Image source, Fontana Records

Like last year's Mercury Prize winner (Sam Fender's People Watching), Knats' latest album is an unflinching portrait of working class life in Northeast England.

Their distinctive and gutsy take on jazz is augmented by Geordie poet Cooper Robson, who paints vivid pictures of steel workers whose "sinews punch as pistons" and fist-first troublemakers who are "the type of Billy Elliot to wear a ballet-clava".

Highest chart position: Did not chart

• Listen to Knats’ Never Gonna Be A Boxer from A Great Day In Newcastle on YouTube, external

Mark Savage
Music correspondent

Image source, JMEnternational/Getty Images

Now it's time for Knats - who are racing through Wor Jackie, a kinetic, twisty jazz track from their second album A Great Day Out in Newcastle.

At a normal gig, they’d be breaking into extended improvisational jams - but they told me they’d been warned to stick to their timeslot for tonight’s TV broadcast.

Shame, though, this is a musical rollercoaster that you want to catch for a second turn.

Mark Savage
Music correspondent

Image source, Human Re Sources

A peak of pop excess, Raye's second full-length album is a 73-minute melodrama, sprinkled with golden age Hollywood glamour, show-stopping ballads, tongue twisting wordplay and genre smashing handbrake turns.

It follows our plucky heroine as she dusts off the debris of a collapsed relationship, and emerges resilient, searching for "a ring, a diamond ring on my wedding finger" - but only on her own terms.

Highest chart position: Number one

• Listen to Raye's WHERE IS MY HUSBAND! from This Music May Contain Hope on YouTube, external

Eleanor Doyle
BBC Newsbeat

A full jazz ensemble accompanying Raye on stage tonight.

Lots of love from the crowd too.

Image source, JMEnternational/Getty Images