Florence Welch beats Adele in double NME award triumph

Adele’s run of award-winning success has finally been brought to an end after Florence + The Machine triumphed with a double win at the NME awards.

Florence Welch, 25, who followed Adele into the US charts, defeated the 20 million-selling soul singer to take the Best Solo Artist award.

Florence + The Machine won Best Track for the single Shake It Out, a typically epic anthem from her Ceremonials album.

The Camberwell-born daughter of Evelyn Welch, Professor of Renaissance Studies at Queen Mary, University of London, Florence is about to embark on a tour of UK arenas.

The flamboyant singer performed a special collaboration at the O2 Brixton Academy event tonight with The Horrors, whose victory in the Best Album category for Skying, represented a major breakthrough for the experimental rock band.

However as the NME approaches its 60th birthday, the awards voted for by the magazine’s readers, reflected a hankering for past glories.

The Stone Roses have not played a note in public since 1994 but their long-predicted reformation this year was still voted the Greatest Music Moment of the Year.

The band will headline a series of festivals this Summer after making their return in Manchester’s Heaton Park in June.

A reunion of The Smiths appears no nearer but Johnny Marr, guitarist with the legendary 80s band, accepted the Best Reissues prize for the re-mastered versions of the band’s studio albums which her personally oversaw.

Noel Gallagher closed the boozy ceremony with a full solo set after receiving the Godlike Genius award. His estranged brother Liam stayed away after his post-Oasis project Beady Eye, received its sole nomination for Worst Band.

There was good news for David Cameron, who is no longer considered Villain of the Year by NME readers. The honour went to Justin Bieber, who also took the Worst Album prize for the second year running, this time for a set of Christmas songs.

With Oasis inactive, the crown of Best British Band was wrestled by Kasabian, the Gallaghers’ anointed successors. The Leicester rockers cemented their status with a special New Year’s Eve show at the O2 Arena.

Indie “guitar rock”, traditionally the NME’s lifeblood, has been banished from the charts, a sea-change reflected in the magazine’s dwindling print circulation, which now stands at 27,650.

The Vaccines, relentlessly championed by the magazine, were named Best New Band and their platinum-selling debut album is seen as a positive sign for the genre.

Arctic Monkeys, whose 2005 breakthrough sparked the last great popular guitar-rock surge, were voted the Best Live Band, after successfully upgrading their show to large arenas.

NME boasts an online audience of 4.5 million readers and there have been rumours that the print version, which turns 60 next month, may be relaunched as a free publication.

The magazine is giving more coverage to “urban” artists, such as US rappers Azealia Banks and Odd Future and was one of the first publications to alight on Lana Del Rey as new musical star. But The Sex Pistols reliving their 1977 outrage is this week's cover story.

NME Winners – key categories

Best British Band

Kasabian

Best International Band

Foo Fighters

Best Solo Artist

Florence + The Machine

Best New Band

The Vaccines

Best Live Band

Arctic Monkeys

Best Album

The Horrors - 'Skying'

Best Track

Florence + The Machine - 'Shake It Out'

Dancefloor Anthem

Katy B - 'Broken Record'

Best Video

Hurts - 'Sunday'

Best TV Show

Fresh Meat'

Best Festival

Glastonbury

Best Small Festival

RockNess

Greatest Music Moment Of The Year

The Stone Roses reunite

Best Re-issue

The Smiths - 'Complete Re-issues'