Wolf Alice plead for grassroots venues after BRITs Best British Group win
wolf alice won Best British Group at the 2026 BRITs on February 28 at Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena, and frontwoman Ellie Rowsell used the acceptance speech to call for urgent support for grassroots music venues amid recent venue closures and job losses.
Wolf Alice accept Best British Group in Manchester
The north London band collected the Best British Group prize at the ceremony on February 28 at Co-op Live Arena, a trophy they also won in 2022. The award was presented on stage by Shaun Ryder and Bez; the pair chanted "Manchester" as they took to the stage. Singer Ellie Rowsell, 33, thanked everyone who helped Wolf Alice in their early days, including people who lent them money, drove them around the country and let them sleep on floors, and she joked about fans who bought a piece of their "atrocious merch. " She dedicated the win to those helpers and repeated a direct thanks to pubs, clubs and grassroots venues where the band learned to play.
Rowsell’s on-stage plea and the figures she cited
Rowsell used the Group of the Year platform to highlight hard numbers: a January report revealed 30 venues closed in the 12 months up to July 2025 and a further 48 ceased operating as gig spaces, and she said last year 30 independent venues closed, 6, 000 jobs were lost and over half of small venues reported making no profit. She said: "Thank you for opening your doors to us and thank you to those who continue the fight to keep them open, " and warned that "it shouldn't be a battle to survive for bands and artists" or feel like "a golden ticket. "
Camera team tussle with racy fashion as band used the moment to speak
Television coverage on the night included a scramble by camera operators to keep Ellie Rowsell’s outfit out of frame, a moment noted alongside the band’s broader point: despite racy fashion on display, Wolf Alice used the podium as Group of the Year winners to speak about the challenges facing local venues.
Other moments from the ceremony and Wolf Alice’s upcoming dates
Presenter Jack Whitehall quipped from the tables about celebrities in the room, naming Calvin Harris, Andy Burnham and Lisa Nandy, and a joke about Lord Peter Mandelson was removed from ITV's coverage. On the winners’ front, Olivia Dean and Sam Fender won song of the year for "Rein Me In" from Fender's album People Watching; Dean, 26, thanked Fender on stage, calling the track "a beautiful song. "
Wolf Alice released their fourth album, The Clearing, last year; the album received a five-star review and secured the Number 11 spot on NME's 50 best albums of 2025, while the single "Bloom Baby Bloom" reached Number 12 on the 50 best songs of the year list. The band are lined up for a huge outdoor show at London’s Finsbury Park this summer with The Last Dinner Party, Lykke Li, Rachel Chinouriri, Keo and Florence Road. They are also set to play the Trans Mission charity show at OVO Arena Wembley in March and headline the Teenage Cancer Trust series at the Royal Albert Hall that same month, with additional headline slots at Tramlines Festival, Kendal Calling and Eden Sessions and appearances at TRNSMT, Mad Cool and NOS Alive.
The next confirmed milestones for the band are the Trans Mission charity show at OVO Arena Wembley in March and their Teenage Cancer Trust headline at the Royal Albert Hall later that month; their Finsbury Park outdoor show is scheduled for this summer.
