Wolf Alice use BRITs win to press for grassroots venues as camera crew tussles with wardrobe moment
At the 2026 BRITs in Manchester, wolf alice frontwoman Ellie Rowsell used the band’s Best British Group acceptance speech to call for sustained support for grassroots music venues. The moment combined political urgency with a live-broadcast fashion flap, drawing attention both to venue closures and to the unpredictability of televised ceremonies.
Wolf Alice’s BRITs acceptance in Manchester
The North London band won the Best British Group prize at the BRITs on February 28, 2026, at Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena — a title they also held in 2022. The trophy was handed to the group onstage by Shaun Ryder and Bez of Happy Mondays; Rowsell publicly thanked them after they took the stage amid chants of “Manchester. ”
Ellie Rowsell’s plea highlighted venue closures and job losses
In her speech Rowsell thanked the pubs, clubs and grassroots venues where the band learned to play and write, saying thank you to those who opened their doors and to those who continue the fight to keep them open. She cited recent figures, saying that in the period covered by a January report 30 venues had closed in the 12 months up to July 2025 and a further 48 had ceased operating as gig spaces. She added that last year 30 independent venues closed, 6, 000 jobs were lost and over half of small venues reported making no profit at all.
She framed survival as a matter of career viability and fairness
Rowsell argued that it should not be a battle to survive as a band or artist, saying bands should not be reliant on favours or on funding schemes to do things at a level they feel proud of. She said it shouldn’t feel like a golden ticket, but a viable career decision for anyone from any background, and urged protection and nurturing of Britain’s music scene as something to be proud of.
Broadcast moments: racy outfit and a camera team scramble
The ceremony also produced a live-television scramble: the band’s racy fashion prompted a camera team to try to keep Rowsell’s nipples out of frame during the broadcast. That wardrobe moment arrived alongside the speech, with the band using their Group of the Year platform to shine a light on the challenges facing local venues.
Wins, nominees and other ceremony highlights
Rowsell, 33, and Wolf Alice beat acts including Pulp, The Last Dinner Party and Wet Leg to take Group of the Year. Elsewhere at the ceremony, Olivia Dean, 26, and Sam Fender won Song of the Year for “Rein Me In, ” a track that features on Fender’s album People Watching and which beat songs by Raye, Lola Young and Calvin Harris. A joke referencing Lord Peter Mandelson was removed from broadcast coverage, after presenter Jack Whitehall joked about spotting celebrities including Calvin Harris, Andy Burnham and Lisa Nandy in the room.
Touring plans and recent releases tied into the BRITs spotlight
Wolf Alice released their fourth album, The Clearing, last year; the album received a glowing five-star review on release and secured the Number 11 spot on a 50 best albums of 2025 list, while the single “Bloom Baby Bloom” reached Number 12 on a 50 best songs of the year rundown. The band are set to play a huge outdoor show at London’s Finsbury Park this summer, where they will be joined by The Last Dinner Party, Lykke Li, Rachel Chinouriri, Keo and Florence Road. They are also due to play the Trans Mission charity show at London’s OVO Arena Wembley in March and headline the Teenage Cancer Trust series at the Royal Albert Hall that same month, with other dates including headline slots at Tramlines Festival, Kendal Calling and Eden Sessions and appearances at TRNSMT, Mad Cool and NOS Alive.
Rowsell’s thanks to early supporters and the band’s origins
Onstage Rowsell dedicated the award to the people who helped Wolf Alice in their early years, thanking those who lent them money, drove them around, let them sleep on floors, bought tickets to early shows and even purchased a piece of their “atrocious merch” — a line she delivered with a self-deprecating aside that she didn’t think anyone actually did that, which she called perfectly fair.
