Brit Awards 2026: Wolf Alice reflect on their favourite Manchester gig memories
"I remember being so excited about life and getting to play that gig"
Wolf Alice spoke to Rolling Stone UK on the BRIT Awards 2026 red carpet tonight, reflecting on their early Manchester gig memories.
The band, who won Best Group at the awards and performed a soaring rendition of ‘The Sofa’ during the evening, remember playing “Trof in Fallowfield to about ten people” and later gigs at The Ritz – the same venue where Foo Fighters played an intimate performance earlier this week.
The band’s Theo Ellis recalled playing The Ritz, saying: “We opened for Swim Deep one time and then we got to go back and do it ourselves just before the first album came out and it felt like the biggest space in the world. It was real mosh-pit era and it was so exciting. I remember being so excited about life and getting to play that gig.”
The band’s Ellie Rowsell added: “We deejayed at Deaf Institute afterwards and it was even better.”
You can see the full interview here:
Later in the evening, the band went on to win Best Group. Accepting the award, Rowsell paid powerful tribute to grassroots venues, saying: “We’d like to thank all the pubs, clubs and grassroots venues where we quite literally learned to play our instruments and write our songs. Thank you for opening your doors to us and thank you to those who continually fight to keep them open.”
“Despite the billions of pounds the live sector contributes to our economy, last year 30 independent venues closed down and 6000 jobs were lost and over half reported making no profit at all – it shouldn’t be a battle to survive as a band or any artist…it shouldn’t feel like a golden ticket but a viable career decision for anyone from any background.”
Olivia Dean, Lola Young and Sam Fender lead the list of nominees for tonight’s show. Wolf Alice are joined on three nominations by the likes of Lily Allen, Dave, Fred again.. and Jim Legxacy. You can see the full list of winners here.
Other performances on the night came from Harry Styles, Olivia Dean, Rosalia, Alex Warren, Sombr and Mark Ronson, who will also accept the Outstanding Contribution to Music award, while Robbie Williams will front a special Ozzy Osbourne tribute to close the show with ‘No More Tears’.