Sydney’s favourite artists, musos, rabble-rousers, culture vultures and great creative minds in general came together on January 20 for FBi’s Night of Nights, the 2010 SMAC Awards.  There were beer fountains and topless waitresses and a glitter cannon!

Nah, just kidding.

But it was pretty special.  Held at Darlinghurst’s National Art School, the 2010 SMAC Awards were complete with all the ingredients for a magic garden atmosphere – towering fig trees, sandstone buildings and a bonafide sunset.  The SMACs gave a salute to the city’s innovative artists and creative trailblazers in style.  The Chaser’s Chris Taylor hosted the awards (running ahead of schedule in a landmark first for awards shows). Richard in Your Mind, Ozi Batla, Guineafowl, Jinja Safari and a Sydney ‘supergroup’ provided the tunes.  Led by Al Griggs from Straight Arrows and Red Riders, and featuring members of Cloud Control, Megastick Fanfare, Guineafowl and Kyu, the supergroup played covers of songs by Sydney legends. Memorable highlights from their set included a special rendition of the Divinyls’ ‘I Touch Myself’ and the very first song played on FBi – ‘Turn Up Your Radio’ by the Master’s Apprentices .

To top off the entertainment for the evening, there were DJ sets from members of Halfway Crooks and Heaps Decent.

Sydney would be pretty dull if not for the work of people like the SMAC nominees – the creators, venues, promoters and tastemakers who keep our city’s creative heart beating.

But down to business…

SMAC AWARDS WINNERS 2010

Best Artist

Beastman

Best Arts Event

Superdeluxe @ Artspace

Best Collective

Heaps Decent

Best Live Music Act

Cloud Control

Best Major Festival

Laneway Festival

Best Music Event

Changing Lanes

Best Music Event

Changing Lanes

Best On Screen

Greedy Hen There’s Nothing In The Water by Cloud Control

Best Performer

Toby Schmitz in Measure for Measure

Best Sydney Song

Guineafowl, ‘In Our Circles’

Next Big Thing – Music

The Jezabels

Record Of The Year

Cloud Control, Bliss Release

Remix The City

Art & About for Sydney Statues, Oh Alfred! and the Laneway Art Project

SMAC Of The Year

Jimmy Sing and Hana Shimada from Goodgod!

Check out photos from the night on the FBi flickr.