Tom Dunne: Memories of first Choice Prize a reminder of how far Irish music has come

As the Choice Music Prize marks 20 years, I've been recalling that first event in 2006, a very different era for the Irish music scene 

Julie Feeney with Tom Dunne after winning the first Choice Music Prize. Picture: Liam Sweeney

The Choice Music Prize celebrates its 20th anniversary this year and you’d have to say looking at the line-up, that it is rude good health. Two acts, Fontaines DC and Kneecap are vastly too successful to interrupt their touring schedules to attend. That is the kind of problem Irish bands want and deserve.

Twenty years ago, it wasn’t quite like that. Then, U2 were basking in the glow of 2004’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. The Vertigo tours was setting all kinds of records. The figures read like telephone numbers. For 2005: a gross of $260 million in 110 sold-out concerts, $138.9m from 1.4m tickets sold in the USA alone.