{"id":1803543,"date":"2026-03-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1803543"},"modified":"2026-03-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T21:00:00","slug":"wonderland-67","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1803543","title":{"rendered":"Wonderland"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\tWonderland<\/span>
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\n\t\t\tTRAINS, MAINS & AUTOCUES: A BRITS ADVENTURE<\/span>
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Riding the Pullman, getting lost in car parks and knocking back Hennessy with A-listers: Features Editor Ben Tibbits dishes the dirt on this year\u2019s BRIT Awards.\u00a0<\/h3>\n
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\"Trains,
Photo by JMEnternational<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

I am a proud Brummie. For those less educated in British locution, that means an individual from the city of Birmingham, the West Midlands-situated industrial metropolis renowned for Cadbury\u2019s chocolate, having more (mileage of) canals than Venice, curry houses, and one standout football team \u2013 Birmingham City FC (Aston Villa who). It is the \u2018second city\u2019 of the UK, the biggest in population outside of London, and a multi-cultural web built on hard-edged, working-class, honest people.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And so you can imagine the pain I endure every time someone talks about Manchester. The next-largest city in England (the fourth in Britain, following Scotland\u2019s Glasgow), the north-western city is a kaleidoscope of progress, culture, creativity, and education. A place that tourists want to visit, a pinnacle stop-off spot on any global music tour. The overachieving younger brother to our perpetually disappointing middlechild.<\/p>\n

And now, for the next five years, it will be the home of the biggest music awards in Britain. Did you forget about us, BRITs? Oh well. If you can\u2019t beat them, join them. The bitter pill of Brummie rejection is much easier to swallow with a mouthful of Hennessy Paradis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m on the famed British Pullman train alongside half of the music industry \u2013 a guest of distinguished label Warner Records, and their partner in crime for all things BRITs, the cognac titan, Hennessy. Henny and I are old friends \u2013 I visited their HQ sometime last spring<\/a>, and was overawed by the location in the beautiful town of Cognac in southern France and impressed by the commitment to tradition that the House maintains. And lineage isn\u2019t the brand\u2019s only investment \u2013 culture, and specifically music, lies at the apex of their agenda.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And so, a handful of other journos, scores of execs, and the whole spectrum of Warner artists (I\u2019m pleased to find myself sitting next to another old pal, Wonderland<\/em> alum cktrl<\/a>, on the train) are on an adventure to Manchester. It\u2019s the first time ever that the BRITs have left London, and there\u2019s an air of excitement, anticipation and uncertainty bubbling in the air. The Pullman treats guests with quite an incredible amount of care, with a delicious three-course banquet and never an empty glass from the 11am launch time; in fact, at one point, I find myself triple-parked, and it\u2019s barely turned afternoon. Slowing down seems smart \u2013 there\u2019s a long day ahead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"Trains,<\/figure>\n
\"Trains,
Photos by James Kelly<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Trains,<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

Some three hours later, the Pullman pulls into Manchester Piccadilly, with a coach escorting everyone to Whitworth Locke, our resting place for the evening. Speaking of rest, everyone else has some time to wind down now before the evening antics, but not me. I\u2019m in my hotel room for about seven minutes, desperately pulling on an unironable shirt and throwing a comb through my hair before I\u2019m out the door and flagging a cab. I\u2019ve got a red carpet to get to.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Whose bright idea was it to put the Manchester City football stadium and Co-Op Live, the major new venue and home to the BRITs, for the next five years, right next to each other? Birmingham would never. I jump out of the taxi, already 20 minutes late, desperately texting apologies to publicists, only to realise that I\u2019m at the completely wrong end of this double-billed architectural colossus. I walk as fast as my Dr Martens allow me, hopping fences and asking several confused passers-by for directions. Eventually, I find my way to the far corner of a car park for my accreditation check and make it just in time for arrivals to kick off.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The side of the red carpet that you see on TV \u2013 which the talent walks \u2013 is spacious, immaculately lit, and synonymous with the core idea of celebrity. The other side \u2013 packed to the brim with journalists, presenters, videographers, photographers \u2013 is a lion\u2019s den of competitive edge and compulsive swearing. I\u2019m rocking it solo, the only team member attending, which proves a challenge in itself. How does one ask questions while also filming? I\u2019ve never been good at multitasking.<\/p>\n

Despite my social and technological ineptness, I make do and, over a sprawling three-hour stint<\/a>, catch up with a melange of talent, including members of the Wonderland<\/em> family like Wet Leg, kwn<\/a>, Wolf Alice and CMAT, as well as personal favourites like Loyle Carner<\/a> and Jacob Alon. Exploding the social team\u2019s Dropbox with videos, I finish up with the carpet and saunter off to find my seat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As ever with the Hennessy brand, luxury comes in abundance. We\u2019ve got a suite, kitted out of culinary soup\u00e7ons, champers galore and Henny-Rita, the House\u2019s twist of everyone\u2019s favourite cocktail, margarita. After some chit-chatting with new journo pals, I find a seat, sit back and watch the BRITs 2026 unfold.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I won\u2019t bore you with all the logistical details, but here\u2019s my key takeaways\u2026<\/p>\n

Love Lola<\/a> but winning Breakthrough Act for this year when she\u2019s already well broken and Jim Legxacy and EsDeeKid are in the category? Not sure about that.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Geese winning International Group of the Year is the best award plus the best speech. I punch the air with giddy delight like a proud dad whose kid has just scored in their U9 football game.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think I love Geese a bit too much.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t believe Rosal\u00eda to be part of the human race \u2013 she\u2019s pure angelic.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aitch likes Henny almost as much as me.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"Trains,
Photo by JMEnternational<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

A reality show about Shaun Ryder and Bez is the only TV show I wanna see.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Doing genre awards during ad breaks sucks \u2013 find a better way please BRITs.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mark Ronson is the goat.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

On second thoughts, I think I love Geese the correct amount.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"Trains,
Photo by JMEnternational<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

As Olivia Dean wins her fourth well-deserved award of the night for her stunning record, The Art of Loving<\/em>, we\u2019re herded out of the suite before anything gets too manic and back out into the massive car park towards a party mini-bus \u2013 we\u2019re headed straight to the afters. Warner and Hennessy\u2019s celeb-filled bash is at Cut & Craft, and by the time we arrive, it is already popping. We\u2019ve got special VIP access to a side booth, and spend some time there surveying what\u2019s around and swigging a few Hennessy\u2019d espresso martinis, which unsurprisingly turn out to be pretty lethal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are sets from Kim Turnbull, Groove Armada, Suns of Acid, and Gjin Lipa, Dua\u2019s little brother. The big sister even rocks up to support her sibling and join the festivities, as well as Ros\u00e9, Rose Gray<\/a> and her boyf Harris Dickinson, Kojey Radical, and Ms Banks. Oh, and apparently there are some robots knocking around, although I\u2019m too scared to investigate. It\u2019s lively, a little raucous (the toilets were something to behold), and a hell of a lot of fun.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"Trains,<\/figure>\n
\"Trains,
Photos by James Kelly<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Trains,<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

The next morning arrives with a pounding head and a missed breakfast. Luckily, though, there\u2019s a return trip on the Pullman to see me back to London. I couldn\u2019t think of drinking again as I quease<\/em> my way through packing and onto the coach to the train station. But as the kindly waiting staff welcome me onto the train with a Bloody Mary, my sentiments soon change. The journey back down to London feels longer, as ever, than the way up, but it\u2019s made easier by good smatterings of conversation and a wonderful roast, well veg for me. Veggie regret coming in strong though, the chicken looks great.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And there we have it. I\u2019m back at Euston, stretching my legs and planning a route to my east London hideaway. BRITs 2026 was a wild ride, fuelled by my good friends at Hennessy, with a mostly enjoyable ceremony and a buoyant afterparty. But still, Manchester, you damn lovely bastard. Why can\u2019t you be more like Birmingham? Maybe we\u2019d stand a chance then.<\/p>\n

Words \u2013 Ben Tibbits<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t3 March 2026\t\t\t<\/div>\n
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Music<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\tStopping Off On Planet GENA<\/span> <\/span><\/a>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wonderland TRAINS, MAINS & AUTOCUES: A BRITS ADVENTURE Riding the Pullman, getting lost in car parks and knocking back Hennessy with A-listers: Features Editor Ben Tibbits dishes the dirt on this year\u2019s BRIT Awards.\u00a0 Photo by JMEnternational I am a proud Brummie. For those less educated in British locution, that means an individual from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,257],"class_list":["post-1803543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-wonderlandmagazine-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1803543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1803543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1803543\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1803543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1803543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1803543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}