Aria awards 2018: All the winners, nominations, artists, bands from event at Star Casino, Sydney - NEWS.com.au

Keith Urban has launched his ARIA Awards hosting duties with a couple of zingers as Jimmy Barnes, Kasey Chambers, 5 Seconds of Summer and Amy Shark take out the night’s first big awards.

After spotting Nicole Kidman in the front row, Urban cautioned award winners that the trophies are dangerously pointed.

“They’re not the biggest pricks in the room but they are close,” he said.

After presenter Sophie Monk jokingly bemoaned having not won an award yet in her post-Bardot career, she announced the legendary Jimmy Barnes as winner of the Best Soundtrack Album for his Working Class Boy record, which accompanied his acclaimed documentary.

“I want to thank my beautiful wife, my darling kids and my siblings,John, Linda, Dot, Lisa and Alan, who lived through this f...ing life with me,” he said.

Last year Barnes won Best Children’s Record; he is a man of all the talents.

After opening the ceremony at Sydney’s Star Casino with a rocking performance, 5 Seconds of Summer were back on stage pretty damn quickly to receive the award for Best Australian Live Act.

In very quick succession, they added another ARIA to their collection with Best Group.

“This is amazing, thank you. First of all everything comes back to our fans, they have been the source of our ambition and reinvention with this album,” Calum Hood said.

The most nominated artist of the 2018 ARIAS has opened up her trophy cabinet with Amy Shark taking out Best Pop Release for the second year running.

“Oh wow this is a huge category and thank you and I don’t mean to sound like a dick so this is my second pop release in a row and that’s insane,” she said.

Shark paid tribute to her husband Shane Billings who has been there since the beginning of her music career and thanked him for his “brutal but honest and loving opinion”.

MORE: All the red-carpet action at the 2018 ARIAs

Kasey Chambers, who will become the youngest ARIA Hall of Fame inductee later tonight, picked up her ninth Best Country Album for Campfire.

“This album Campfire means so much to me so I literally grew up around a campfire so I made this album to remind where I come from,” she said.

Chambers also thanked legendary indigenous artist Alan Pigram for his contribution of language to the record.

Her father Bill Chambers, who is also in her band, interjected to say “I am most proud of the fact my daughter still gives me a job.”

And then the endearingly down to earth Chambers poked fun at her ARIAs fashion over the years with commentary on her unique outfits.

Homegrown pop hereoes 5 Seconds of Summer made American chart history this year by being the first band ever to top the US charts with their first three records.

Opening the show with the heartthrobs who are up for a handful of awards tonight is no doubt a strategic decision to grab a younger audience for the telecast on Nine later this evening.

And there is something undeniably brilliant about that perfectly crafted pop song as evidenced by its half a billion streams this year.

After braving ARIAgeddon in their awards finery, Australia’s biggest chart stars, industry heavyweights and adoring fans settled in for the 2018 ARIA Awards at the Star Casino in Sydney.

Host Keith Urban and his occasional Insta duet partner Nicole Kidman brought the international spotlight to the red carpet alongside British tourists George Ezra and Rita Ora and regular visitor and HotelsCombined spruiker Richard Marx.

One of the biggest cheers greeted the arrival of pop rock heroes 5 Seconds of Summer, who are scheduled to perform their global smash Youngblood and contest four awards.

Fellow LA-based pop prince Troye Sivan also tested the screamometer, back at the awards to find out the outcome of his four nominations.

Awards favourite Amy Shark, who no doubt had to fend plenty of Sharknado puns during her adventure up the red carpet, is up for six trophies tonight, with Dann Hume and M-Phazes already opening her awards account last month when they were named Producers of the Year.

It is a rare year when most of the big nominees are actually in the room, with Dean Lewis, Courtney Barnett, Peking Duk and Vance Joy also attending.

Among the presenters handing out those dangerously-pointed trophy bricks are Gang of Youths frontman Dave Le’aupepe, nominee Jimmy Barnes, Jessica Mauboy, who will join Briggs to perform a tribute to the late national treasure Gurrumul, Paul Kelly, Sophie Monk and Troy Cassar-Daley.

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