Bury, Greater Manchester The 2008 Mercury Music Prize winning group "Elbow", fronted by Guy Garvey, hails from Bury and in 2009 the group was awarded the Freedom of the Borough after their 2008 classic album "Seldom Seen Kid" won several accolades including a Brit Award and Mercury Prize. Bury hosts several music festivals yearly, including the 'Glaston-Bury' festival on the August bank holiday weekend, and the Ramsbottom Music Festival, closing the festival season in mid September. While Glaston-Bury hosts mainly local/upcoming bands, Ramsbottom Music Festival hosts a wider range of talent, including bands such as "Soul 2 Soul" and "The Proclaimers". The festival
Mercury Prize Prize's organisers of "banning" the band's self-released album, "m b v", from the shortlist nominations and addressing the nomination criteria, which he claimed branded the album "virtually illegal". It has also been noted that heavy metal has been overlooked by the prize. A 2013 article by "Vice" on the Mercury Prize said "Metal certainly never gets a look-in, not even on the official entry information form: 'The Prize is open to all types of music, including pop, rock, folk, urban, dance, jazz, blues, electronica, classical…'" The only metal record that has ever been nominated for the Mercury Prize is "Troublegum"