They were a celebration of mainstream hits rather than musical achievement, but who will miss the Meteors now they’re on hiatus?

THERE ARE FEW people other than Westlife who are likely to miss the Meteor Music Awards. Almost every year, the Westlife lads would turn up, smile for the cameras and go home with another clatter of gongs for the collection.

There must be little room in their expansive gaffs for anything else with all those gongs. But there will be no awards for Westlife or anyone else in 2011.

Yesterday, Meteor announced that it had “decided to take a break” after “10 rockin’ years” and “not produce the Meteors in 2011”.

You could call the Meteors many things, but “rockin’” is not one of them. An event which grew out of what used to be the IRMA Awards and previously the IRMA Milk Awards, the Meteors were synonymous with red carpets, showbiz reporters, tacky limos and W-list (as in “who the hell is that?”) celebrities.

There was never much surprise or debate about the winners, with the annual 2fm Hope For award for upcoming acts often seen as the kiss of death for any aspiring act (hello Rubyhorse and Angel Of Mons).

It’s unlikely, though, that anyone will step into the breach and attempt to replace the Meteors.

Putting on an event on that scale requires significant production and promotional spend and, in current straitened financial times, such sponsorship budgets are more likely to be found in sports than in entertainment. The Meteor red carpet can be rolled up and put into storage for now.