Arctic Monkeys fought off competition from Foo Fighters, Taylor Swift and Arcade Fire to be voted Best Live Act of the Year at the O2 Silver Clef Awards.

Alex Turner, Jamie Cook, Nick O’Malley and Matt Helders scooped the coveted prize, the only award voted by the public.

Arctic Monkeys
Matt Helders, Alex Turner Jamie Cook and Nick O’Malley from Arctic Monkeys (Ian West/PA)

The rock group said: “Thanks to everyone who voted for us and helped us win this year’s Nordoff Robbins Best Live Act Award at the O2 Silver Clefs. It’s a real honour to be chosen.”

Arctic Monkeys, who have won seven Brit awards, stormed onto the music scene in 2006 with their debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not – the fastest-selling debut record by a band in British chart history.

They join previous winners Justin Timberlake, One Direction, McFly and Sir Paul McCartney.

Kasabian
Kasabian (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Other winners of the 40th anniversary O2 Silver Clef Awards, sponsored by music therapy charity Nordoff Robbins, are Kasabian, who will be presented with the Royal Albert Hall Best Group award, and Rita Ora as Vevo Best Female.

Jake Bugg was chosen AEG Live Best Male and James Bay will receive the Jack Daniel’s Best Newcomer prize.

Duran Duran
Duran Duran (Ian West/PA)

Duran Duran will be honoured with the Spotify Lifetime Achievement award, while Mark Ronson will receive the American Express Innovation trophy.

Gladys Knight
Gladys Knight (Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)

Gladys Knight, Primal Scream, Iron Maiden and Il Divo will also be awarded with prizes at the ceremony, which takes place at Grosvenor House hotel on London’s Park Lane today.

U2 have donated a Gibson Les Paul Music Rising guitar, which has been signed by all four members and played by The Edge during the band’s iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE tour with photographic verification of the date and song during which it was played. It is being auctioned off at the awards.

The auction, which ends at the ceremony, would also include a signed vinyl copy of the Joshua Tree and a framed gold disc, four VIP tickets to see U2 at London’s O2 Arena and a personal tour of the stage by The Edge, who will then present the guitar to the winner.