COLDPLAY'S tribute to Viola Beach and manager Craig Tarry at Glastonbury during the band's headline set has been named as music moment of the year at the NME Awards 2017.

Thousands of festival revellers watched on as arguably one of the world's biggest bands honoured the four-piece group comprising of Kris Leonard, River Reeves, Jack Dakin, Tomas Lowe and their manager Craig Tarry.

It was a bitter-sweet moment for the loved ones of the five friends who tragically died following a car crash in Sweden on February 13, 2016.

Speaking before the awards, NME reporter Rhian Daly explained why the tribute had been shortlisted for the prize following the performance on the Pyramid stage on June 26.

She said: "It was probably the most moving thing to happen at Worthy Farm in years.

"In February last year, Viola Beach were in Sweden to perform at the Where Is The Music? festival when they and their manager were involved in a tragic car crash, which took all of their lives.

"In the months that followed, tons of tributes from throughout the music world were paid to the rising Warrington group, including this touching moment during Coldplay’s Glastonbury headline set.

"Covering Boys That Sing alongside the band’s original recording of the song, Chris Martin gave a speech beforehand saying they were going to 'create Viola Beach’s alternative future for them and let them play Glastonbury for a song'."

But the Viola Beach tribute faced tough competition after five other music moments were shortlisted in the category.

This included the Stone Roses releasing new music for the first time in 20 years, Skepta winning the Mercury Prize and Pete Doherty playing at The Bataclan in Paris following the terror attacks.

Other contenders included Beyoncé surprising fans with her new album Lemonade and Bring Me The Horizon invading Coldplay’s table at the NME Awards 2016.

But during the awards ceremony at London’s O2 Academy Brixton last night, Coldplay's tribute to the five friends was named as the winner.