No one throws a party quite like the good folks at MTV and this year’s MTV Europe Music Awards were no exception.
Liverpool, the 2008 European City of Culture, welcomed the good and the great of the international music scene into the city’s cavernous Echo Arena for a night of back-slapping, gong distributing and off the hook revelry. Noticeable by their absence on the evening were the numerous British artists and global rock acts who have made the past twelve months so electric, but then in reality, the MTV Awards is hardly the place for independent artists to be rewarded for their innovation: this is where the major record labels get the chance to parade their big-hitting artists such as Beyonce, Pink, Kanye West and others like prize poodles at Crufts.
This was unashamedly mainstream pop and in some ways all the more spectacular for it. On the night, Britain was represented live by The Ting Tings and Take That, and amongst the prizes by Paul McCartney (the one-off Ultimate Legend Award) and Rick Astley (Best Act Ever Award). It hardly speaks volumes for the state of the British Music Industry, but it still has your chest swelling with pride.
In amongst the mainly mimed performances themselves, there was a brief bit of proper rocking and rolling when Kid Rock took to the stage amidst a flurry of noise and fireworks. It was just a shame that after the initial hope that his slot offered that it should descend into the pointlessness of his number one single ‘All Summer Long’. Still, The Killers were as spectacular as ever, and Estelle and Kanye West’s rendition of ‘American Boy’ was as booty-shaking as was to be expected.
However, their surprise performance of the same track the previous night at the Liverpool Carling Academy at Perez Hilton’s party was no doubt a bigger highlight for those lucky enough to catch it.
In the end, the MTV Europe Music Awards was the kind of grand scale corporate reminder of who the real movers and shakers are in the world of music. However, Clash would like to offer our own particular awards for the night. First up, we have to give our Undying Respect Award to all those who took part in the Sony Ericsson Fan Walk from London to Liverpool. Music fans are a dedicated bunch but these particular individuals put the rest of us to shame by walking 284km to join in the party at the Albert Docks. We salute you!
Our King of Bling Award goes to the Lord Mayor of Liverpool who strode into the aftershow with a gold chain so big even most hip hoppers would think it a little showy. We liked his style and told him so. Finally, our prize for Celebrity To Be Taken off Our Christmas Card list goes to the rather pointless and utterly offensive Daisy Lowe. Standing by the bar with our good friends from the Dutch press corp, Ms Lowe decided to punch one of their number in the face, accusing them of trying to ‘pull her boyfriend.’ Considering that the person on the end of her fist worked for Playboy and her boyfriend William Cameron is a rather unappealing little weasel for no mark indie outfit Blondelle, I’m guessing she should have figured that it was a case of mistaken identity slightly earlier than she did. Still, it’s not a party until someone swings a punch so in some ways that little bit of scandal was the icing on our MTV Awards cake.
See you next year for more of the same!
