Features
Madonna Steals MTV Euro Awards
Once
Although the British music business appears to have spent the last two or three decades believing William Pitt’s “You cannot conquer America” remark, these MTV gongs celebrate what’s going on outside of the U.S.
As if to prove what the former prime minister said in 1777 still holds good, she launched into her new single (“Hung Up”) and most of the next day’s newspaper reviews of the event began by talking about her performance.
She also captured NME headlines with the last-minute announcement that she was to play London’s
With the Confessions On A Dancefloor album out a day earlier, the rumour stories of a 2006 tour have already started.
The few headlines she didn’t hijack trumpeted the fact that the U.K. took six of the 13 awards that the music channel’s 120 million European viewers could vote for online. It was worth a bit of fanfare compared to last year, when
Finals night was a November 2nd extravaganza at Lisbon’s Atlantic Pavilion, which was screened throughout the continent.
Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz, which also received five nominations, made technological history when the cartoon band’s appearance was claimed as the “world’s first 3D hologram performance.” Technicians used hologram technology to beam three-dimensional cartoon alter-egos of the band’s human artists on stage, instead of using screened silhouettes.
While the media attention was clearly focused on Madonna, very few papers paid much attention to the fact that U.S. rockers
Apart from best rock act, the band also had best album for American Idiot. But, Madonna aside, the U.K. media was intent on hailing the night as a British triumph.
As far as the live music industry is concerned, the 11-month-old
The
For the first time, the awards included a category for best African act. The winner was Nigerian hip-hop artist 2 Face, whose real name is Innocent Ujah Idibia.
Other non-U.K. acts to pick up awards were
– John Gammon