PORTUGAL: Madonna steals the show at the MTV Europe Music Awards, while Coldplay and Greenday pick up the most awards

Madonna stole the show at the MTV Europe Music Awards on Thursday (November 03) with the first live televised performance of her new single "Hung Up", emerging from a giant glitter ball wearing purple leather boots and matching leotard. The 47-year-old queen of pop rocked the Atlantic Pavilion on one of the music industry's most important nights outside the United States, and said she still got a kick out of playing to a crowd. "After I fell off my horse it was amazing to be able to get up and dance," she told Reuters backstage, referring to a riding accident in August when she cracked three ribs and broke her collarbone and a hand. She confessed she had feared that energetic performances like the one in Lisbon would no longer be possible because of the injuries. Madonna will be hoping "Hung Up", the first single from her new album "Confessions on a Dancefloor", puts her back on top of the charts after her last album failed to sell well. "I've been making records for over 20 years. I've had an incredible run, highs and lows, but I keep going." Scooping two awards were as pop-punk idols Green Day, who won Best Album and Best Rock categories. Their record "American Idiot" also won at the Grammys this year. Best Male category went to Robbie Williams, beating competition from 50 Cent and Eminem. Gorillaz was named Best Group and Coldplay took Best Song for "Speed of Sound". Best Female category went to Colombian-born Shakira, who was overwhelmed to find out she had received the most votes. "It's something I'm still recovering from, because I really didn't expect it, you know. We are talking about a song in Spanish, a video in Spanish, that was nominated and later won an award. So, this is something that I'm sharing with all the hispanic community, I'm sure that they are really celebrating it right now. It's just an emotional night for me," she said. Snoop Dogg snagged Best Hip-Hop, Best R & B was won by Alicia Keys, Best Pop by the Black Eyed Peas, and the Chemical Brothers were awarded Best Video for "Believe". System of a Down were crowned Best Alternative, and James Blunt took away the Best New Act gong. Irish rocker Bob Geldof was given the humanitarian Free Your Mind Award after staging what was billed as rock music's greatest day with Live 8, a global anti-poverty concert watched by hundreds of millions of people. Madonna, handing Geldof the prize, called him "my hero". "This is from the music industry and my daughter is here and she'll tell you that I don't put award things up at home, the only stuff I put up is music things, because I'm really bad with that. That's all I've done in my life, so creatively, that's what I've done, financially, I've done it on music and politically I've done it through music and all the friends that I've made over the years," the charity rocker told Reuters backstage. Gorillaz "appeared" using hologram-style technology to beam three-dimensional, performing cartoon characters on stage. Billed as the world's most successful virtual band, the human artists behind Gorillaz traditionally appear at live gigs as silhouettes on a giant screen combined with images of their cartoon alter egos. U.S. actor Jared Leto had the crowd booing, whistling and turning their thumbs down at U.S. President George W. Bush, in a moment of political controversy. Hosting the event was spoof Kazakh television presenter Borat, a guise adopted by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen who is renowned for his risque, politically incorrect humour. His opening gag on the night was no exception. "It was very brave of MTV to start the show with a transvestite," he joked, referring to Madonna. Following is a list of winners of the main categories on the night: Best Male - Robbie Williams Best Female - Shakira Best Group - Gorillaz Best Rock - Green Day Best Hip-Hop - Snoop Dogg Best Alternative - System of a Down Best Song - "Speed of Sound" (Coldplay) Best R & B - Alicia Keys Best Pop - Black Eyed Peas Best Album - "American Idiot" (Green Day) Best New Act - James Blunt Best Video - "Believe" (Chemical Brothers)

ITN Source | November 10, 2005

Tags:. .humour. .gigs. .portugal. .alter. .grammys