Last night I had the privilege and pleasure of attending the MTV’s Video Music Awards in Australia. Although inevitably an exercise in pop music, the evening did quite well in representing hip-hop – in fact apart from pop/alternative music, hip-hop was the second most represented genre, even out-shadowing dance music.
In the four hours of waiting around before being let in many attacked the bar, myself included in celebration of celebration of finally paying off my credit card debt that very morning. During this period I met this guy, a guy whose jacket I would end up with at the end of the night:
This guy never saw the start of the awards – when Shannon Noll (runner up of the first Australian idol) walked in to find his seat this guy yelled abuse along the lines of “Oi! Shannon! You’re a fucken wanka!” And despite being a drunken mess, those particular sentences were rather coherent. They were certainly coherent to the nearby security guards who promptly hauled him out.
It was held in the Sydney Superdome, a large indoor stadium initially built for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, although now it takes on all sorts of uses, usually accommodating for giant raves. It’s an impressive venue and more than capable of holding such an event:
Snoop played a big part in the evening and was easily the most popular personality there, being greeted by huge cheers every time he made an appearance. He loved the stage, swaggering up and down it like he owned it – not completely unjustified considering Drop It Like Its Hot won the first award of the evening, best hip-hop video. He also presented the Best New Artist Award which went to The Veronicas. Not a great idea, they were so short and he so tall it looked like he was about to eat them. Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo of Snoop as he didn’t end up performing on the night, but I was in a great place for Scribe to play his first single 'Stand Up':
Scribe is at the forefront of the NZ hip-hop scene, if you haven’t heard of him go check out debut album, it’s worth it. According to my friends who were watching at home, Scribe easily gave the best performance of the night and those who followed him struggled to live up his energy and vocal clarity.
James Blunt played ‘You’re Beautiful’, which also picked up Song of the Year. I know a lot of people hate on James Blunt, although I own his CD and quite like it. Not too sure what’s up with him though, he cried during the performance…perhaps he’s sick of singing it?
Savage came out and performed two songs and although I haven’t really heard his material, the four pole dancers who came out on stage with him instantly grabbed everyone’s attention:
The second song was his hit with Akon, who performed the catchy chorus through a pre-recorded video extract.
I did touch hands with one of The Veronicas when they were performing their third single. I’ve heard they are popular in the US? Even though they are Australian, they’ve spent a good number of years in America. In case you don’t know, The Veronicas are the gangsters of pop punk (yes, more than Avril).
It certainly was not your typical ‘thugged out’ evening; being hosted by Ashlee Simpson it was never destined to be, but hip-hop got some shine. Kanye West was nominated three times in categories that included Best Male Artist, Song of the Year and Best Hip-Hop Video, but failed to dig up the gold. The Gorillaz had a similar fate not winning a single award, which displeased the crowed especially when losing out to Anthony Callea (2005 Idol runner up) in the Viewer’s Choice Award.
It was definitely worth going: I had a moment with James Blunt, touched a Veronica, made an Idol washout throw a tambourine at me, saw The Darkness, made Marsha Hines smile, saw Russell Crowe try to be a rock star, told Ashlee Simpson I loved her, and paid my respects to Bernard Fanning.
Not to mention the free jacket.
In the four hours of waiting around before being let in many attacked the bar, myself included in celebration of celebration of finally paying off my credit card debt that very morning. During this period I met this guy, a guy whose jacket I would end up with at the end of the night:
This guy never saw the start of the awards – when Shannon Noll (runner up of the first Australian idol) walked in to find his seat this guy yelled abuse along the lines of “Oi! Shannon! You’re a fucken wanka!” And despite being a drunken mess, those particular sentences were rather coherent. They were certainly coherent to the nearby security guards who promptly hauled him out.
It was held in the Sydney Superdome, a large indoor stadium initially built for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, although now it takes on all sorts of uses, usually accommodating for giant raves. It’s an impressive venue and more than capable of holding such an event:
Snoop played a big part in the evening and was easily the most popular personality there, being greeted by huge cheers every time he made an appearance. He loved the stage, swaggering up and down it like he owned it – not completely unjustified considering Drop It Like Its Hot won the first award of the evening, best hip-hop video. He also presented the Best New Artist Award which went to The Veronicas. Not a great idea, they were so short and he so tall it looked like he was about to eat them. Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo of Snoop as he didn’t end up performing on the night, but I was in a great place for Scribe to play his first single 'Stand Up':
Scribe is at the forefront of the NZ hip-hop scene, if you haven’t heard of him go check out debut album, it’s worth it. According to my friends who were watching at home, Scribe easily gave the best performance of the night and those who followed him struggled to live up his energy and vocal clarity.
James Blunt played ‘You’re Beautiful’, which also picked up Song of the Year. I know a lot of people hate on James Blunt, although I own his CD and quite like it. Not too sure what’s up with him though, he cried during the performance…perhaps he’s sick of singing it?
Savage came out and performed two songs and although I haven’t really heard his material, the four pole dancers who came out on stage with him instantly grabbed everyone’s attention:
The second song was his hit with Akon, who performed the catchy chorus through a pre-recorded video extract.
I did touch hands with one of The Veronicas when they were performing their third single. I’ve heard they are popular in the US? Even though they are Australian, they’ve spent a good number of years in America. In case you don’t know, The Veronicas are the gangsters of pop punk (yes, more than Avril).
It certainly was not your typical ‘thugged out’ evening; being hosted by Ashlee Simpson it was never destined to be, but hip-hop got some shine. Kanye West was nominated three times in categories that included Best Male Artist, Song of the Year and Best Hip-Hop Video, but failed to dig up the gold. The Gorillaz had a similar fate not winning a single award, which displeased the crowed especially when losing out to Anthony Callea (2005 Idol runner up) in the Viewer’s Choice Award.
It was definitely worth going: I had a moment with James Blunt, touched a Veronica, made an Idol washout throw a tambourine at me, saw The Darkness, made Marsha Hines smile, saw Russell Crowe try to be a rock star, told Ashlee Simpson I loved her, and paid my respects to Bernard Fanning.
Not to mention the free jacket.
sounds like you had a fun night. 
