Live Blog of MTV Europe Music Awards

Greetings and welcome to the Live Blog for tomorrow night's show from Berlin. Sarah Marsh, a Reuters correspondent in Berlin, has written an informative advance story about the event www.reuters.com #mtv
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/4/2009 3:11:40 PM
The 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall -- on Nov. 9 -- is the big theme this year. A few hours before it all begins U2 will put on a free concert a few miles away in front of the Brandenburg Gate -- where the Wall dividing East and West Berlin once stood.#mtv
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/4/2009 4:32:23 PM
At a press conference earlier this afternoon that I went to, MTV said the awards had never been held in the same city twice before. Berlin was an exception, as it had hosted the very first awards in 1994, and was to host this year's awards tomorrow to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. #mtv
by Sarah Marsh (Reuters) edited by erik_kirschbaum
MTV said pop diva Beyonce would be performing a version of her hit "Sweet Dreams" at the awards. Her husband, hip hop artist Jay-Z, will also be performing tomorrow evening.#mtv
by Sarah Marsh (Reuters) edited by erik_kirschbaum
Katy Perry, who will be hosting the awards tomorrow, showed up at the MTV press conference sporting a feathery, glitzy beige dress and teetering heels. She said her style would be less fruity and quirky than last year. Instead, it would be inspired by the film Cabaret set in 1930s Berlin, and it would be "darker, sexier and naughtier". "This year we're wearing lots of crystals, bowler hats and bow ties," she told dozens of reporters from across the world. #mtv
by Sarah Marsh (Reuters) edited by erik_kirschbaum
Our Reuters TV crew had the chance to interview Katy Perry after the press conference. We asked her how she felt about being asked to host the awards for the second year in a row, and in Berlin on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall:#mtv
by Sarah Marsh (Reuters) edited by erik_kirschbaum
Perry said: “This year it was kinda an amazing opportunity to be part of something so musical and yet so unifying as well, with all the things that went on in Berlin twenty years ago. It’s really good to give it (the awards) some meaning, more meaning, music is such a wonderful celebration of life, it’s the soundtrack for everything that we do day to day. And I think in Berlin with it being such a huge party city, music is such an important factor of having a great party, and I am glad it can be in Berlin, it’s such a historical city and people really know how to party here, they take it seriously.
“I always continue to entertain people with the things I put on but there has been an evolution in my style also taking in the theme of Berlin and romance and the dark and the sexiness and sultrinees, kinda that cabaret vibe and the singing and the dancing.
"I actually reference “Cabaret” with Liza Minelli for a lot of my costumes and give it a kinda moulin rouge twist .. and it is going to be a lot sexier rather than fruity and corky and weird, sexier so people will see me and go 'she is another year older that’s for sure'.”#mtv
by Sarah Marsh (Reuters) edited by erik_kirschbaum
The Reuters TV crew also had a chance to speak with rock-star Pete Wentz, who will be interviewing artists backstage. He said he would probably be most excited to interview Green Day, while he would be nervous interviewing Beyonce: "Beyonce, she makes human beings nervous, the rest of us regular people."#mtv
by Sarah Marsh (Reuters) edited by erik_kirschbaum
Wentz said his pop singer wife Ashlee Simpson-Wentz hadn't accompanied her on his trip to Berlin. "She's working right now, so I'm here alone, hanging out and it's snowing -- it's kind of a bummer."#mtv
by Sarah Marsh (Reuters) edited by erik_kirschbaum
We also had the chance to talk to British soul singer Joss Stone, who will be interviewing musicians on the red carpet, she hoped the Nashville-based Kings of Leon would steal the show tomorrow. "I love it, they are so soulful," she told us. Sporting tight jeans, a bright top and a nose-ring, she said she still hadn't decided what to wear tomorrow and definitely needed to go shopping for shoes: "I don't really own too many pairs of shoes."#mtv
by Sarah Marsh (Reuters) edited by erik_kirschbaum
Now for some random numbers and facts (supplied by MTV): the MTV Europe Music Awards will be broadcast to a global audience of 532 million homes around the world via the MTV global TV network. Crew, guests, media and talent attending the awards have so far booked 1,400 flights to Berlin. The set includes cues and imagery from Berlin's celebrated cultural life and landmarks. #mtv
by Sarah Marsh (Reuters) edited by erik_kirschbaum
The MTV Europe Music Awards will be held in Berlin's O2 World, which was opened just over a year ago. The home to Berlin's Eisbaeren hockey team and the Alba Berlin basketball team has a capacity of 17,000. It's just a few hundred metres away from where the Berlin Wall once stood. en.wikipedia.org#mtv
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/4/2009 6:12:08 PM
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/4/2009 6:16:46 PM
Reuters photographer Tobias Schwarz just filed this picture of Katy Perry at the end of the news conference in Berlin earlier this afternoon. And in this next picture Schwarz got Perry, Pete Wentz and Joss Stone.#mtv
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/4/2009 6:18:20 PM
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/4/2009 6:21:43 PM
Here's another fact from MTV that lives up to its billing as "fascinating" -- "To keep the artists perfectly coiffed, MTV is trucking into town with 200 wigs, 500 hair pieces, 1,500 hair products, 20 wig blocks and 60 poly heads." What's a poly head? Here are a few more "fascinating facts" from MTV. www.reuters.com #mtv
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/4/2009 10:41:40 PM
Thanks to all those friends out there on facebook who answered the baffling question MTV threw at us: What's a 'poly head'? (No even wikipedia had an answer). "I think it's a plastic head a hair dresser parks a wig on to style the hair," wrote one friend. www.suziwigs.co.uk #mtv
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/5/2009 7:10:53 AM
Hi Eric, I love music awards shows, fascinated by the whole thing. We have worked behind the scenes for celebrities & it is amazing how many manicures we did for celebs to get them Red Carpet Ready (guys too). I cannot believe how fast paced celebrity lifestyles are. We were able to give manicures to the Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga, Jonas Brothers to name a few & it is unbelievable the marketing that goes into a music artist. Luckily we are able to hear amazing stories from celebrities because we do work with them in a one-on-one basis (that of course out of professional courtesy we keep confidential-an esthetician never tells). Seriously, they could follow us around & they can product a reality show on some of the things that we hear. Again, fascinating, fast paced & a unique lifestyle of the rich & famous. No wonder people are so interested in watching them because it is extremely interesting !!! #mtv
by urbanvenus edited by erik_kirschbaum
With little 'news' from MTV to report about yesterday, journalists from around the world were scavaging around for something to write about. Ireland's Derek Scally picked up on one theme that stirred a few Berlin tabloids yesterday: the free U2 concert tonight at the Brandenburg Gate will be shielded to those without one of the 10,000 free tickets by a 'wall' erected by organisers MTV. Walls are touchy subjects in Berlin. Here's Scally's dispatch in the Irish Times : www.irishtimes.com #mtv
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/5/2009 7:17:04 AM
Britain's best-selling tabloid The Sun found its own special angle. One of their correspondents Simon Rothstein cabled home this report about Katy Perry's press conference yesterday: www.thesun.co.uk #mtv
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/5/2009 7:21:23 AM
Another report in The Sun says tonight's show "has turned into a battle between Katy Perry, Beyonce and Shakira to see who can be the sexiest....Naughty Katy has spent weeks choosing outfits to make sure they are as risque as possible." www.thesun.co.uk #mtv
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/5/2009 7:28:05 AM
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/5/2009 12:47:07 PM
Here's a film clip from Reuters TV producer Juliane Keck of yesterday's press conference put together by Erhan Uyanik. It includes a short interview with Katy Perry.#mtv
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/5/2009 12:57:35 PM
2 billion people -- that's how many people Bill Roedy said could be watching the show t|onight (with the emphasis on the could). That's a pretty big number, nearly a third of the world's population according to the CIA World Factbook (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/xx.html). Roedy, the president of MTV Networks International, predicted that it will be the largest show in the history of MTV Europe. Here's a story Billboard did on that: www.billboard.com
#mtv
by reutersSarahMarsh edited by erik_kirschbaum at 11/5/2009 12:59:49 PM
Christian Ruettger is a Reuters correspondent who has a thing for U2. He's on the way to the U2 concert at Brandenburg Gate even though it doesn't start for another 3 hours. Here's what he had to say: "Am on my way to the Brandenburg Gate with 3 friends. We got really lucky last week by getting four of the 10,000 free tickets offered on the internet. Just by chance, a friend got an email tipping us off that the tickets would be made available. They were all gone within 3 hours. We just made it in. I'm looking forward to the concert tonignt. I saw U2 with 70,000 other people in the summer at Olympic Stadium. It was a great show even though I was pretty far away from the stage. Tonight I hope I'll be a bit closer -- there are only 10,000 people there. I saw u2 the first time in 1987 in Munich, the best gig was in Berlin. I also saw them in Boston and Dortmund." #mtv
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/5/2009 1:40:31 PM
Off to take picturesof the U2 concert in front of Brandenburg Gate for Reuters now, its only a few blocks away from the office but its gonna be a madhouse over there. Not a big fan of U2, but not going for the music, hope to get good shots
by tompeter at 11/5/2009 2:12:15 PM
U2 arrival Here are some pictures that Reuters TV cameraman Oliver Keck just took of Bono and the U2 band members arriving at the Brandenburg Gate this afternoon. They went straight over to the crowd and signed a few autographs. #mtv
by BerlinMCR edited by erik_kirschbaum at 11/5/2009 2:44:15 PM
by BerlinMCR at 11/5/2009 2:44:29 PM
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/5/2009 3:07:44 PM
Here's Oliver Ellrodt, a Reuters TV cameraman, talking about covering the MTV Europe Music Awards.#mtv
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/5/2009 3:08:17 PM
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/5/2009 3:11:39 PM
Heard U2´s soundcheck just now. Our office is just a few blocks from the Brandenburg Gate and I opened the window -- and then I heard U2 playing...you don't hear that every day here in the German government quarter. .#mtv
by jeblink edited by erik_kirschbaum at 11/5/2009 3:54:04 PM
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/5/2009 4:03:35 PM
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/5/2009 4:48:22 PM
Here's a few pictures from Thomas Peter of the Brandenburg Gate being lit up just before the U2 concert that starts here in less than an hour. .#mtv
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/5/2009 4:49:22 PM
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/5/2009 4:50:48 PM
Christian Ruettger just called in with this update from the Brandenburg Gate where the U2 concert will start in about 35 minutes: Pariser Platz is half full. It just started raining. but the crowd is neverthless in good spirits. Dozens of klieg lights are shining into the sky, creating a special atmosphere. People are wondering where the exactly stage actually will be. It seems to be set up right in the centre of the Brandenburg Gate. We'll find out soon enough. #mtv
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/5/2009 4:56:06 PM
Brian Rohan reports from the U2 concert: "The U2 concert hasn't started yet and a flash bust of rain drove hundreds to run for cover under the bar tent. They look ready to handle it, though. More keep streaming in and the rain has eased." #mtv
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/5/2009 6:44:21 PM
Brian Rohan adds: "U2 just opened with 'One', the Pariser Platz square is packed with thousands, with several languages heard among the crowd: Spanish, English, German, Italian. The Brandenburg Gate is awash with colour. The third song is 'Bloody Sunday'. Hundreds without tickets are outside the official zone, pressed up against the fences. " #mtv
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/5/2009 6:46:00 PM
Brian Rohan adds: "Jay Z just went on stage for 'Bloody Sunday'. Before the next song, Bono says 'Thanks for sticking with us over the years'." #mtv
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/5/2009 6:47:18 PM
Christian Ruettger writes: "Bono greeted the crowd in German. 'Berlin, du bist wunderbar'." #mtv
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/5/2009 6:48:26 PM
Brian Rohan writes: "Fourth song is 'Beautiful Day'. Bono tells the crowd - 'Alright, let's turn it up'. Crowd is getting excited, arms high in the air. On the chic balconies surrounding the square -- the French embassy, the art academy and the banks you can see silouhettes bobbing to the music. Only the U.S. embassy in the southwest corner of the square is largely empty, except for two figures watching." #mtv
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/5/2009 6:51:25 PM
Christian Ruettger just called this in: "Concert just ended. Last about 30 minutes. Was really cool. Great atmosphere. They had a fantastic light show. The light show was tailored perfectly to the Brandenburg Gate. It was great the way Bono greeted the crowd auf Deutsch." #mtv
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/5/2009 6:54:59 PM
Christian Ruettger adds:"'Kicking off with 'One' was the highlight of the show for me,' said Judith Schwethelm. 'I especially liked when they projected the words 'Ost' and 'West' on the Brandenburg Gate,' said the 33-year-old, who also saw U2 in the summer in Berlin. "But I liked this concert even better. Diana Puig from Spain, 33, added: 'I loved it. I was surprised how brilliantly the accoustics came across. And the lights made the gate look even bigger than it is." #mtv
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/5/2009 6:57:29 PM
Christian Ruettger adds:"U2 played six songs, it was a great party atmosphere. The crowd went wild when U.S. Jay Z joined the band on the stage, rapping to U2's classic 'Sunday, Bloody Sunday'." #mtv
by erik_kirschbaum at 11/5/2009 6:59:24 PM

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