On an uncharacteristically dry Sunday night in November, the eyes of the music world were firmly fixed on Belfast as the city prepared to host the MTV Europe Music Awards for the first time. Taking place across three different venues (the Ulster Hall, City Hall and the Odyssey Arena) the bash was beamed live into millions of homes across the globe and boasted the likes of Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Snow Patrol, Coldplay and a host of others on the bill.

With Belfast Council pumping £1 million into the project, this was a major investment on the part of the authorities. MTV crew occupied the city centre for seven days; there was an influx of stars and dcelebrities for the weekend of the event; and an estimated 170 gigs and events took place in the lead-up to the big night on November 6. Official figures are that 10,000 rooms in 39 different hotels were booked up with around £10 million being generated for the local economy. But it is from the international publicity that the real pay-off should come, with the potential tourism benefits lasting indefinitely into the future.
Not everyone, however, was thrilled with the extent of the intrusion into the everyday life of Balfast. As excitement mounted, commuters faced the unenviable task of battling their way through battalions of screaming Justin Bieber fans, who had camped outside the Europa Hotel days in advance of the event. The local rumour mill was also operating at full capacity and there were plenty of stories of bizarre celebrity-spotting doing the rounds, that ranged from Katy Perry popping into the Pandora jewellery shop in Victoria Square to shop, to pint-sized perma-tanned Jersey Shore star Snooki partying the night away in this writer’s local pub, The Errigle.
There was some ill-feeling directed MTV’s way by a minority of music fans, following the decision to ask people to “audition” for one of 1,500 available tickets for the 8,000 capacity event at the Odyssey. Nonetheless, Belfast was positively buzzing by the time Saturday night rolled around. Local legends Snow Patrol ran through a quick soundcheck down at City Hall, Kasabian and The Japanese Popstars played a special MTV Live gig at the Ulster Hall and everyone’s favourite fake lifeguard David Hasselhoff finished off the evening at the Merchant Hotel by pressing the flesh (other people’s, not his own, mind…).
The day itself was a blast for anyone who was involved. The Red Hot Chili Peppers play an hour-long set at the Ulster Hall at 6pm, warming everyone up before the main shows at the Odyssey and City Hall. With 15,000 people attending the outside broadcast (which featured Jason Derulo, Boyce Avenue, Cork’s The Voodoos and headliners Snow Patrol), fans packed Royal Avenue from 6.30pm. Gig go-er Karen Quinn felt that the night was an important one for anyone who loves live music.
“The atmosphere down at City Hall was amazing,” she said. “As far as I’m concerned, gigs like this is what MTV should focus on rather than celebrating halfwit reality TV stars. It’s great to see a local act like Snow Patrol headline an event like this.”
Across the other side of town, the gongs were being handed out at the Odyssey by teen queen host Selena Gomez. Guests of honour included the WWE’s first ever Irish born heavyweight champion Sheamus, Evanescence singer Amy Lee and former Heroes actress Hayden Panettiere, who got what seemed like an unwelcome eyeful when she was interrupted by streaker David Monahan.
However, as might have been intuited, the streaker – a 24 year-old from north Belfast – later revealed that he was in fact an actor, and that flashing the family jewels was a pre-arranged stunt. Everything, in other words was unapologetically stage-managed.
The ceremony at the Odyssey was surprisingly lacking in Irish talent. Hard rock hero Michael McKeegan from Therapy? was there and – the paucity of Irish involvement notwithstanding – the bassist (whose band performed at the very first EMAs in Berlin in ’94) was enthusiastic about how the whole thing went.
“I actually enjoyed the awards immensely,” he told Hot Press. “It was a big over-the-top spectacle, and the atmosphere in the Odyssey was rowdy yet respectful. When we first performed at the event in ’94 we were actually in the studio writing what became Infernal Love and it was all very surreal. At the time, I don’t think anyone would have predicted the event would come to Belfast. It’s great that it did. Personally, I’m just pleased that Belfast and Northern Ireland has had an opportunity to show the world that there is a very vibrant creative cultural scene here and that it’s a modern, happening city.”
Queen’s Brian May echoed a similar sentiment when he and bandmate Roger Taylor collected their award for ‘Global Icon’, before closing the show with a medley featuring former American Idol winner Adam Lambert on vocals. “How wonderful that we’re here in Belfast,” he said, “which is finally showing its beauty and setting an example to the world by finding, out of grief and tragedy, are the beginnings and the growth of true peace.”
Afterwards, as the stars spilled out onto the streets searching for the after-parties at the Merchant, the Europa and more, the acts doing victory laps included Lady Gaga (who picked up four awards) and Justin Bieber (who collected two).
Criticisms of MTV’s style were rejected by one of the technicians who worked on the show.
“MTV were great to work for,” he said. “They really are the best in the world at what they do. I helped set up and run the day-to-day operations of the production in Belfast. The hours were long and the work was hard – but everyone was friendly and very professional. I saw lots of the performers, but you tend to keep your distance from them as you are a working professional. I will say, though, that I met Chris Martin from Coldplay and he was a gentleman.”
According to Belfast’s Lord Mayor Niall Ó Donnghaile, the real winners are the people of Northern Ireland – and he promised that the MTV circus will return next year.
“I think we can all be very proud of Belfast and proud of those images that were beamed around the world to more than 600 million viewers,” O Donghalie said. “And what’s even better is it doesn’t end here. MTV are coming back to Belfast next year for what is going to be a bumper year for our city, as the 2012 Titanic celebrations get underway.
“I think there is a really positive vibe in the city right now, and the possibilities for the future are endless.”

For Eamonn McCann’s thoughts on the MTV Awards, see page 68