The A-Lister's came out in force at this year's revamped
MTV Australia Awards 2008 which for the first time, were held at Australian
Technology Park (Sydney) on April 26th. The star studded affair featured
a whole swag of international celebrities that flew in for the show
such as 50 Cent, Mischa Barton, Juliette & The Licks, Eve, Kim &
Khloe Kardashian, Dizzee Rascal, Leona Lewis, Brian McFadden, and a
toned Wyclef Jean who held the hosting duties for the night
The local stars also came out in droves with The Veronicas,
The Vines, Kisschasy, The Potbelleez, Scribe, Rogue Traders, Merrick
& Rosso, Mick Fanning, Ian Thorpe, Vanessa Amorosi, and members
of the Underbelly cast all making a showing.
On the awards front, the absent Delta Goodrem beat out
some stiff international competition to take out the night's top award,
the Video Of The Year, for 'Believe Again' while The Veronicas managed
to upset Silverchair by taking out the Australian Artist Music award.
In further Veronicas news, Merrick & Rosso gave us a scoop backstage
when they revealed that Dean Geyer was about to pop the question to
his girlfriend, Lisa Origliasso, giving the now engaged pop starlet
another reason to celebrate. Scribe was also in a jovial mood after
picking up the New Zealand Artist Award while P!nk took out the MTV
Live Performer Award.
One of the more interesting awards on the night was the
Bad Karma Award. Former immigration minister Kevin Andrews was guaranteed
to pick that one up seeing as he received all of the nominations. His
decision to ban Snoop Dogg from entering the country last year was not
popular with fans…and therefore, a popular winner of this non-prestigious
award. Earth Hour, which engaged Australia and the world to act against
climate change, picked up the Good Karma gong.
Unlike previous years where the internationals flown in
were almost certainties to pick up awards, most in fact walked away
empty handed at this year's event. They did however manage to put in
some of the night's most memorable performances. Juliette & The
Licks put on a blistering performance that even frontwoman Juliette
Lewis was proud of. The actress said, "You know you've done a good
job when you're sopping wet from sweat. We tried to give a little flavour
of our hour-and-a-half show in four minutes. We did a little bit of
a mash-up of a couple of songs of ours and it was fun."
Dizzee Rascal also put on a spectacular show and wasn't
shy about proclaiming his performance as the highlight of the night.
Host Wyclef Jean however played down his opening act. He said, "The
intro was shocking but I don't take myself seriously. You know, the
world is at such a stage where you got a food crisis; you got war all
over the world. I think tonight was great comedy relief and I think
we all need a piece of that in the world right now."
The highlight of the night for this scribe however was
partying into the wee hours with none other than actress/singer Juliette
Lewis at the Hilton after-party. The energetic frontwoman for Juliette
& The Licks danced so hard at the Hilton's Marble Bar that even
the party's MC Wyclef Jean declared his love for her over the mic. Former
local girl and now New York based MTV host Lyndsey Rodrigues also agreed
when she said, "If (Lewis) was any cooler, she would have to live
in an igloo." It was a fun-filled ending to another awards ceremony.
Congratulations to all of the winners on the night, which were:
RECOGNITION AWARD RECIPIENTS:
SPORTS AWARD: Mick Fanning
MOVIE STAR: Matt Damon
INTERNATIONAL ARTIST OF THE YEAR: Timbaland
VIEWER VOTED CATEGORIES:
MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR: Delta Goodrem - Believe Again.
AUSTRALIAN ARTIST MUSIC AWARD: The Veronicas
NEW ZEALAND ARTIST AWARD: Scribe
MTV LIVE PERFORMER AWARD: P!nk - I'm Not Dead Tour.
TELEVISION MOMENT AWARD: Chaser's War on Everything - APEC 2007 Stunt.
MTV GOOD KARMA AWARD: Earth Hour - Engaging Australia and the world
to act against climate change.
BAD KARMA AWARD: Kevin Andrews - All nominations
REMAKE AWARD: William Weatheritt (QLD) - Ja'mie's End-Of-Term Shopping
Spree
Fans interested in catching the action from the night
can log onto www.mtv.com.au/awards to see the entire show and red carpet
as well as other tidbits such as The Diary Of Dizzee Rascal and the
popular Fan vs Band section.
BACKSTAGE QUOTES:
"That's why we did it. This will win us an MTV Award."
(The Chaser's explanation on why they carried out their APEC stunt)
"I look at the script but I just go with the flow.
Like when they put two blonde girls there. Remember them? And they just
put them there. I really wanted to ask them, 'What's 1+1?'"
(Wyclef Jean speaking of his temptation to change the show's
script)
"It's going really well. I actually have a lot more
fun here. I actually kind of prefer Australia. I mean I know that everyone
is like, 'Oh wow, in New York you get to interview celebrities.' But
here I get to hang out with my friends and family." (Lyndsey
Rodrigues talking about her experience hosting MTV in New York)
"We're gonna play live as we've got an album coming
out on July 12th." (Craig Nicholls discussing The Vines' 2008
plans)
"I just feel the Aussie audience is very…my
kind of people. We're like related!" (Juliette Lewis - loving
Australian audiences)
"The people - they generally gave a shit. They cared. It weren't
plastic." (Dizzee Rascal - also loving our audiences)
"I had a great time. They had me doing more than
any other host on. They had me climbing scaffolds, I had to wear a construction
suit, prostitution suit - I got f**ked by MTV tonight man!" (Wyclef
Jean speaking of his adventure as host of the night)
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© Danny Canak
