Beyonce sweeps MTV awards in Berlin

She received prizes for best female act, best song (‘Halo’) and best video (‘Single Ladies, Put a Ring on It’) on one of pop music’s biggest nights outside the United States.

“I have to dedicate this award to all the other beautiful artistes,” Beyonce said. “Thank you MTV for this wonderful honour,” she added.

To coincide with MTV’s awards show, Irish rockers U2 treated 10,000 fans to a free concert in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, where the music channel’s first Europe Music Awards were held in 1994.
Lead singer Bono performed hits such as ‘One’, ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ and ‘Beautiful Day’ during a 30-minute set and greeted the crowd in German with the words: “Berlin, Du bist wunderbar.”

Beyonce’s husband, hip hop star Jay-Z, was also a winner on the night, topping the best urban act category.

Wearing a black leather jacket and sunglasses, he referred to the theme of the Berlin Wall, saying: “I look forward to the day when all those walls come down.”

The wall, a symbol of the Cold War that split the city, was opened on November 9, 1989, leading to the reunification of East and West Germany 11 months later.

Beyonce took to the stage after her husband’s acceptance speech, appearing in a red heart and wearing a scarlet bodice and garters to perform the hit ‘Sweet Dreams’.

Best male act went to Detroit rapper Eminem, who thanked his supporters in a video message.

The winners are chosen by MTV viewers online, and the music channel, part of Viacom, said more than 100 million votes were cast in 2008. As the list of winners this year underlined, the MTV Europe Music Awards tend to be dominated by big US names.

One of the few exceptions was Germany’s Tokio Hotel, beating the likes of Black Eyed Peas and Kings of Leon to take the best group award.

Green Day, who performed the opening song on the night, were named best rock act.

The biggest losers on the night were Nashville-based Kings of Leon, who led the field with five nominations but came away empty-handed.

New Yorker Lady Gaga, renowned as much for her extravagant outfits as for her electro-dance-pop, was the only other act to garner five nominations. She won the best new act category.