Hi again,
I'm sorry that I couldn't write at my usual term this week. I was extremely ultra busy.
Additionally I didn't have the chance to scrobble at all :-/
So my stats for last week are a bit odd.
Actually it is just pretty safe to say that I heard lots of tracks by
M People. It reminded me of the 90s and I was surprised how many tunes were still in my memory. To me their music is pure easy listening and also often danceable.
Apart from that there were no new artist or songs on my playlist. But here you have a picture of the frequently heard stuff of last week.
Well, now let me get to my main topic for this entry. As you might have known there was a little award show in Berlin last Thursday - the MTV Europe Music Awards 2009 which I was really looking forward to see.
The evening started a little suboptimal for me because I was late for the pre-show. But I just missed the first half of it. However I wondered why the hosts spoke German. Was it because of their English skills or because of the location? Anyway I didn't like it because interviews with international artists took more time as the host had to translate their answers. Another funny thing about the pre-show was that at first I thought missing U2 because someone mentioned that the band had already played. Fortunately it turned out that I got to watch their performance. I'm not sure if they had recorded it before the show, but in the end it doesn't really matter.
The main show started with Green Day and some nice pyro effects (fire on stage). I guess this band knows how to make a good live show. At least the crowd seemed to enjoy it very much... and also the extended solo when the front man felt the need to walk through the audience.
I thought that it was quite a coincidence to have artists like Green Day, Beyoncé and Jay-Z on both events the VMAs '09 and the EMAs '09. But more to that later.
Up next was the opening by host
Katy Perry which consisted of a medley of well-known songs of the year performed in a kind of cabaret style.
The first award of the evening for best live act went to
U2 which was great because this band stands for amazing concerts. After that Jay-Z won the award for best urban and stated that in his opinion it's all music.
His wife Beyoncé then performed one of my favorite songs by her - "Sweet Dreams". As usual her outfit was kind of marginal regarding clothing. Unfortunately the live version of this song wasn't as good as the video version. The ending seemed a bit bumpy. For a moment I thought there was a technical problem. ^^
Speaking of technical problems... the whole appearance of David Hasselhoff felt like it wasn't supposed to be this way. And days later German gossip news would cover this part of the show.
By the way Green Day received the best rock award.
Then it was time for Jay-Z to perform the same song he already had performed at the VMAs - only Alicia Keys was replaced by a not so known singer.
This was followed by the award for best song which was won by Beyoncé. I thought it was justified because the song is catchy. ^^
Up next was the award for best alternative. Placebo won. The Killers not. And I wondered if
The Killers are still alternative at all. What do you think?
The Foo Fighters then did a great rock show and their new song "Wheels" sounds good, too. They also played an older song which I don't know.
The award for best new act went to Lady GaGa which also was totally justified. Unforturnately she wasn't there. So they showed a video message and parts of "LoveGame".
Every now and then co-host Pete Wentz did some promo talk, but he looked tired and old.
After that U2 brought one of the highlights of the show performing in front of the Brandenburg Gate which was illuminated by strong laser beams. At first they played "One" and then they switched over to... "Magnificent" (one of my favorite U2 songs). So I was happy with that.
Another surprise was French actor Jean Reno who presented the award for best male. Eminem won and I can live with that as it's more justified than Robbie Williams who was also nominated but only recently released his comeback single. However Eminem wasn't there so another video message was shown.
Speaking of comebacks... Shakira took the stage singing her new single "Did It Again" (not refering to that Britney song back then). There was a lot of moaning and sensual shaking. Even drums were involved. But the song itself didn't sound catchy or original.
This was followed by a tribute to Michael Jackson (yep another reprise regarding the VMA's some months ago) consisting of Fans singing and dancing to the most famous songs of him. The tribute clip was introduced by the Jonas Brothers who seemed to be bored or at least not in party mood. It was easy to see that they just read down the text.
The next performance was heavily anticipated by most viewers.. Tokio Hotel. New look, new song, probably not live and... pyro effects (maybe left over from Green Day) ^^ The song was about a wall and so the background screens showed a wall :-P So I guess you could see it as the most German part of the show. And it's just logical that the next award was for best German act. Silbermond won. *thumbs up*
But they also showed other regional winners of Europe which was really interesting because normally you don't get to see what's going on in music in countries like Poland or Spain. MTV even had a competitive award for best European act which was presented by the Backstreet Boys (they've gotten older). The winner was a Turkish group called maNga... but I found the Finnish act (a band called Deep Insight) more interesting.
Bands like The Black Eyed Peas or Kings of Leon were nominated for best group... however the award went to... Tokio Hotel. Funny, eh? :-P Don't ever underestimate fans. ^^
Up next was Leona Lewis who had an amazing setting (stage) but an underwhelming song. I would call it "Schnulze" (meaning: sob stuff) :-P She seems to enjoy herself as a ballad queen. That's ok. But on the other side it's monotonous.
Again Beyoncé won an award - for best female. Cool.
Again Beyoncé won an award - for best video. Hm... again? OK, her videos are good... but the best? Anyway... Kanye would have cheered. :-P
Finally the show reached its end when U2 rocked the Brandenburg Gate... and were joined by Jay-Z. Thinking of his statement that it's all music I was satisfied with the show.
American music stars ruled the awards, but still some European acts were among the winners.
Well... that's it for this week. Next time more about my current playlists.
CU
U2
Hairy Trees. The most interesting track genius decided to put in the playlist was a live recording of U2 's track With Or Without that was in my itunes library. I kind of see the relationship between Goldfrapp and U2 but I wonder how genius decided those go together. It will be interesting to watch genius progress. This last update to our ipod touch I saw that they added a genius to the app store. Now the app store is giving you advice.
