Lady Gaga scoops up four MTV awards again

BELFAST - Reuters

Canadian teen Justin Bieber (C), who won two prizes, performs at the MTV Europe Music Awards show in Belfast. AFP photo

Lady Gaga was an early winner at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Belfast on Sunday, picking up the best female artist accolade and following up on her triumph at the same ceremony in 2010.

The 25-year-old New Yorker wore a typically outlandish outfit to accept her award from presenter David Hasselhoff, an all-silver number with a giant disk running around her body and trademark ultra-high heels.

“I’m really smiling right now. I know you can’t tell; I’ve had a lot of Botox,” she said.

British rockers Coldplay kicked off one of the biggest nights of pop music outside the United States with “Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall” from their new album “Mylo Xyloto.”

U.S. pop diva Katy Perry picked up the first MTV prize, best live act.

She was followed on to the stage by LMFAO performing “Party Rock Anthem,” a high octane disco hit that brought over 20 dancers to the stage where they strutted under tinsel “snow” that dropped from the roof.

Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen accepted the previously announced Global Icon prize.

“We were there at the birth of MTV,” May said.

“How wonderful for us to be here 40 years later and here in Belfast which is finally showing its beauty and setting an example to the world by finding, out of grief and tragedy, the beginnings of truth and peace.”

Much of the attention in the run-up to the awards has been on Canadian teen sensation Justin Bieber, who has denied allegations made by a U.S. woman that he fathered her child when he was 16 years-old.

Bieber’s girlfriend Selena Gomez, an actress and singer, hosted the MTV event, and the pair were photographed out the previous night in the city in a public show of togetherness.

“Beliebers”

Belfast has been overtaken by “Biebermania,” with hundreds of screaming girls camped outside his hotel late to catch the briefest glimpse of their idol.

“He’s beautiful, he’s like an angel,” said Aya Lawlor, a 14-year-old Belfast girl who stood for hours on a cold Saturday night just to see Bieber. “He’s proven that anyone can do it.”

Celebrity couple Bieber and Gomez were joined in Belfast by Coldplay, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga among others.

Thousands watched the main concert and other performances in the open and in smaller venues around this city, and millions more tuned in around the world to see it via live stream on the Internet.

Nearly 160 million MTV viewers voted for their favorites, deciding most categories