Beyonce triumps at MTV awards

BERLIN: American singer BeyonceBeyonce scooped three prizes at the MTV Europe Music Awards on Thursday at a ceremony in Berlin marking the 20’th anniversary of the fall of the wall that once divided the city. She received prizes for best female, 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 artists," Beyonce said after being named best female, the second of her three prizes. "Thank you MTV for this wonderful honour."

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".

Hours later he was at the O2 World concert venue to pick up the best live act award on behalf of the band.

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 Nov 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 EminemEminem, 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.