Madonna to headline MTV Europe awards

By Ian Simpson

LISBON (Reuters) – Madonna will give the first global live
television performance from her new album on Thursday when she
appears at the MTV Europe Music Awards, a key showcase for the
music industry outside the United States.

The 47-year-old American superstar will sing “Hung Up,” the
first single from her disco-inspired “Confessions on a
Dancefloor,” which she hopes will reverse a recent slump in
form when it hits stores on November 14 after weeks of media
buildup.

Sales of her last three albums totaled an estimated 10-11
million copies, a disappointing return for one of the world’s
most successful artists with global sales of more than 160
million albums.

Joining Madonna on stage in Lisbon will be British acts
Coldplay, whose 2005 album “X&Y” stormed the charts, and Robbie
Williams, who has recently released “Intensive Care.”

Rock quartet Foo Fighters, hip hopsters Black Eyed Peas and
punk-pop icons Green Day also feature on a night that MTV hopes
will combine the strength of traditional live rock performance
with cutting-edge technology.

“We have a very strong lineup this year and we’ve been able
to bring in a much wider variety of rock acts than we’ve been
able to do in the recent past,” Brent Hansen, creative
president at MTV Networks International, said on Wednesday.

“The market has been dominated by R & B and hip hop in the
last few years.

“For us, this show states each year our belief in live
performance and our ability to do something different from
other people,” he told Reuters of the annual awards show.
“Everybody copies us. We never get to sit back.”

COLDPLAY, GORILLAZ LEAD NOMINATIONS

Leading the way at the 2005 awards are Coldplay and virtual
band Gorillaz with five nominations each, Gwen Stefani with
four and 50 Cent, Green Day, James Blunt, Snoop Dogg and U2
with three nominations apiece.

Although it is a European ceremony, American artists tend
to do well at the awards which are decided by MTV’s European
viewers voting online. For the first time this year there is
also a special category for African acts.

Hansen singled out Madonna and Gorillaz as likely
highlights on Thursday night.

“It is so hot for us to have Madonna, as her album is due
out soon and her single has just been released, so it’s really
timely for her and for us.”

Gorillaz will use hologram-style technology to beam
three-dimensional performing cartoon characters on stage.

Billed as the world’s most successful “virtual band,” the
human artists behind Gorillaz traditionally appear at live gigs
as silhouettes on a giant screen combined with images of their
cartoon alter egos.

Hosting the event will be spoof Kazakh television presenter
Borat, one of the guises adopted by British comedian Sacha
Baron Cohen who is renowned for his risque, politically
incorrect humor.

“There is lots of Borat,” Hansen warned. “It’s out there on
the edge.”

(Additional reporting by Mike Collett-White in London)