Kaiser Chiefs were the big winners at tonight’s (February 15) BRIT Awards, claiming three prizes.
The band triumphed in the Best British Group, Best British Rock Act and Best Live Act at the ceremony at Earl’s Court in west London.
Arctic Monkeys claimed the Best British Breakthrough Act statue after an amazing year, but they weren’t able to be there in person because they are playing in Portsmouth tonight on the latest date of the 2006 NME ShockWaves Awards tour. They filmed a video acceptance speech instead. And they appeared to be joined by a new member.
Other big winners at the event, hosted by Chris Evans, were James Blunt, Coldplay and Green Day, who claimed two awards each.
Coldplay frontman Chris Martin hinted at spell away from the limelight onstage after the band won Best British Album for ‘X&Y’, saying, “People are fed up with us and so are we.
“You won’t see us at one of these for many, many years. We mean it.”
When picking up her award for Best International Female, Madonna paid tribute to the UK acts David Bowie, Elvis Costello, Portishead, Radiohead, Goldfrapp and the Pet Shop Boys, whose singer Neil Tennant presented her with her prize.
The evening saw live appearances from the likes of Coldplay, Kaiser Chiefs, James Blunt, Kelly Clarkson and KT Tunstall.
Kanye West was joined onstage by 77 female dancers wearing bikinis and gold body paint for his hit ‘Gold Digger’, while 100 Manchester schoolchildren accompanied Gorillaz for a performance of ‘Dirty Harry’.
And Prince appeared onstage with his old cohorts Sheila E and Wendy And Lisa for a four-song set, including ‘Purple Rain’ and ‘Let’s Go Crazy’, to the delight of the crowd.
The Outstanding Contribution To Music Award was presented by actor Ray Winstone to Paul Weller. He performed some classic songs from his career, including ‘Come On/Let’s Go’, ‘The Changingman’, ‘From The Floorboads Up’, ‘Broken Stones’ and The Jam’s 1982 Number One single ‘Town Called Malice’.
The full list of winners reads:
BRITISH MALE SOLO ARTIST
James Blunt
BRITISH FEMALE SOLO ARTIST
KT Tunstall
BRITISH GROUP
Kaiser Chiefs
BRITISH ALBUM
Coldplay – ‘X&Y’
BRITISH SINGLE
Coldplay – ‘Speed Of Sound’
BRITISH BREAKTHROUGH ACT
Arctic Monkeys
BRITISH URBAN ACT
Lemar
BRITISH ROCK ACT
Kaiser Chiefs
BRITISH LIVE ACT
Kaiser Chiefs
POP ACT
James Blunt
INTERNATIONAL MALE SOLO ARTIST
Kanye West
INTERNATIONAL FEMALE SOLO ARTIST
Madonna
INTERNATIONAL GROUP
Green Day
INTERNATIONAL ALBUM
Green Day – ‘American Idiot’
INTERNATIONAL BREAKTHROUGH ACT
Jack Johnson
OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO MUSIC
Paul Weller