How wrong we were. It's 2005 and Evans is back. The BPI chose the Ginger Winger to present the 25th Brit Awards and he was greeted with a very warm welcome on Wednesday night at Earls Court. Although cut from the ITV show Robbie Williams and Brian May both made comments on how great it was to see him back. How do we know this? Because we were there and a few other places as well. Here's are report from the biggest UK music event of the year..

AWARDS

THE SHOW

By now you have probably made up your own mind if Scissor Sisters opening act was fantastic or more camp than Graham Norton mincing around Brighton seafront carrying the ashes of Kenneth Williams. In our view the Scissor Sisters were 'fab' thanks to their stunning set which was designed by the Jim Henderson's workshop. Franz Ferdinand were pretty good, although after seeing the lads play at Brixton Academy we personality feel they are more suited to smaller venues although we are no music experts. If we were this website wouldn't exist and we would be making a living writing for the NME! Next up we turn to Green Day, a band we caught just a few days beforehand at Hammersmith Apollo. The American lads gave a spectacular rendition of American Idiot minus the swearing, making the editing of the ITV show more easier, despite the fact that they had to take out the word 'motherfucker' four times thanks to the Scissor Sisters! Gwen Stafani probably freaked any people out with her trippy set which looked like a scene from The Wizard Of OZ and Alice in Wonderland mashed together sprinkled with a hefty dose of LSD. Although the song, 'What You Waiting For?' has been played to death on the radio the diva gave us one of the best performances of the night. Jamilia paired up with Lemar to sing Robert Palmer's, 'Addicted To Love', but there was good performances as well, one of which came from Robbie Williams who didn't need to open his mouth for the first few lines of 'Angels' as the audience in the pit area were singing it from the top of their voices, later on in his act Joss Stone popped up to show just how great Robbie is when compared to another artist! Joss also performed 'Right To Be Wrong', unlike Robbie she needed a whole gospel choir to help her out! Pharell Williams came on stage to join Snoop Dogg and Daniel Beddingfield joined his sister Natasha, if this had been a double tennis tournament Pharell & Snoop easily managed to score match points, whilst the Bedingfield family struggled to serve anything above the net. Next comes our pet hate, Mike Skinner and the Streets we still can't figure out what the fuss is about with a bloke speaking into a mic with a restricted use of the English language and moaning about his day to day life. We hope we are safe to say that Skinner will never pick up a lifetime achievement award like Sir Bob Geldof did this year. Geldof ended the show in style playing two old Boomtown Rats tracks, although normally the winner of this award normally entertains the audience for longer it was still the most best and British performance of the night. Once again, the BRITS didn't fail to disappoint.

GOSSIP FROM THE TABLES

We had a walkabout through the table area during the show to bring you some gossip from the various guests who managed to russle up £1,000 so they could wine and dine throughout the night. The seating area was split into two sections, Gold & Platinum. Obviously the gold area was further back where the people who have money to waste and those who are way down the entertainment business ladder were seated. It goes without saying that we didn't bother going there! We have our standards! The platinum area was where the real activity happened. Green day brought their home video camera to capture the thrilling moment of them losing out on an award. Gwen Stefani had a bloody bug huge security guard on the table behind her making sure nobody mistook her for Madonna. McFly had the prime seat, probably had something to do with that the chairman of their record label was also the cochairman of the the Brit comity and was on the next table smoking fat cigars all night. The lads were quite drunk and were gobsmacked when they won - they weren't the only ones! We struck up a relationship with the head of Channel 4 who told us that a new morning show is on its way to replace the 'crap morning schedule' which is currently on air. We then asked how he thought the first show of 'The Friday Night Project' went, the Channel new entertainment show which fell flat on its face. He knew exactly what we were getting at and told us that they were still 'experimenting with the format'. Which is a very professional way of saying it was completely shite. Matt Lucas managed to keep a smile on his face despite having a swarm of worshippers around him all night. One trophy which should had been handed out was the 'Most Oblivious To Winning' Award. This would had gone to the guy working for Scissor Sisters. We were next to their table when the nominees were being read out for Best International Band despite a bloody big camera moving to their table, a boom microphone being raised and the TV producers hovering around the table when we told this guy we thought his band had won he replied 'Really? How an earth can you tell?'.

AFTER SHOW

Because it was the 25th anniversary of the Brits there was more reason to party then any other year. There were two parties at the actual venue itself. As Earls Court was decorated out as an old fashioned street fair with dodgems and a ghost train whilst backstage winners enjoyed drinks at a smaller private post drinks reception. With time against us we made our way into town to catch some of the more exclusive parties which were being held by various record companies. The Penthouse in Leicester Square was 'home' to the unofficial Brit party where Jodie Kidd hung out and Warner music held a party in a hotel in Hyde Park. Although the main party was hosted by Universal music. On our way to the bash we stopped off at the Embassy Club to party with Sanctuary Music.

.SANCTUARY MUSIC PARTY

The red rope on the top floor at the Embassy club could only mean one thing, somebody was having a party. Sanctuary music, home to Morrissey and The Libertines were one of the few record labels who bothered to put some cash into a Brit party this year. BMG gave it a miss along with most of the others because of cost. The finger will probably be pointed to those who download music illegally off the Internet, but lets not get caught up in all that stuff at the moment. The area was more rammed then Pete Dochetery's left nostril with industry types trying to fill their faces with fish and chips, chicken skewers and delouse vegetarian dishes. The London night spot is a firm favorite in the celebrity world and has seen Madonna and Prince both walk through the doors. The Brit party had a fantastic atmosphere and for those who were allowed outside after 9pm had a damn good night of celebration - bad luck Pete!

UNIVERSAL MUSIC PARTY

Blue Bird restaurant in Chelsea was the place to be after the Brits and very few, if any other journalists managed to wangle an invite to this exclusive party. We left as Gwen Stefani was leaving for her own personal party at a nightclub in the West End, but there was enough celebrities left to put a smile on our faces and envy inside every other journalist who were standing outside. Chris Evans was enjoying some well deserved drinks leaving behind Paul Gasgoine and his ex, Billie who he gave his table to at the awards. James and Matt from Busted gave up their Fightstar tickets to attend the bash. Both lads told us that they were planning solo careers. One at Burger King and one at Tescos!! Joking aside we love the guys to bits and wish them all the best. The offspring of Busted, McFly were dancing with Girls Aloud all night and record mogul Alan McGee was propping up the bar all night in deep conversation with other industry bigwigs. Daniel Beddingfield was spotted at the side of the dancefloor enjoying the canapés of beef, chicken and fishcakes which filled the stomachs of all the guests who had probably finished any detox plans they started in January. A line of booths along the left of the hall gave VIPs the chance to chill out with their mates and the 2 O'clock curfew at the bar was extended for half an hour. At 2.45am we headed for the loo as we had a long journey home as our partying had come to a halt. Or so we thought..

K WEST HOTEL PARTY

Considering we are writing a music report and this paragraph starts with us in a toilet at the Universal Party you will be forgiven to think we met George Michael. Luckily that wasn't the case. We were in the loo when the guy next to us asked if we were going to the K West Hotel. Apparently there was a small party going on there, only thing was the time was 3am. If we went we would had been too knackered to write our BRIT report the next day and our article would be online five days late due to the weekend. We had a tough decision to make, do we go home for the sake of you, the loyal ABLE2UK reader or do we go and party for the sake of more alcohol. There was no competition..

The K West hotel is situated in Shepherds Bush and is the celebrity hang out at the moment. Last year the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party held it's after show there and REM partied the night away after their OXFAM gig. Tonight those who wanted to continue the night squeezed into the 'K Bar', probably the worse named bar ever, mainly because if you tell someone in a noisy club you are off to the 'K Bar'it sounds like 'Gay Bay'. However tonight you could mistake take it for a gay hangout as members of the Scissor Sisters were partying on down to the music, which was being played by members of Franz Ferdinand. The lads had been celebrating at Paul (the drummer) house earlier as he lives just round the road at Earls Court. At 5am we decided to call it a night, the BRITS had finished for another year and phones at record company buildings across London were being diverted to voice mails for the next 24 hours!

SO, WHO WON WHAT?

BRITISH MALE ARTIST

The Streets.

BRITISH FEMALE ARTIST

Joss Stone.

BRITISH GROUP

Franz Ferdinand.

MASTERCARD BRITISH ALBUM

Keane - Hopes and Fears.

BRITISH SINGLE

Will Young - Your Game

BRITISH BREAKTHROUGH ACT

Keane

BRITISH URBAN ACT

Joss Stone.

BRITISH ROCK ACT

Franz Ferdinand.

BRITISH LIVE ACT

Muse.

BRITs25: THE BEST BRITISH SONG

Robbie Williams - Angels.

POP ACT

McFly.

INTERNATIONAL MALE SOLO ARTIST

Eminem.

INTERNATIONAL FEMALE SOLO ARTIST

Gwen Stefani

INTERNATIONAL GROUP

Scissor Sisters.

INTERNATIONAL ALBUM

Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters.

INTERNATIONAL BREAKTHROUGH ACT

Scissor Sisters.

OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO MUSIC

Sir Bob Geldof