Back in July the gay community enjoyed The Big Gay Day Out in London. It was the annual Mardi Gras and the streets of London was filled with celebration, ripped jeans and rainbow colored flags. It's now October and another music event has captured interest in the gay community. This time however there is little time for celebration. This is all thanks to the judges behind this years MOBO Awards and nominating so called homophobic artists in the Reggae category which is why the first thing we heard outside the Royal Albert Hall was boo's and an angry beating drums from a small gathering of gay activists congregated into a compound aside the red carpet. The behavior of this was just another cloud over the annual awards, which this year was plagued with disappointment.
To start with some of the big names such as 5o Cent and Beverly Knight turned down requests to attend the ceremony. Then there was the 24 hour pull from the presenter, Pharrell Williams which gave Mos Def the opportunity to try and beat Sam Fox & Mick Fleetwood as the worse host in awards history. Those who did bother to walk down the carpet included Jamelia, Jamie Cullum and Janet Jackson, oh and about a hundred more that we don't have space to name.
Once inside invited guests were taken to the top balcony for a champagne reception which gave an impressive interior birds eye view of the prestigious building. Guests could see the tables next to the large stage and over a thousand more small tables around the circumference laid with a cheese and fancy other food dishes for those who have paid, or been paid for to nibble at before the black origin trophy's were handed out. The bar prices rocketed overnight as a bottle of beer was over £5 compared to the normal standard asking price. Just thought we would add that in to ensure you that even those in the record industry have to put their hand in their pockets sometimes.
As always, we aren't going to bore you with much news about the show itself. No doubt the DVD will be in your local HMV store (other record stores are available!) before Christmas. We are going to take you behind the scenes, in the dressing room and of course, the after show parties. Top tabloid journalists may have been given a box for the night, but they didn't have an AAA laminent tied round their necks!
THE AWARDS
What the press did have however was access to the media run. This is where the stars are dragged into a room, forced to smile and be interviewed by journalists from publications such as OK and radio stations varying from BBC 1XTRA to Capital FM.The big companies had their own cornered off areas, the run of the mill organisations had a space on the run to shove a microphone in a celebs face and overshout their competitors. ABLE 'Smirk' 2UK had something a bit better. This was an escorted trip into Janet Jackson's dressing room! Managing to eventually win charm over a bodyguard which could squash any motherfucker which came an meter near the dressing room door and the manager who tried to fob us off when we asked for a quick meeting with Michael's sister we met the star for a short space of time. The lady who made Superbowl headlines earlier this year by 'accidentally' flashing a boob prior to a record release was quite down to earth and made her contribution in the ABLE2 book.
Another young lady who we managed to corner with our forthcoming publication was the Olympic gold medalist, Kelly Holmes who was sprinting between the press area and hosting two awards. Was this because presenters such as Vernon Kaye and Naiomi Campbell decided to stay at home?
Other artists, apart from Janet, who were given lavish dressing rooms backstage were Mary J Blige and Anita Baker. The other presenters had to share one green room with free drinks and assorted nik-naks whilst the crew munched their hot meals a few rooms down near the promoters office. The hospitality backstage was mainly non-existset as all the action was going on upstairs where live acts including Estelle and Jamila who collected the most awards. Talking of which, here's a list of all the other winners..
Best R&B act - Usher Best Hip Hop - Kanye West Best Video - Jamelia - See It In A Boy's Eyes Best Jazz Act - Jamie Cullum
Best Reggae - Sean Paul
Best Producer - Kanye West
Best World Music Act - Bebel Gilberto
Best Collaboration - 2Play feat. Raghav & Jucxi - So Confused
Best Single - Jamelia - Thank You
Best Album - Kanye West - College Dropout
Best UK Radio DJ - Jigs - Choice FM
Best UK Club DJ - Manny Norte
UK Act Of The Year - Jamelia and Dizzee Rascal
Best UK Newcomer - Estelle
Best Ringtone - Mario Winans - I Don't Wanna Know
Best Gospel Act - Raymond & Co
MOBO Lifetime Achievement - Anita Baker
THE PARTIES
With the awards all handed out and dust flying for wallets belonging to record executives it was time to leave the Albert Hall and make plans to party the night away. The official MOBO party was held at the Ministry Of Sound and a smaller, more intimate party for Jamila was at Kensington Roof Gardens. We managed to wangle invites to both, naturally!..
Jamila's Party
The hottest ticket of the night was for Jamila's bash at the Kensington Roof Gardens. The top floor had a dancefloor filled with guests jigging away to various black sounds, a garden which has temperature was controlled from various heaters inside lamps and a paying Bar - B- Q where burgers and kebabs were being cooked throughout the night. For guests who had a white wristband, that included us, a cornered off area with sofas, tables and free drinks was set aside for Paralphone Records and their invited guests so they could congratulated Jamelia for becoming the Queen of the MOBO's 2004.
The MOBO Party
You would had thought that news of a terrorist attack threat at The Ministry Of Sound had reached Scotland Yard judging by the horde of police around the popular London nightspot. The whole road was cornered off and security was tight to say the least. After brushing pass people claiming that 'they were on the guest list' or 'Dave's mate' we had to endure more strict security precautions before setting foot inside the building. Once through a metal detector and a body search we could start to relax that we were probably free from a gun shooting!
An exterior champagne marquee had been erected in the forecourt offering 'free' sunglasses for those wishing to part with more money. Inside the main building the typical MOBO music blared out of speakers. Now, our personal opinion from a Pop Idol judge angle is this. The music could be described as decent tracks such as Suzanne Vega's 'Tom's Diner' being ruined by a rapper bleating on about goodness knows what over a microphone for five bloody minutes and telling the crown to 'C'mon' every split second. It was absolutely awful!
Luckily we managed to escape upstairs to the VIP lounge where the booze was free and a chocolate fountain with marshmallows could fill empty holes in ones stomach. A second, more exclusive VIP area up more stairs was reserved for a party. This could had been for Jamila who was reportedly making her way across town from her previous party.
That wraps up another years report from us from the MOBO's and with just three hours sleep we are off to our gay little queer beds.
(Sound of Gay activists knocking on our window is inevitable round the corner!)
The costs of a MOBO
ticket this year...
Show Only
Circle Seats: £90 per person
2nd Tier Boxes: £175.00 pp
CORPORATE TICKETS
Reception, Dinner,Show
Stall Tables: .£425.00 pp
Grand Tier Boxes: £495.00
Loggia Boxes: £425.00
+ VAT!