2009 MTV VMA Video Music Awards Highlights

The VMAs offered much to gawk at, critique & dance along to this year. The show was hosted by Russell Brand but he wasn't given much to do. At least he didn't just spout a bunch of rude comments for shock value like some hosts do.

Madonna opened the show with her thoughts & feelings on Michael Jackson. She started off by comparing the 2 of them, they were the same age & had the same number of siblings. Then she contrasted & said that he didn't have a childhood. She denounced all his objectionable behavior & went on to say that her sons (both under 10 years of age) are now obsessed with Michael & run around dancing & grabbing their crotches.

The Michael Jackson Tribute included dancers performing in front of a large screen of his videos including Thriller, Bad, Smooth Criminal & Scream. Scream was released as a collaboration with his sister Janet Jackson. They digitally changed the video to remove her & she performed live in front of it at times matching the dances exactly which was pretty impressive. Some were not thrilled with her lip synching though. I'm amazed that she was able to perform the whole thing without crying.

Katy Perry & Joe Perry (not related) performed Queens' We Will Rock You Together. This was not a big crowd pleaser on twitter. Katy looked great though.

The spectacle that's caused the most talk was when Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift's Best Female Video Acceptance Speech to proclaim that Beyonce should have won. Yes Taylor is young & it was uncalled for. However Kanye is known for these outrageous antics. He practically thrives on them so it shouldn't be as surprising. Plus Swift must be awfully lucky if she's never been criticized before in such a highly competitive field. West has already half heartedly backpedaled & apologized on his blog. Not much later Swift had to perform in the subway & appeared composed which is impressive.

Lady Gaga Peformed Paparazzi in a majorly theatrical way. She didn't compromise her original style & made some very bold choices. She wore a white stomach baring outfit. For her acceptance speech she appeared in a red masked creation & popped up later in the audience with a white contraption on her head that looked like a wreath or bird's nest.

Megan Fox is known for not only her beauty but saying some pretty strange things. She couldn't really get a word in tonight as a presenter with the very excited crowd but looked wonderful in a black & white dress that made the slender actress look curvier.

During Green Days performance frontman Billy Joe Armstrong took on a the ambitious task of getting tons of audience members on stage. He was eventually singing while crowd surfing on them. It was entertaining but the whole time I feared that he would crushed or in some way harmed by an unstable fan.

Beyonce's Single Ladies performance definitely cemented her star power. She looked incredible & her voice was top notch. At one point in the performance she has a less than musically inclined audience member lend a voice which is was pretty funny. She even rocked a strange mechanical glove that probably couldn't have been pulled off by a less stylish woman. When she thanked the audience for standing during the song, I realized that I was standing too. At the end of the event when she won, she even brought Taylor Swift out so that she would have a chance to shine. The dress she wore during the non performance portion was also gorgeous.

Pink performed her hit Sober as a trapeze number. She looked very skilled & I worried less about her than Billy Joe. Some of us didn't love the mostly exposed left boob though. Pink was also talked about because she & Shakira wore the same dress to the event.

Yes, it was an eventful show but I believe that the performances should stand out from all of the antics. MTV was originally about music not just shock value.