METEOR _ IRISH MUSIC AWARDS MARCH 2004
BEX
Okies so we arrived in Dublin after an eventful morning making phone calls to a certain record company who agreed to have a chat with me.We booked into our hotel & ordered a taxi to the studio's. We ended up walking up & down the same street as we couldn't find it and by now I was half an hour late. Finally we found the door and was buzzed in (all very posh).
We entered the offices and I must say I was totally in awe of the pictures, discs & everything else that was on display. I was taken into an office but the conversation we had was private & confidential along with the photo's that I took so I am unable to divulge any information to you all on this. I would like you all to know though that I did pass over one of the site cards for the domain, so I did my bit to promote you all.
We returned to the hotel to get ready for the awards ceremony but by the time we got to The Point the queue was massive and we thought we would be near the back. When the doors finally opened we were actually 5 rows from the front on the left hand side very near to where the awards were being handed out and stood just below the top balcony where the stars were sitting.
It was fantastic watching everyone take their seats but unfortunately, I hardly knew any of them. An Irish lady by my side was very informative which I totally appreciated. Very close to the awards beginning I noticed Jodie, Gillian & Georgina come to take their seats. The headline in the Irish daily mirror the next day read that Jodie & Miss World had stolen the show and they were not wrong. Jodie gets knocked a lot in England for her dress sense but she really looked stunning (like she has every time I have seen her). A few fans in the arena had a dig about her but it is obvious that they have never met her because she really is very approachable and very lovely to talk too, Kian is a very lucky young man.
The awards started and the first big name to appear was Lionel Ritchie presenting an award. I will be honest I didn't know the first act or the first couple of people who got awards. Kerry McFadden & Miss World presented the award for Best Irish Male and Kerry looked very stunning as did Miss World, they both received a very warm welcome from the crowd.
The presenter of the awards hinted that Westlife would be on after they took a commercial break and told a rather funny little joke about the wives & the lads, it was something about the lads turning to their partners & saying "if I hadn't been in Westlife, do ya think we would have got together" and the partners replying "yeah I always went nightclubbing in Sligo" - Really you had to be there to get it!!
Anyway after the break the build up continued until the five lads took to the stage to perform "Mandy". I would love to be able to tell you how they all looked but unfortunately I only saw Bryan for a few seconds as my main focus was just Mark (Sorry to you all if ya fancy one of the others but couldn't waste valuable seconds looking at anyone else). They then left the stage and unfortunately my friend had been taken ill just before they came on so I went to look for her & we went back to the hotel. I do know that they won best pop act for the fourth year on the trot which broke the Irish record so well done to the lads.
After chilling out for a couple of hours, my friend felt better, so we headed to Lillies Bordello ( for those who don't know it is one of the top night spots in Dublin). There were celebrities everywhere!!! Shame I didn't know half of them but did manage to take pics of some. I will admit I was never big on Boyzone (only Ronan) but Keith Duffy in the flesh was very nice indeed. We met Heidi from the Sugababes (stunning as well), the girl who won the best Irish female award (will find out name for ya) and some Irish soap stars.
Out of the guys, the first I saw was Nicky & Gina both looking fab as usual. Nicky knocked into me and said sorry then looked back and said "oh hi, how are ya" really nicely, Gina spoke as well, nice to know they remembered me, mind you it was only two weeks previous that I had been to their house with Sandy.
I then saw Louis Walsh & asked for a pic and he gave me a big cuddle & kiss smack in the mouth (I panicked when a few flashes went off though - look out for me in Hello as his bit of skirt, lol) Next I had a lovely chat with Jodie & Kian about how nice they looked & thanked them for being so nice when I had met them in Sligo, Kian replied that he was always nice so I said I was talking to Jodie and she jokingly said that had him. All said in good fun & was nice to see them out looking so happy together.
Finally I saw Shane & Gillian and I was very pleased to get the opportunity to congratulate her on her wedding & to speak with her because all I have ever heard are bad reports about her but I always judge people on how they are with me and she was a diamond. She is very tiny & very pretty as well and Shane looks a very proud man stood beside her. However, whilst talking to her I actually missed Mark (oh no I can hear you all cry) go by, but I called him and he turned round looked and gave me the biggest cutest smile a girl could wish for (sorry I don't have it on film but I was too busy smiling back & by the time I thought about takin a pic his back was facing me).
So there ya go, not much juicy gossip to fill ya in with (apart from Bryan left the party at 12 & was staggering up the road with just a bodyguard for company - Kerry can obviously drink her hubby under the table). There are a few pieces of information that I have missed out of this but I have done that purposely so I don't get into any trouble with any jealous fans, record companies or angry husbands.
Your roaming reporter - Bex