Even if you didn’t dedicate your evening to watching the Brit Awards this year on TV, you can’t have missed the ‘Fallen Madonna’ stories dominating the media the next day.
The singer, making a return to the Brits stage for the first time in 20 years, suffered a spectacular fall from grace as a result of an Armani wardrobe malfunction. Her black cape got stuck around her neck as a dancer tried to pull it from her in a planned stage routine, resulting in her flying backwards down some steps. Bravely, the 56-year-old star got back up, carried on, and managed to pull off a respectable performance. It certainly guaranteed her column inches that she would probably have missed otherwise. A word of advice, use velcro next time.
Thank goodness Madonna did provide this bit of excitement towards the end of the two-hour plus show, as it was otherwise a pretty dull affair. What happened to the drunken days of Brit pop artists getting into fights and protesting on stage? Or Jarvis Cocker flashing his bum during a Michael Jackson performance. The year when a member of Chumbawamba threw a bucket of iced water over John Prescott and the drink fuelled on-stage spat between Ronnie Wood and DJ Brandon Block in 2000? This was a much more sober, PR-friendly affair.
Other than the Madonna incident, what were the most memorable moments from the 2015 Brit Awards? Hosted by Ant and Dec, presenting the show for the first time in 14 years, the ceremony was opened by Taylor Swift energetically miming her latest song and getting the party started in true Swift-style. The first award, for Best British Male Solo Artist, went (predictably but deservedly) to the nice guys of music, Ed Sheeran who, quite possibly, was the first person ever in the history of the Brits to thank someone called Deirdre. One Direction lost out to Royal Blood who won the award for Best British Band – actual musicians who formed a band just two years ago ‘for a laugh’. Presenting an award alongside Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton, singer Ellie Golding struggled to walk in her ‘wedding dress’. Perhaps not the best outfit choice when her sole job for the evening is to walk down a runway in front of millions of people.
So, thank you Madonna for spicing up the evening a bit. Madge certainly knows how to grab headlines!