Lady Gaga dominates MTV Europe Music Awards in Belfast

Lady Gaga has dominated the MTV Europe Music Awards in Belfast, collecting four prizes in a range of outfits.

The US pop singer gained awards for best song, best video, best female and biggest fans at the ceremony, in the Odyssey Arena.

She wore several outlandish costumes, including an oversized silver dress topped off by a satellite dish hat.

Teen star Justin Bieber and R&B singer Bruno Mars were the other big winners, receiving two prizes each.

Click here to see a gallery of images from the MTV awards

Backstage after the show, Lady Gaga said she was overwhelmed by her haul of trophies.

"I never anticipate or perceive that anything will come easily to me," she said.

"It's always a fight from the bottom up."

Actor David Hasselhoff had some trouble working out how to hand over the best female trophy to the 25-year-old star.

"I was trying to find her hand but I ended up having to hold the award," he said.

"I was just trying to figure out 'what do I do here?' But she is lovely."

Other winners were Katy Perry, who received the best live act accolade, Eminem, who won best hip-hop and Linkin Park, who beat Coldplay to take home best rock.

Queen received the global icon award, with band members Brian May and Roger Taylor picking up their honour on the night.

At the same time as the main awards ceremony in the Odyssey Arena, Northern Ireland band Snow Patrol were playing a free gig to 15,000 people at City Hall, with Red Hot Chili Peppers performing at the Ulster Hall.

The ceremony opened with Coldplay performing Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall.

It also included a tribute to singer Amy Winehouse, who was found dead at her home in London in July.

An emotional Jessie J presented the tribute, and said the Brit and Grammy award-winner had been an inspiration to her.

"I never got to thank Amy for breaking boundaries as I truly believe without her I wouldn't be standing here today," she said.

"She set a new standard for British female artists."

This reverential tone was not the dominant theme of the ceremony, however.

Lady Gaga rivalled host Selena Gomez in her ability to change outfits and at one stage perched herself on a model of a moon.

Jessie J burst out of a giant safe to deliver her song Price Tag and at one point, a streaker bound on to the stage and exchanged words with US actress Hayden Panettiere.

Dream

Ms Panettiere said it was "definitely the most surprising award show I've ever been to".

Earlier, Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody had said Belfast was "literally vibrating with joy" at staging the event.

"It is great that Northern Ireland is getting an international spotlight thrown at it in such a positive way," he said.

Mr Lightbody, who is from Bangor, County Down, said it was an "incredible opportunity for people to think about the music in Northern Ireland".

"The list is endless of new bands at the moment and it is great that MTV have taken their cameras around some of the smaller gigs as well over the past week," he said.

The singer, whose hits include Chasing Cars and Run, added: "It's kind of a dream to stop the traffic in Belfast.

"Very often Northern Ireland in the past has been in the news for other reasons and this is a really, really amazingly positive reason to be in the news."

Selena Gomez, whose boyfriend Justin Bieber performed at the show said it was a "huge honour" to have been given the role.

The European branch of the MTV Awards is generally more relaxed and off-the-cuff than the bigger, American version.

The ceremony lands at a different destination every year, from Berlin to Madrid. Belfast is the smallest host city so far.

Courtship

Organisers said there had been a "10-year courtship" between the council and MTV.

Previously, it had been felt that Belfast's infrastructure could not cope with the demands of a show that requires 39 separate hotels to house personnel from production crews to celebrity entourages.

"It's a multi-million dollar event," MTV's Richard Godfrey said. "It's the most ambitious show we've done for a long time."

Belfast City Council believes the ceremony could generate £10 million in tourism revenues, while a specially organised Belfast Music Festival in the run-up to the show saw several local bands sign management and record deals.

Gary Lightbody said: "I hope this will speed things up for them.

"Snow Patrol went through 10 years of not selling any records. I'd love that not to happen to any of these bands."