The good, the bad and the ugly

Brit of all right - the awards in pictures

The good were female singers Dido and Kylie, who picked up two gongs each for their contributions to the music industry.

The bad - and it was very bad - came in the shape of Frank Skinner and Zoe Ball, whose attempts at hosting the four-hour ceremony fell painfully flat with a series of lame and tasteless gags.

And the ugly? In true showbiz fashion, that came at one of the aftershow parties when Jamiroquai singer Jay Kay was hurled out onto the street by doormen after a vodka-fuelled scuffle.

Dido and Kylie stole the show, with stunning performances and spectacular stage shows. Dido said her success was largely due to her fianc?, lawyer Bob Page, and told the Evening Standard: "I am thrilled to have this recognition but the person who really deserves this is Bob. He has been such an incredible inspiration to me and totally supportive of everything I've done."

Many of the 5,000-strong audience voted Kylie's performance best of the evening, and not surprisingly - she had spent a reported £100,000 on her set, including 20 dancers in spray-on silver bodysuits and bizarre space-age silver helmets.

The singer was lowered onto the stage on a 20ft silver CD as her single Can't Get You Out Of My Head was mixed into New Order's classic Blue Monday.

The singers' polished performances came in sharp contrast to those turned in by Skinner and Ball, who were each paid a reported £50,000 to co-host last night's ceremony. Even their gaudy outfits, with Skinner in a Union Flag shirt and Ball in a pink and white string-vest ensemble, failed to distract from their excruciating lack of chemistry and mutual awkwardness.

Previous Brits have featured Jarvis Cocker storming on stage and a rubber-clad Chumbawumba pouring water onto John Prescott, but this year's bad behaviour came courtesy of Jay Kay, So Solid Crew and, more surprisingly, Bryan McFadden.

Jay Kay, who earlier in the evening performed a stunning set with Anastacia, chose to celebrate his success at record label BMG's after-show party at Home House. But the celebrations turned sour when, shortly after 3am, he became involved in a scuffle inside the club's members' bar and was thrown out on to the street by four burly bouncers. An onlooker said: "Jay Kay stumbled out onto the street clutching a glass of vodka. He looked like he'd been in a bit of bother in the club. He stumbled his way down the steps, with a girl clinging on to his arm, and went absolutely mental at the photographers waiting."

Back in the ceremony, another ugly scene came courtesy of Bryan McFadden of Irish group Westlife, which won Best Pop Act, and south London's So Solid Crew. The scuffle between the two groups ended in champagne bottles being thrown at McFadden until security guards stepped in.

So Solid Crew picked up Best Video award, but earned slow hand-claps from the audience as all 30 members took several minutes to snake up to the stage to collect the statuette. The group, who were frisked and sent through X-ray machines as they arrived, had been nominated for three categories, and expected to win more than one.

But they were not as disappointed as Gorillaz. The cartoon band, voiced by former Blur singer Damon Albarn, were nominated for six awards and opened the show with their massive hit Clint Eastwood, but failed to win a gong.

There was a party straight after the show backstage at Earl's Court, but anyone who was anyone at all bypassed that and went straight on to one of those hosted by record companies in venues across London.

One of the most popular was the Virgin/EMI party held in The Collection bar in South Kensington, a venue more used to fashion parties. Guest of honour was Kylie Minogue, accompanied by her boyfriend, Essex model James Gooding.

Kylie was shielded from the press by a large female bouncer, but Gooding let go of her hand for a minute to tell the Standard he had no intention of marrying his girlfriend. He said: "Why do people always assume they can ask me if I'm going to marry Kylie, just because we're in the public eye? We are not getting married and have no plans to do so at all.

"We are madly in love and having a great time with each other, but at the moment the last thing we are thinking of is getting married, and certainly not having children. There's plenty of time left for all that."

Mr Gooding, who had flown over from New York that morning to catch Kylie's Awards performance, said: "She was stunning, absolutely stunning, and I felt really proud of her. She is always pushing back the boundaries with what she does, and I think it's fantastic."

Former EastEnders actor Michael Greco mingled with stars including Goldie and Cat Deeley, and said he would miss his friends from the soap. He told the Standard: "Of course I am going to miss people as I have got some good friends there, and I am sad about it, but that's all I want to say about it I'm going to make a British movie, I've been offered the lead in a West End play, and been offered a couple of television drama series. I'm really optimistic about the future."

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