The 2013 MTV EMA Live Blog

Tune in to our live blog from the MTV European Awards from Amsterdam's Ziggo Dome.

*For pictures from the MTV Europe Awards click here.

11.40pm: Goedenavond from Amsterdam's Ziggo Dome. We are now 20 minutes away from the start of the show. Currently listening to the awards staff giving us some house keeping rules. No body standing on shoulders or risk being close-lined by crane shot and expect lots of fireworks, so those with flammable material better step back.

11.50pm: Ten minutes till we go live and some news emerging about the big start to the show. Apparently the festivities will kick off with a giant spaceship descending on to the stage. While organisers wont reveal who would emerge from the space-ship, it is a safe bet to say it would be the "intergalactic host" Redfoo.

12.00am: And we are off!

12.02am: And it's pop brat Miley Cyrus opening the show with the new song We Can't Stop. A rather traditional performance with no single Twerk.

12.04am: Redfoo ditches the leopard print for a dapper looking black suit. "Hello baby" he hollers and his voice is already beginning to grate.

12.06: Oh dear, the first memorable photo of the day with Redfoo stripping down to his underwear.

12.08am: Robin Thick puts on a rather charming rendition of Blurred Lines.

12.12am: BEST SONG  award goes to Bruno Mars for Locked Out of Heaven. "This song meets a lot to me so the fact that you love it means a lot to me," he says. "My pops is here in the building." Good job dad!

12.16am: DJ Afrojack makes an appearance performing his hit Take Over Control live from the Melkweg Club, a 25 minute car ride away in central Amsterdam. Performing with him in the venue that night is rap legend Snoop Dogg in what is the second best party of the night.

12.21am: Katy Perry makes an appearance after the break to perform new single Unconditionally.

12.24am: Yes, I do find the fluffy nature of Katy Perry songs rather grating but you can't deny the star got a large set of pipes. A confident performance from the American which has her levitating in the air like a Cirque du Soleil performer. The night's first major high point.

12.27am:BEST HIP-HOP award goes to Eminem wins the award, beating out a competitive field featuring Jay Z, Drake and Kanye West. The man makes an appearance himself and in typical understated fashion "thanks Dr Dre, Rick Rubin and the fans, I love you." The newly bleached rapper will appear later in the evening to receive the MTV EMA Global Icon award. Hopefully we can see him perform.

12.32am:BEST ALTERNATIVE award goes 30 Second to Mars who edged out Franz Ferdinand and the Arctic Monkeys. Singer Jared Leto picks up the gong and says "this is surreal because we are playing in this venue in two days." Nice one to plug the gig there Jared.

12.40am: Kings of Leon continue their move away from scraggy garage rockers to streamlined U2-ish territory with a stirring rendition of Beautiful War. Nice fireworks towards the end. We need them back in the UAE!

12.45am: In a rather smart move to keep the audiences excited during the add breaks, a live performance of DJ Afrojack from the Melkweg Club is beamed lived to the Ziggo Dome.

12.48am: BEST FEMALE: award goes to Katy Perry. Other nominees were Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez. "Thank you so much, this is so cool," she says. "I was sitting backstage thinking that I wasn't going to to win but I did so thank you very much!" Perry gives a special shout-out to the "Katy-Cats" who out-voted out Selena Gomez's Selenators to give her the win. Perry promises to be back in Europe next as part of her world tour.

12.55am: A powerful performance by Burno Mars of new single Gorilla. It is easily the best offering from his second album Unorthodox Jukebox because it's not as saccharine as the rest of the tracks. Mars' performance here is sweeping and epic, a deserved standing ovation.

12.58am: A bunch of awards are quickly announced with Green Day winning the Best Rock Act and Avicii taking out the Best Electronic award. This is what happens when artists are not here to pick up the awards in person.

1.05am: The much anticipated Miley Cyrus performance. No shenanigans here - for better or worse - as Cyrus keeps it relatively straight and competently belts out the ballad Wrecking Ball in beige skin-tight body suit. If the American MTV awards proved she is the pop-world newest brat, her performance here at the MTV EMA's proves the girl can sing too.

1.18am: BEST WORLD WIDE ACT:  The MTV EMA's is all a numbers game due to the fan voting. Hence Chinese pop-star Chris Lee defeating Justin Bieber and One Direction to win the the Best World Wide act. A word must be said to Morocco's Ahmed Soultan who won the best Africa and Middle East Act to compete in this category tonight.

1.32am: MTV EMA Global Icon Award: Eminem makes his first high profile awards performance to pick up the MTV EMA Global Icon Award for 2013. Before picking up the award he delivers a blistering performance of new single Bezerk. The superstar rapper was given the award by movie character Ron Burgundy (played by Will Ferrell)  "I just want to say thank you to all of you for your support over the years," he said. "I love this award." When Burgundy states that Dutch DJ Afrojack is talking smack about Eminem , the rapperl deadpans "who?"

1.40am: In more awards quickly announced, Best Live act goes to Beyonce who thanked the fans with a thank you video from the road. Best Pop act goes to One Direction who also by video apologised for not making it to Amsterdam.

1.43am: Snoop Dogg makes an appearance with his performance of his classic Gin and Juice beamed live from the MTV EMA affiliated party at the Melkweg in inner Amsterdam. The performance is part of the rapper's celebration of the 20th anniversary of his debut album Doggystyle.

1.47am: The Killers take to the stage to perform their gospel tinged new single Shot At The Night and Mr Bright Side to promote their new compilation Direct Hits. The Las Vegas quartet also thanked Dutch fans for their support by playing an intimate show on Friday at Amsterdam's Paradiso for fan club members.

2.00am: BEST VIDEO award goes to Miley Cyrus for Wrecking Ball. "I want to thank all my fans for making all of this happen," she said.

2.05am: Imagine Dragons Radioactive performance is beamed from an outdoor venue. The performance packs a lot of bite with the chorus  given a harder metallic edge live than on the recording. UAE promoters, stop with the vintage acts and try get this band to come here please. With the Killers to go on hiatus, Imagine Dragons will be flying the Las Vegas flag for sometime to come.

2.11am: Swedish pop duo Icona Pop are the last act to take the stage with super-fun take on I Love It. Dressed in matching silver dresses, the group were then joined by Red Foo to wrap up the show. Dressed in space-suit, Redfoo disappears on to the roof and bids us all good night.

2.15am: And that's a wrap folks. The Dutch edition of the MTV EMA awards was another super-slick affair. While it lack the controversy of it's American counterpart earlier this year, the European version nonetheless entertained with solid performances and an enthusiastic crowd. Performance of the night goes to Bruno Mars for his rocking take of Gorilla with Eminem a close second with Bezerk. Biggest surprise of the night goes to Chinese pop star Chris Lee (known in the homeland as Li Yuchun) for beating Justin Bieber and One Direction for Best World Wide Act. Check out the National's Arts and Life section for a full wrap of the event complete with great pictures. Thank you folks and good night!