Barclays Center continues to dominate as the hub of all things music and mainstream in New York City, and now MTV will hop over the East River to broadcast their annual Video Music Awards ceremony from the arena. This will mark a return of the awards show to the East Coast, as well as the first major annual award show to take place in Brooklyn. Brooklyn Borough Prez Marty Markowitz says, in a very quotable statement:
“From hip-hop to hipsters, JAY Z to MGMT, Brooklyn musicians have a long history of dominating the ‘spotlight’ on MTV. Brooklyn is a cultural Mecca—the hippest, coolest place for young people across the country, and has played a crucial role in the careers of some of 2013’s biggest bands, like Fun. and the Lumineers. Now, it is only fitting that the first time Brooklyn will ever host a major awards show, we are welcoming the most exciting and talked about spectacle in the music industry: the ‘MTV Video Music Awards.’ What better venue than the newest, most beautiful, most state-of-the-art arena in the country, Barclays Center. Bravo to MTV on a decision that hits all the right notes and strikes all the right chords. I’m so thrilled that I’ll probably get ‘no sleep till Brooklyn’ hosts the VMAs!”
Oddly, Markowitz neglected to declare: "I've wanted my MTV for the past 32 years!"
The last time the awards show was in these parts it was held at Radio City Music Hall in 2009, when Kanye West famously crashed the stage, took over the mic, and told Taylor Swift that "Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time." Of course, West's stunt was but a shadow of John Del Signore's less publicized 1999 VMA-crashing stunt, which you can read about here.
The big event will go down on Sunday, August 25th, so if you live in the area prepare for a total takeover of Atlantic Avenue.
