Join us for performances from Kanye West and Taylor Swift, red carpet fashion verdicts and a competition between Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran over who can win the most awards
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Brit awards 2015: 10 things to look out for
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10.33pm GMT
According to this Tweeter, the cape was supposed to be pulled but should have just floated away ... instead it was still tied to Madonna’s neck. News editor Harriet Gibsone has just declared: “It’s been a shit show, Madonna’s comeback, hasn’t it?”
@timjonze Wasn't a dancer who was the problem, Madge was supposed to undo the cape!
10.30pm GMT
The Brits is over but Ben Beaumont-Thomas is still on the critical pitch. He’s moves upfield, dribbling this Madonna review past one, two, three sub editors, before unleashing it into the top corner of this liveblog like the star reviewing striker he is ...
Oh, didn’t think we’d get this after its Grammys outing. Madonna has suffered from Bjork syndrome of late: collaborating with the hottest production talent, sometimes using multiple examples in a single track, but not joining the dots with songwriting. Living For Love however manages to blend a properly good chorus with the backing track, even if you can still very much see the seams.
Once again, the look is “bejewelled sex-toreador”. She struts convincingly around the opening bars and then disaster: as her cape is yanked off she’s pulled off her podium and clatters to the floor! But as befits Madge, who has risen phoenix-like more times than anyone can remember, she’s a proper trooper and completes the song, though a little more muted than you might have otherwise expected. Many lesser performers would have missed an entire verse at such a nasty fall. Kudos! So that’s it. A pretty safe Brits, and arguably one that shows how conservative British pop is right now – but not without strong traditional songwriting. And it was positively vibe-strewn compared with the drably balladeering Grammys. Kanye was the high point by some chalk, taking the anger of Yeezus and ramping it up for the club, and cementing grime as the cloth that credible rappers love to drape themselves in. Now someone go get Madonna an ice pack.
10.22pm GMT
Somewhere right now there’s a dancer desperately trying to look casual, pretending to help work out what happened while knowing full well they had her cape caught in their watch strap.
10.20pm GMT
So was Madonna being dragged off stage the revolution she promised us? Probably not. Although it’s hard to say for sure because the Brits suddenly disappeared and turned into the ITV news before we had a chance to digest it ...
10.15pm GMT
Madonna got pulled off the stage by someone grabbing her cape. She did it for me, didn’t she? She knew I was desperate for SOMETHING and she delivered. Thank you Madonna, still queen of pop and saviour of this year’s liveblog for falling over.
Is she injured? Or is that just her dancing? Whatever, she’s carrying on like the true pro she is. And yes, there’s already a Vine.
Remember that time Madonna fell over at the Brits? https://t.co/WGofnrKxLr
10.14pm GMT
It’s time for Madonna! Can she save this year’s ceremony from being yet another borefest? She’s promising a “revolution” so things are looking up!
10.08pm GMT
Or “multiply” if you’re saying it out loud (out loud – get it?) … Russell Crowe rumbles out the names of the nominees then hands Sheeran a statuette. Sheeran says it’s “been a great night for British music”, then says success is not about the statue, it’s about the sales.
He concludes by saying: “It’s nice to meet you. Sick.”
10.01pm GMT
It’s yet more words from Ben Beaumont-Thomas, music reviewing’s very own barista serving up critical coffee with a double shot of opinion. Here’s his take on Paloma Faith …
The brass sounds fatter than ever on what is easily Faith’s best song to date. Standing under what looks like the Barbican’s Rain Room installation, balletic dancers clench and unravel behind her as she kicks down the top notes with complete authority, black ink trailing down her arms. It has the makings of a songbook classic. The drama is completely destroyed in an instant though as she shouts out her management company literally a second after she finishes. The frustrating bind of industry-minded British pop summed up in a single moment.
9.58pm GMT
It was a public vote, so what did you expect? Simon Cowell turns up to collect it because the 1D boys are in Japan. Through the medium of Cowell, they tell us they want to thank their fans. Arrrgggghhhhhhmakethisstoppppppp!
9.55pm GMT
Ben Beaumont-Thomas is a surgeon, his scalpel carefully removing this Take That review from the twitching corpse that is the Brits.
Another one from the fag end of the man-band’s tax-dodging, Mumford-channelling blandly aspirational late period. When they came back with Patience, which began this style, they were genuinely uplifting because there was a note of humility and vulnerability – now twisted into the kind of thing to soundtrack the drive home from a successful afternoon at the ScS sale, they are among the most venal musicians in the UK. Jason did well to get out when he did.
9.53pm GMT
What more can we say about Ben Beaumont-Thomas? His Brits reviews are an art form, this live blog the canvas on which he paints. Here’s his latest brushstroke, a perfect rendering of George Ezra:
In another year, Ezra could have been celebrating best British male, and this is a nice if unremarkable live arrangement of his ubiquitous hit. Dinky little organ chords ride along the rattling Mystery Train beat, as George sings the irresistible hook – it has the sense of being both meandering and determined that many great melodies share. Ezra’s success, and Royal Blood’s for that matter, might point to tastes tending towards more pared-back fare after a sonically glutted couple of years – suddenly Avicii and those infernal Take That blokes seem caught very much on the wrong side of the minimal/maximal divide.
9.51pm GMT
Smith takes the prize over Chvrches and FKA Twigs. He’s thanking everyone in the world, along with songwriter Jimmy Napes and his wife who is apparently “about to pop”.
9.49pm GMT
We might not have been able to hear what Kanye was rapping, but luckily we were smart enough to make sure we had a newshound in the event itself. Michael Hann reports:
I would tell you what Kanye’s rude words were, but it was all just a load of indecipherable shouting from in here.
9.45pm GMT
Kanye West provides a Brits moment so credible they censored 70% of it
9.40pm GMT
And and Dec just interviewed critics’ choice winner James Bay, whose Christmas card list I am sadly no longer on. He says that if he can achieve half as much as Ellie Goulding then he’ll be delighted. You dream big, boy!
9.39pm GMT
Ben Beaumont-Thomas is a critical ninja: instead of nunchuks he uses words, and those words are being hurled at Brits performances. Here’s his assault on Kanye West ...
It’s spot-the-British-rapper time with Kanye playing a turnt new track called All Day (a bit of which was leaked last year). Skepta gets a shout out fresh from his New York fashion week takeover, and I think they may have been joined by Jammer, Meridian Dan, Novelist, Krept and Konan, US trap king Fetty Wap … I can’t tell for sure. Perhaps he wanted to let grime-loving Drake know that he’s still the king of being up on obscure subcultural stuff. Anyway, it’s completely massive – between the blanked-out cussing (and a non-blanked N-word) Kanye rides a peppy club banger as giant flames crisscross above the all-black-everything crew. Taylor does her now-obligatory white-girl dancing. This could be the definitive huge single from the rapper’s new LP – and is quite a coup for the Brits.
9.37pm GMT
John Bishop presents the award to Dave Grohl, a sentence that gives me hope for the future of youth culture.
9.34pm GMT
Lionel Richie has recovered from Kanye and is now presenting an award with Lisa Snowdon ... why the hell not, right? Mark Ronson wins the best single gong and thanks “the world’s most talented Hawaiian” which I presume is Bruno Mars but who knows what talented Hawaiian’s Ronson is in touch with. He might know a really great juggler.
9.31pm GMT
Sometimes you have to reach out to our sunny Twitter users for an antidote to my cynical tone
This is the worst thing to ever happen to television. And we've seen @keithchegwin's penis #thebrits
9.30pm GMT
Everytime I see this picture I wonder about what was being censored
Lionel Richie watching Kanye and thinking he may no longer understand music or the world. pic.twitter.com/iQYdhoGhcX
9.29pm GMT
Howard Donald has taken over from Ellie Goulding as this year’s basher of drums. Last year it was Goulding who hit some drums. This year it’s Howard. Who could it be next year? Vote for your favourite in the comment section below, and I will be sure to completely ignore it.
9.27pm GMT
Ant and Dec seem to have left an important part of their charisma somewhere in a jungle in Australasia. And now for everyone’s favourite trio, Take That!
9.24pm GMT
Michael Hann has just interviewed Jimmy Page for the 714th time. Page apparently had no idea he was about to give the gong to Royal Blood: “It might have been One Direction. We could have had some fun with that,” said the Led Zeppelin man.
9.18pm GMT
Pharrell takes the prize! But unfortunately he can not be here. But fortunately he does deliver a message via video. But unfortunately he doesn’t know if he’s worthy of the prize. But fortunately he appreciates our great nation for “turning Happy into what it’s become.”
9.14pm GMT
Lionel Richie is in the crowd.
Lionel Richie watching Kanye and thinking he may no longer understand music or the world. pic.twitter.com/iQYdhoGhcX
Brits do not know how to handle Kanye's music ahahahahaaha just mute the whole performance the persons finger is too slow
I love this Kanye song, “Muted Dinner Party Chat.” #brits
9.11pm GMT
Kim Kardashian is on-stage and you know what that means – she’s taking a selfie with the hosts!
9.11pm GMT
BBT is still going. He is a critical engine, with Brits performances as his fuel. Here’s his take on Ed Sheeran ...
Fresh from being pretty much the best thing at the Grammys – which with its Annie Lennox performance actually out Brits’d the Brits – Sheeran plays his new Rudimental collabo for his homecoming. He goes completely stripped-back, using a loop pedal and acoustic guitar, and it’s his bread and butter – for all the Pharrell productions, it’s this immediacy that has paradoxically won him three sold-out nights at Wembley Stadium. As he batters his acoustic with his hands and blurs the strings, he’s set the bar high for Kanye for the most stirring performance of the evening. Also, as the only moon-faced ginger white man to have appeared on the cover of Vibe and convincingly cover OT Genasis, he can somehow get away with saying “faded” to mean drunk.
9.09pm GMT
And if there’s one thing I adore about pop music, it’s global success.
9.01pm GMT
Just think, Ed Sheeran is going to be doing this for three nights at Wembley Stadium! FX pedal loops and winsome ballads, what a combo … people are actually grimacing with discomfort in the office ... apart from Ben Beaumont-Thomas, who took his headphones off, turned around all excited and said: “That was brilliant … what?”
8.59pm GMT
Sometimes you have to reach out to our sunny readers for an antidote to my cynical tone
Words have failed me ... what a disaster of a show
8.57pm GMT
If you’ve been enjoying Ben Beaumont-Thomas’s reviews of the live shows you can catch all of them together in one place here
Related: Brit awards 2015: all the performances reviewed, from Kanye to Madonna
8.53pm GMT
Mark Ronson presents the award to the star. The third time she’s been nominated, but the first time she’s won. She’s crying, I think. Or maybe it’s a Sam Smith cover.
8.51pm GMT
Real talk from Simon Cowell, who is being interviewed by Ant and Dec. He says he fantasises about buzzing some of the performances off with a red button! I hear you, mate.
8.50pm GMT
Ben Beaumont-Thomas? He does not stop. If music reviewing was a gym, then he wouldn’t have left the treadmill all night. Here is the product of his critical sweat, a review of the Royal Blood performance:
Fresh from the their best British group win, the two lads play their big single, and it still has the air of something you’re really pleased with being able to play on Guitar Hero but don’t necessarily want to listen to. Still, it’s stripped back and palate-cleansing , and has a hint of funk in the choppy rhythm stabs before the headbanging finale which lift it slightly above bland proficiency. Personally, I prefer them when they dial up their math-rock vibes. “That was pwoper!” opines Ant.
8.49pm GMT
Here is the Ant and Dec on a plate moment. I didn’t realise at the time that this would still be the night’s biggest talking point 50 minutes later
im a celebrity get me out of here #BRITs2015 pic.twitter.com/81jwCa24uV
8.48pm GMT
Ben Beaumont-Thomas has a review of Sam Smith’s performance for you, freshly baked out of his critical kitchen …
Cultivating facial hair that’s somewhere between Miami porn star and working men’s club doorman, Sam trots out a note-perfect ballad about – guess what? – asking if someone will at least pretend to love him. The plodding Somewhere Like You piano chords give him plenty of room for melisma as a pyramid string section does some simple simpering. With every neatly-parcelled delivery of emotion, the guy who sang La La La, Latch and Money on My Mind – who could have been a properly rounded pop star – veers towards a Heart FM ghetto.
8.44pm GMT
Ignore that last update, Ant and Dec have just informed us that Royal Blood was “proper”. And talking of proper, now for a live interview with Ellie Goulding, who is worried that her dress looks like a wedding dress. Because she’s marrying Lewis, you see … *Insert 12 seconds of awkward silence here.*
8.42pm GMT
Royal Blood are on. It’s rock music, in a year without much rock music. But is it rock music? Let’s face it, it doesn’t exactly rock. It’s all so polite and polished.
8.37pm GMT
Lewis Hamilton and Ellie Goulding, who took exception to me including her as a non-controversial pop star earlier this week in this piece, present the award to the star. They do so after possibly the worst bit of Brits banter in the history of the show, which is certainly saying something. It seemed to involve a combination of dead air and some stifled chat about how Ellie and Lewis are getting married. Both looked mortified about it, even as it was happening.
8.35pm GMT
Enjoyed Morwenna Ferrier’s fashion verdicts earlier? Thought they were better than the actual Brits coverage provided by me? Oh, you all did? Cheers mates. Well here’s a full gallery of it for you to look at.
Related: Brit awards 2015: red carpet hits and misses
8.33pm GMT
Michael Hann has met and interviewed Jimmy Page 713 times in the last 12 months, and has some hot insider gossip for us …
Every time I have met Jimmy Page he has been wearing those clothes.
8.28pm GMT
Ant and Dec are a bit too likable for this. Bring back Corden so I can get irrationally angry please!
The Geordie duo’s interview with Ed Sheeran has revealed … well, what has it revealed? Mainly that Ed Sheeran is the man with the stats: “Thank you for returning to present after 14 years,” says the man with the award to the hosts. This kind of homework clearly pays off.
8.24pm GMT
Sam Smith is going to cry! I mean, perform! Although it’s kind of the same thing with Smith isn’t it?
8.22pm GMT
The Brighton duo fond of a bit of Topshop garage rock win it! They meet Jimmy Page on-stage to collect it and say: “I suppose we’re expected to give a speech now …”
8.17pm GMT
Ben Beaumont-Thomas is reviewing EVERY performance tonight, perhaps because someone at the Guardian has clocked that all I actually do is get slightly drunk at my desk and write poorly constructed jokes. Anyway, here’s his first review already!
For perhaps the first time in her career, Taylor is introduced by a pair of Geordies and Marco Pierre White. Blank Space is her bunny-boiler anthem where she doesn’t entirely convince us she’s driven insane by lust into courting a series of players – and its minimalist verses make for a rather tempered, non-bombastic opener. She does a perfectly pleasant vocal performance held aloft by big backing vox and strummed guitars. Her dancers, meanwhile, channel perhaps the greatest awards show routine of all time, Chris Brown’s 2007 MTV routine.
8.14pm GMT
Sheeran takes the prize, presented by Rita Ora, Orlando Bloom and some terrible banter! It’s 1-0 to Ed in the exciting Smith v Sheeran battle that everyone is excited about tonight.
8.12pm GMT
Michael Hann reports live from the event itself:
Taylor was preceded by a display of faux waitery that involved a man pouring chocolate sauce over a semi naked woman six feet from us. Brits didn’t get the memo about objectifying women.
8.10pm GMT
Ant and Dec are no longer part of a meal. Which is a relief. Instead they’re talking about the exciting things to come: Ed Sheeran! Sam Smith! George Ezzzz … and KANYE WEST!!! Come on Kanye, a lot is resting on you to make tonight at least vaguely interesting …
8.07pm GMT
Taylor is doing Blank Space with a monochrome-backdrop theme. Guardian music’s Tshepo Mokoena said she sounded like she had lost her voice on the red carpet earlier, and it doesn’t sound too strong now although she’s just about holding it together. I’m still trying to work out why Ant and Dec were served up as a meal two minutes ago. But maybe I should just let that one go.
8.04pm GMT
Things are starting with … a skit. Ant and Dec, Marco Pierre White, Paloma Faith start off in some kind of kitchen before, erm, things move swiftly to a live dance-off at the Brits themselves. The theme is still, for some reason, food. “This is very Eurovision,” says Guardian music’s Harriet Gibsone. I can think of some other words that I won’t type just now. And then Ant and Dec arrive as the main course of someone’s meal. I realise if you’re not watching this it will sound bonkers. And now Taylor Swift!
7.58pm GMT
The really great news for everyone reading tonight, especially those who like their fashion choices to be sponsored by Mastercard, is that there are still Brits hoodies available if you make it down to the O2 sharpish! Don’t worry you can still follow this blog on mobile platforms!
Here to see the Brits. Not sure about the merchandise to be honest pic.twitter.com/zgRbdivKL9
7.51pm GMT
Only ten minutes to go until the biggest night of your
life year week
Wednesday. You’re stuck with me, Tim Jonze, for the next two and a half hours. So, to get you in the mood for a night of death-thrill rock’n’roll action … here’s a selfie of Fearne Cotton with James Bay!!!!
Thanks so much @JamesBayMusic and have an amazing night at your Brits tonight! ( WITH your award!) pic.twitter.com/x94gR8SmNH
7.41pm GMT
I’ll hand you over to Tim Jonze, my colleague, and leave you with this contextless tweet from Oasis’ Bonehead, which pretty much sums up the sartorial flair displayed tonight.
pic.twitter.com/cBWX110BBD
7.40pm GMT
7.40pm GMT
OK, that’s it from Guardian fashion. A lot of monochrome. A lot of crap. A few posh gowns. Slim pickings on the red carpet, to be honest, but what can you do.
7.37pm GMT
Quite into Muz’s clutch. Massively not into her Kim Kardashian-style, satin-y tuxedo dress. From the bottom up, Labrinth looks mostly brilliant: pink socks (very Sibling autumn/winter 2015). Great double-breasted tuxedo (very Mr Porter). Great Oliver Peoples-style glasses. LOL at that hat though, pal.
7.33pm GMT
Good to see Rita Ora on true, wallflower form. As a rule, never trust anyone who matches their hair to their ugly, plunging neckline, beaded gown.
7.31pm GMT
Well someone’s thrilled to be here. WELCOME, JANELLE, WELCOME! Monochrome, again; I smell a trend.
7.26pm GMT
Welcome to Snoresville, UK! Obviously you can’t go wrong with an LBD and black trouser suit, as shown here on Mel C and Emma B, but christ that’s some dull styling.
7.23pm GMT
Here they are, the gruesome twosome, the fair pair. Nope, none of that works. They’re wisely playing it safe with dark, demi-shiny suits and some extraordinary facial expressions.
7.20pm GMT
Optimistically sheer, Ellie, and that look suggests you know it, too. AWK.
7.15pm GMT
Sorry, we just remembered Lewis Hamilton’s outfit. Very, very troubling stuff there. Very.
7.15pm GMT
We’ve just found out that Kanye West is in Nando’s. We don’t know which branch, but we can confirm that he looks pretty mis.
Kanye in @NandosUK before the #BRITAwards. Probably announcing that he's peri peri excited to be performing. pic.twitter.com/pWaJtw7wh1
7.11pm GMT
Good grief, what’s going on here, Lewis? Are you wearing a military jacket, too-long gold chain and Justin Bieber’s trousers? You are, aren’t you.
7.09pm GMT
#sammania
7.08pm GMT
The big gun has arrived: it’s Taylor Swift, ready to wipe the floor with her tunes, height and this very kung fu Valentino-y dress, which is great if a little OTT for the Brits. (Aside: has she dislocated her left arm? We’re asking out of genuine concern.)
6.58pm GMT
Alright, FINE, he looks OK – even if he is simultaneously working 17 trends: denim, one-button blazer, posh hi-tops, Kim Jong-Un hair.
6.56pm GMT
Hi Orlando. You lost, babes?
6.54pm GMT
Here’s Grace Chatto from Clean Bandit, who’s come as a matador. Madonna’s going to go ballistic.
6.50pm GMT
Hi, FKA Twigs. See, you’ve decided to mix things up with a bra-top and your chola-style hair. Yep, yep, if it ain’t broke, gotcha.
6.46pm GMT
To be fair, she’s actually pretty on-trend, what with the unisex DKNY vibes. We should probably take that last comment back, but we won’t! Have a fun night, Cara. Don’t lose your hat (please lose your hat).
6.42pm GMT
OK, actual Fashion is here. It’s model Cara Delevingne, fresh from the London fashion week FROW, who has dressed as Kasabian.
6.40pm GMT
#sammania
6.40pm GMT
It’s Sam Smith! Everyone loves Sam Smith. Everyone. In a pretty canny styling move, he’s gone for a royal blue suit, which is what Eddie ‘Redmaynia’ Redmayne wore to all the film awards – and he won everything. Does ‘Sammania’ work? It sounds like a planet. Oh well, we’ll make it happen.
6.35pm GMT
Relax, fans, Fashion’s arrived. Here’s Paloma Faith in a strapless, red-sequin gown and some pretty epic face shimmer. I think she wants you to look at her tattoos, so I’ll let you gaze at them for a bit while I see who else is on the red carpet.
6.32pm GMT
Pretty sure he wore this last year … Poor lamb hasn’t got a clue.
6.29pm GMT
Ed Sheeran is the richest man in pop music. We know this because he’s wearing trainers with his suit, which is what Elton John does – and that man is gilded.
6.20pm GMT
With that in mind here is Ed Sheeran.
6.19pm GMT
Hello! Guardian fashion here, ready to analyse who is wearing what and why. Yes, this is a music event, but anything worn in the vicinity of a red carpet qualifies for criticism and analysis, so here I am!
6.08pm GMT
Hard to believe, I know, but it’s been a whole year and six days since the last Brit awards! And yet it only feels like yesterday when … umm … errr … OK, remind me again what actually happened at last year’s Brits? Oh, you can’t remember either?
Well, according to our 2014 live blog, Ellie Goulding banged some drums, Bastille won an award and Alex Turner made a drunken speech then dropped his microphone. Crazy times!
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