Fans stake out Dublin hotels as stars rehearse for MTV awards

Generation MTV is set to get the ultimate pop fix tonight when their idols go onstage in Dublin for the Europe Music Awards.

Generation MTV is set to get the ultimate pop fix tonight when their idols go onstage in Dublin for the Europe Music Awards.

But those seeking more than a televisual treat have been scouring the capital for glimpses of the stars.

Grace Moore (12) didn't have to walk far from her home in Pearse Street to join dozens of screaming fans for a celebrity stake-out at the Merrion Hotel. Grace is the girl other stargazers point to and say "ask her, she knows where they are all staying".

With a camera slung professionally around her neck and pen and autograph book at the ready she reels off a list of artists and their temporary Dublin abodes. She has been coming here for three days and so far has seen actress Alicia Silverstone, The Cardigans, Britney Spears and US rapper Puff Daddy. However, yesterday it seemed increasingly likely that the momma of them all, Madonna, would not be joining the star-spangled throng.

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"I saw Puff three times, he's really nice," she confided. Minutes later the rapper emerged from the hotel chatting and signing autographs. Correction. Make that four.

Puff (or Puffy to his intimidating-but-friendly-when-you-get-to-know-them bodyguards) is well practised in the art of celebrity etiquette. Everywhere he goes the rapper has been contradicting his street tough reputation by waving and smiling on cue. The result is ear-piercing screams from teenagers who serve as a chilling reminder that the word fan is only short for fanatic.

The place really to rub shoulders with Puff yesterday was the MTV Select programme going out live from Arthouse at the Multimedia Centre, Temple Bar. Hundreds of pop fans, many in their school uniforms, waited for hours in Curved Street. It wasn't just pop-stars they were waiting for. MTV veejays Donna Air and Richard Blackwood caused almost as much mayhem when they presented the programme using a crowd of banner-waving fans as their backdrop.

"Blackwood Ya Sexy Thing," read one while others opted for the tourism angle: "Welcome to Dublin, MTV".

Earlier at the Point Theatre things were heating up as rehearsals continued throughout the afternoon. The Cardigans, Jamiroquai and Whitney Houston were all doing soundchecks on the giant set.

Most of those at the MTV Select gig in Temple Bar would give anything to be in the Point Theatre tonight but only a lucky 1,000 fans will attend. Lara O'Carroll (16), a student at Mount Temple Comprehensive School, bought her two tickets from Buy and Sell magazine for £350.

Some people would do anything for the coveted MTV passes like the gentleman who dressed up as Britney Spears in Planet Hollywood last night - complete with pigtails and knee-high socks - singing a selection of the star's hits. His reward, two tickets. Lyndsey Kiely (15) who came to the Temple Bar event wasn't too disappointed about her ticketless state, saying she was just happy "breathing the same air" as stars like Puff Daddy. And as if by magic the rapper, clad from head to toe in black, appeared.

A few journalists even managed to get a word with the star. "Ireland is a beautiful country," Puff told us, adding that he had to leave straight after the awards but that he wanted to come back to Dublin to do a concert. "I'm hoping to see some sights while I'm here," he said. "But I don't know which ones".