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Britney Triumphant In Return To VMAs

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The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 8, 2008

Really, all Britney Spears needed to do was show up to the MTV Video Music Awards without stumbling and her appearance would've been considered a rousing success.

She did more than that - including opening the show without a hitch and picking up her first Moonmen.

Spears won best female video, best pop video and video of the year keeping her thank-yous short and lucid on both occasions. Still, just being there was enough for a standing ovation from the star-studded crowd long before she opened her mouth to get things rolling.

"Thank you so much," she said flatly. "Thank you for all the love."

Maybe the audience was simply excited to see a glimpse of Britney looking fab once again. The rebounding pop queen wore a short silver mini-dress with a plunging neckline, showcasing her svelte figure.

It was a far cry from last year, when her disheveled, bumbling kickoff was widely panned as one of the worst in VMA history (the freewheeling show celebrates 25 years this year). But Spears was merely on hand this time to give a perfunctory introduction of Rihanna's opening song.

Moments later, Spears won her very first VMA.

"I first wanna thank God for blessing me like this," Spears said, then left the stage quickly.

Though the VMAs have been defined by zany, wild moments in the past - the Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley kiss, the Britney-Madonna kiss, Prince's butt-out jeans just to name a few - early on, there were more head-scratching moments than outrageous ones at the event, being held at sprawling Paramount Studios lot.

The prim and proper Leona Lewis gave a graceful opening performance for a song by ... Lil Wayne, who appeared on stage bare-chested, displaying his tattooed torso as his pants hung below his buttocks (Ralph Lauren's underwear line got a nice plug, however). He performed hits "A Milli" and a song with T-Pain.

The Jonas Brothers performed a version of their song "Lovebug" that was so genteel one might have thought they were doing a tribute to the Osmonds. But the trio then segued to a rocked-out version of the song in the final moments, as a throng of screaming fans surrounded them on one of the show's many sets.

Pink gave perhaps the show's most rousing performance, a pyrotechnic-fueled performance of her new song, "So What."

For a complete list of the winners from the show, visit TBO.com, keyword: VMA

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