The buzz around the city today is electric as the engines rev-up for a weekend of MTV madness. Belfast is the smallest city ever to host the MTV awards, but there’s a real sense that the city is pulling together to make the weekend something special.  The atmosphere is great – I even got a standing ovation from a crowd at the back gates of the Odyssey just for driving past in the campervan!

(for everyone who’s intending to lock themselves in a bunker for the weekend, terrified of chaos on the roads – everything was flowing perfectly normally today.  There’s information here about road closures over the weekend if anyone’s worried…)

I thought it was worth quoting the words of Andrew Irvine, Belfast City Centre Manager (full article here) – partly because he’s a thoroughly nice chap, partly because he’s RIGHT!

“There’s a palpable sense this will change a world view of Belfast.

This will communicate to 500 million people worldwide what Belfast is really like – that’s a game changer.

This is the starting pistol for 2012 and a massive year for the city with the Titanic centenary.

Seize the chance, now is our moment.”