Divas and Dancing at MTV VMAs 06

The first MTV VMAs to be entirely voted for by viewers got off to a sparkling, sexy start.

Hip hop superstar Jay-Z welcomed everyone to the tres posh Video City Music Hall in New York looking the height of bling and introduced slinky hipped comeback star Justin Timberlake on to the stage for a pumping rendition of 'SexyBack'.

It was a sizzling start to the bash whose big winners were the underdogs - Gnarls Barkley and our own James Blunt carried two of the famous Moon Man gongs home each.

Even Jack Black with his band Tenacious D treated the audience to an, er, interesting new tune.

Shakira did her best to out-slink JT when she and Wyclef took to the stage for a Bollywood-inspired version of 'Hips Dont Lie' "the foxy firecracker unsurprisingly added another piece of metal to her trophy cabinet for best choreography in a video.

There was no shortage of hot divas on display " the Pussycat Dolls joined Ludacris and Pharrell on stage to sing Money Maker and Christina Aguilera pulled off a lung-busting performance of new ballad 'Hurt'.

But it was Beyonce who emerged queen diva with a fierce performance of 'Ring The Alarm' - it began with a rocking military-inspired dance routine and ended with her rising and writhing to the heavens on an elavated platform.

Other standout moments were indie rockers OK Go doing the treadmill dance from their new video and 'video of the year' winners Panic! At The Disco powering through 'I Write Sins Not tragedies'.

But perhaps the biggest buzz surrounding an act on the evening was for The Killers - the legendary Axl Rose introduced the band on stage for their first-ever performance of new single 'When You Were Young'. The boys are back.

MTV VMAs 2006 premiers on MTV UK at 9pm on Saturday September 2. Catch the action on Overdrive this morning.

See the latest pictures from the MTV VMAs in our gallery

SLJ