BBC News
By Mark Savage
image captionTaylor Swift picked up the global icon award in recognition of her seven number one albums Everybody get up out of the seats! shouts Chris, the warm-up man at The Brits, as he cues up Rihanna s We Found Love and encourages everyone to dance.
We don t need asking twice. For the 4,000-strong audience, this is the first chance we ve had to see live music in more than a year.
As it s a pilot event for the post-Covid era, masks have been removed and drinks have been drunk. The air is feverish with anticipation but no-one s anticipating a fever: we ve all had negative Covid tests.