'I am sitting in the same audience as Britney Spears' - was my first touch with reality when the Teen Choice Awards 2002 started last night at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles, CA.

When I entered the amphitheater and saw how small it was compared to how huge and grand they make it look on TV, I was like 'WoW, how do they give it that feeling on TV?'.

I was running late, I knew the doors closed at 3:30 PM and I left my hotel at around 2:50 PM. Thank god Universal Studios is only a couple of miles away from here. What took the longest was the parking, it was ridiculous, took me about 15 minutes and only found a spot at the highest level (Level 6) of the Jurassic Park parking garage.

I ran as fast as I could to the Amphitheater and I got there 5 minutes before they closed the doors, I was like.....pheeeeeeew...I almost didn't make it. I was supposed to bring Ashley with me but unfortunately she was not able to catch a standby flight from Detroit like planned.

Anyway, I enter the Amphitheater and I had better seats than I actually thought, I could see the stage really well and everybody who was up there.

About ten minutes to 4 pm (show started at 4 pm) a dude came up to warm up the crowd and he did it really well. He started showing everybody the cameras around the amphitheater and said something like 'Whenever a celebrity comes on stage I want you to scream as loud as you can because there might be a chance that the camera might be on YOU'.

As celebrities came in and took their seats people spotted them and started screaming and pointing and going down to meet them. The first major thing was when Britney came up to the second level (she was sitting in the first level) to greet her fans and sign autographs, I was a little far away from that section so I wasn't able to be there, but lucky were the fans who did !. It was easy spotting Britney, whenever I wanted to see where she was I didn't really look for her, cause she's tiny, I just looked for a big black bald head and then I knew Britney was either to the right or to the left of that ;). Big Rob is like.....yuh, he took up 2 seats :D.

Before the show started, they showed a skit American Idol style, feat. some dude, and then like Justin (he sang sooooooo bad, but on purpose) and Tara Lipinski . Anyway, so yah, the show is about to start, the cameras are positioned, in comes the cue, lights go on, the setting is great, out comes Mr. Timberlake, and holy BUH bah...you should have been there when it almost felt like the walls around the amphitheater were gonna collapse cause of the screaming of thousands of girls. I'm a guy so I guess I'll never understand what's so amazingly hot about Justin Timberlake, but there's something about him that just....makes the ladies go wild and crazy. He came and presented the first performing group, Nelly.

Nelly entered from the middle level and ran down the first level of the auditorium. There was a huge moshpit (sp) with about 100 people right in front of the stage and the two boardwalks that led into the main stage. So whenever an artist came up or a winner came up you'd have like a hundred hands waving up wanting to touch ya.

After Nelly, there was a commercial break, and what do you think is next ? LoL...Britney comes out with Verne Troyer aka Mini-Me to present the award for choice actor in a Comedy Show, which by the way, went to Matt LeBlanc (Friends) :D The audience just went wild. Britney was wearing bellbottoms and a peach/red/pink top that I'd like to compare with what she wore for last year's Wango Tango event. Before the awards started, Matt LeBlanc and Matthew Perry walked in through the mid-level and greeted the fans. This award show was so awesome because it was where stars and fans mingled in one place, you could just walk up and ask for an autograph or talk to them and they'd be great buds with ya. I took a pic of Matt LeBlanc, hope it came out good.

The awards continued on, and here is the list of the people that I saw present in no order whatsoever. Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jennifer Love Hewitt (performing), The Rock, Reese Witherspoon, Selma Blair, Matt LeBlack, Matthew Perry, Susan Sarandon, Tim Allen, The cast from Real world Chicago, Chris Kline and the cast from American Pie 2, Jack and Kelly Osbourne, Tom Green, Ja Rule, Eve, J.C Chasez, Chris Kirkpatrick, Lance Bass (wannabe, in a space suit), the finalist from American Idol, Pamela Anderson, Carmen Electra, Rose McGowan, Erika Christensen, Mandy Moore, Tara Lipinski, god who else, uhm...Adam Sandler, Chris Tucker, cast of 7th heaven, and many many more (these are what I remember from the top of my head).

Anyway, even though these were the Teen Choice Awards which means that like, you have a place packed of artists and celebrities from different genres, oh yeah wait, BBMak performed too, anyway, you have place packed of artists and celebrities from different genres, but it was evidently clear that the biggest star there was Britney. If I could count the times that people were screaming 'Britney I Love You' or 'Britney' and get like, a dollar for each time, I'd be rich enough to bribe the usher and have him put me on a seat on the front....I'm just kidding, but the audience was crazy about Britney, they really were.

At one point during the middle of the show, Britney wasn't on her seat anymore, by the way, she was there with Big Rob, Jamie Lynn, Laura Lynne and Lynne Spears (good lord, Lynne to the left, Lynne to the right...) haha ;) so many Lynn's and Lynne's....anyway....there was a part where I thought like, where'd they go? Did she leave? But no, she was still there but backstage, oh by the way, I forgot to mention...she won an award for Best Choice Female (woah, almost forgot ), you should have seen the crowd's reaction when she won, it was so powerful, She came up and did the regular thank you's and thanks god and my family etc...

I know you're probably wondering.....'Were you able to see the expression of Britney's face when Justin Timberlake went on stage?' My answer is no, I wasn't able to....but I saw they were seated apart, reaaaaally apart from eachother. Justin didn't even look in Britney's direction when on stage or when he received an award together with Nelly for 'Girlfriend'. Justin was like, I don't know, almost not looking in Britney's direction on purpose. But like, this was the first awards show where Britney and Justin didn't arrive together and probably didn't even meet, so I guess it was kinda hard on both of them, I'm sure.

An important award which was like the Achievement award went to Reese Whitherspoon and it was presented by Selma Blair. It was a really touching what she said, they've been friends for like 5 years and they showed clips of all movies Reese had been in and how she was such an amazing entertainer and mom at such a young age.

At the end of the awards, what do you think, lil' Jamie Lynn comes on stage to present an award, she was all goofy and stuff waving her hands around, shruggin while talking, it was so awww, cause like, the microphone stand was taller than she was. Nobody had a clue who she was, so the audience was very very quiet, so then Britney comes on stage behind her and they're both standing there, suddenly the audience became quiet again while Jamie Lynn kept talking and Britney said something, so I kinda screamed out 'Go LiL Sister!!!!!' really really loud, and the whole audience laughed... (I hope they put it on the show !!), cause yeah, nobody was cheering for lil Jamie Lynn so I figured I'd give her sumthn !!! :D.

After that it was the end of the Teen Choice Awards and everybody started leaving. This was a truly amazing experience because I had never been to one before. I came back to the Hotel and just rested and talked on the phone with my friends cause like, ugh...I was so friggin exhausted, I had left San Francisco that same day at 6 AM to be in Los Angeles on time for the awards.

Remember to tune in on August 19th on Fox !!! :D :D :D :D :D :D

Click on all pictures to enlarge, excuse the shitty quality, a 35 mm camera always makes it looks farther away, and I don't have a ZooM camera !! :/

HQ PRESS PICTURES coming up once I get to San Diego tonight around 11 PM pacific time !! :D

Written by Ruben
WoB on The Road - Updating from Hollywood, CA
Taken from the World of Britney.com News Archives - August 5th, 2002

This review is from when I went to the taping of the Teen Choice Awards at the Universal Amphitheatre at Universal Studios in Los Angeles, CA. It was posted on WoB on August 5th. I am putting it up again since tonight is the big night when you will all get to see what I saw ! (almost) :D EnjOY ! :D

Posted by Ruben