LONDON (Reuters) - Canadian pop singer Shawn Mendes led the pack at the MTV Europe Music awards on Sunday night, taking home Best Song, Best Artist and Biggest Fans prizes, in a show that featured performances from French Montana, The Killers and Kesha.

British R&B singer Rita Ora performed the hosting duties, as well as a mashup of her 2017 hit Your Song, alongside her new single Anywhere.

US rap star Eminem opened the show with a performance of his new song Walk On Water, with Skylar Grey standing in for Beyonce to sing the other part in the duet.

The Detroit rapper also took the award for Best Hip Hop, an honour which he appeared to find slightly baffling. "I'm not really sure how I got this because I haven't had an album out in a few years," he quipped in his acceptance speech, adding "I got one coming though".

Taylor Swift had been the most-nominated star of the evening, with six nominations, but failed to win any awards.

Irish rockers U2 were presented with a Global Icon award, in recognition of their decades at the top of the music industry.

The band played at an MTV event in London's Trafalgar Square the previous evening, footage of which was shown in lieu of a performance.

Security was tight at the event, with airport-style scanners at entrances, following a series of attacks that have hit Britain this year, including a suicide bomb attack at an Arianna Grande concert in Manchester in May, which left 22 people dead.