Photo Special: Backstage at The BRIT AWARDS 2012 - London O2 Arena

Backstage at 

The BRIT AWARDS 2012

The wait is almost over as we reach the afternoon of the the UK's biggest and most prestigious music awards night.... The BRIT Awards 2012 with Mastercard kicks off at 8pm on ITV1. Preparations have steadily been taking place over the weekend to bring together the best night in the music industry calendar, and we have some photos that give a sneak peek behind the scenes on what it has taken to put this momentous event together.

This year's ceremony shall see more music performed than ever before as the likes of Bruno Mars, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Florence + the Machine, Noel Gallagher, Olly Murs and Rihanna take to the O2 stage. Blur too are to reunite for a special 11 minute monster set of some of their best loved tracks as they receive the Outstanding Contribution to Music Award; and of course Adele is to return after her incredible performance at last year's event which according to the Official Charts Company has since seen her sell an album (including '19' and '21') every seven seconds in the UK and 15 million copies worldwide.

Tune into ITV1 from 8pm this evening to watch the awards unfold live, direct from London's 02 arena.