The show opened up with Carrie Underwood, sounding like she was trying to imitate Christina Aguilera. All in all, her performance was pretty good; the whole stage was covered with dancers beating drums and slashing holes in all four tires, so that was a little weird.
Next, the band The Time, a Prince spin-off group who I had never heard of, hit the stage. THEN, out of NOWHERE, Rihanna appeared on stage! She was fierce, and so were her backup dancers. Can you imagine what it would be like performing live with Rihanna at the Grammys? I can't. Anyhow, the whole The Time/Rihanna performance was totally hot.
There were all kinds of tributes throughout the evening, mostly honoring Lifetime Achievement Award winners. One of the best tributes was to The Beatles; it was a performance from Cirque du Soleil's show LOVE, and it was pretty cool. It was an awesome gospel set that opened up with this fierce black kid and an equally fierce older black lady screaming in my face. A really moving performance; the audience agreed and gave a much-deserved standing ovation.
Best New Artist: Amy Winehouse. Duh.
Kanye West performed next, starting his set with "Stronger," which is one of my favorite songs of the year. Then, he actually sang--a song about his late mother--which was quite touching. I mean, there wasn't a dry eye in the house.
Fergie and John Legend had a duet with just a piano and a microphone somewhere in the middle of the auditorium. It was fine. Fergie's trying to prove that she's a legit singer, but I don't know if I buy it...
Then came my favorite performance of the entire show! Beyonce and Tina Turner! Beyonce, always the performer, started out with a Stripped-esque tribbute to fierce soul/gospel/rock/jazz singers of old. Then, she introduced Tina, who seriously doesn't look a day over 40. She's so fierce. And she sounded as good as ever! After she did a few songs, Beyonce came back on stage, and they performed "Proud Mary" together--duh. What if they go on tour together? That would be life-changing. Anyhow, you MUST watch this performance. Part Two.
Song of the Year--Amy Winehouse, "Rehab." Duh.
To entice some country music fans to watch, Brad Paisley performed. Really? Brad Paisley? Whatever. His jeans were hot.
Aretha Franklin was next with a whole host of Gospel divas. CeCe Winans, some choirs, a bunch of girl groups, etc. Out of Eden maybe? I'm not sure, really. It was a different kind of Grammys performance but I enjoyed it. Those bitches can SING!
The strangest performance of the night: Keely Smith and Kid Rock. Keely Smith is a jazz singer of old who was a pretty big deal back in the day, and she and Kid sang one of her hits, "That Old Black Magic," which she used to sing with Louis Prima. Anyhow, Kid didn't have a clue what was going on (truth be told, it's a tough song to sing), but Keely still sounds great!
Alicia Keys is strange. "No One" is one of my least favorite favorite songs of the year... You know what I mean? Stevie Wonder, who has won 25 Grammys in his career, introduced her, and half way through the song John Mayer joined her on stage. Yummmmm He was never hot to me until the Gap ad that was plastered on every bus and EL stop in Chicago.
My second favorite performance of the night was that of Herbie Hancock and Lang Lang. Rhapsody in Blue is one of the best examples of truly American music, and this performance was amazing! It was exactly what the Grammys are about--music, in all its glory.
Finally, Amy Winehouse graced the world with her live (via satellite), highly anticipated performance. Was it truly live? Or did they do a few takes and find the ones in which she was standing up the straightest? I'm not sure. You be the judge... In any case, her backups singers were FIERCE and she sounded pretty damn good. Then she won Record of the Year, of course.
The last performance of the night, after the tribute to those the music world lost this year, was Andrea Bocelli and Josh Groban. My biggest problem with Josh Groban is his vibratto; it's too fast. And basically I just think that's he's overrated. Maybe it's because I was surrounded by incredibly talented singers at IU for four years, but I just don't think he's anything special. Andrea Bocelli was on the top part of "The Prayer" throughout the song, and thank God for that--he goes OFF. I love a good tenor.
So yeah, that was what happened on the 50th annual Grammys. What did you think???
Alicia Keys is strange. "No One" is one of my least favorite favorite songs of the year... You know what I mean? Stevie Wonder, who has won 25 Grammys in his career, introduced her, and half way through the song John Mayer joined her on stage. Yummmmm He was never hot to me until the Gap ad that was plastered on every bus and EL stop in Chicago.
My second favorite performance of the night was that of Herbie Hancock and Lang Lang. Rhapsody in Blue is one of the best examples of truly American music, and this performance was amazing! It was exactly what the Grammys are about--music, in all its glory.
Finally, Amy Winehouse graced the world with her live (via satellite), highly anticipated performance. Was it truly live? Or did they do a few takes and find the ones in which she was standing up the straightest? I'm not sure. You be the judge... In any case, her backups singers were FIERCE and she sounded pretty damn good. Then she won Record of the Year, of course.
The last performance of the night, after the tribute to those the music world lost this year, was Andrea Bocelli and Josh Groban. My biggest problem with Josh Groban is his vibratto; it's too fast. And basically I just think that's he's overrated. Maybe it's because I was surrounded by incredibly talented singers at IU for four years, but I just don't think he's anything special. Andrea Bocelli was on the top part of "The Prayer" throughout the song, and thank God for that--he goes OFF. I love a good tenor.
So yeah, that was what happened on the 50th annual Grammys. What did you think???
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