2010 Grammys

A toss-up between the Grammy’s or the NFL Pro Bowl, the Grammy’s won out last night. Normally, I normally don’t care for any of the awards shows. I see them as just an overblown ass-kissing event. I couldn’t care less for the awards themselves. I mean, what’s the point? However, I do enjoy the performances.

I’m normally an old-school rock and roll guy. But not too much of that stuff around anymore, especially at the Grammys.

Anyway, I did indeed watch some of the show last night. And surprisingly, I enjoyed it. Some chick who calls herself Lady Gaga took the stage. I was pleasantly surprised. Although there’s something that weirds me out about her appearance (reminds me a little of Marilyn Manson), her performance was awesome. She finished with a duet, across adjacent pianos, with Elton John.

And I don’t know that much about the Black Eyed Peas (other than that Fergie chick is pretty hot) but I thought their performance was extraordinary. Maybe a bit over the top at first, but by mid-way through the performance I couldn’t take my eyes off of the screen. And their songs seem to have an infectious groove to them.

On the country side, the Zac Brown Band opened with a tremendous rendition of America the Beautiful. They were joined onstage by legendary musician Leon Russell. Zac ended with “Chicken Fried” and a blistering acoustic guitar solo. Imagine Charlie Daniles on a nylon stringed guitar. Yeah, it was that good!

Taylor Swift performed with Stevie Nicks. Obviously, Tina was in heaven, but I thought the contrast was a bit too much to absorb. It just seemed weird to hear sixty year old Stevie singing songs with Taylor about her middle school love crushes. And Taylor seemed to fall a bit short on Stevie’s, “Rhiannon”. As Simon Cowell might say, the song seemed to big for her. But for the record, I think both Taylor and Stevie are phenomenal artists.

In another strange twist, I actually enjoyed the tribute to Michael Jackson. An original Jackson track was played in the background with Celine Dion, Usher, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson and Smoky Robinson performing. I figured Celine would eventually jump out in the front with her obnoxious “hey look at me, I’m a great singer” routine. But she behaved herself and shared the stage with the rest of the gang. All in all, it was very good (even without the 3-D glasses).

Pink performed her song while dangling and twisting high above the audience. She was suspending on a trapeze-like cloth. I honestly don't know how she did it. All of the twisting and turning would have disoriented me like a Tequila Happy Hour. But she was great.

But, in my opinion, Beyonce’s performance was the best of the night. Right out of the gate, she was filled with the passion and energy that we've come to expect from her. I wasn’t that familiar with the song(s) that she did, but it really didn’t matter. She was hitting on all cylinders. Somewhere in the middle she kicked in with Alanis Morrisette’s “You Outta Know”. The woman is a bona fide performer! Better than Madonna ever was, in my humble opinion.

There were probably plenty of things that I missed, But for what I saw, I was a great show.

KW