With no host and a bevy of performances, the 51st annual Grammy Awards telecast last night tried to position itself as a televised pop music festival, only with more glitter and very expensive, industrial-style staging.
But unlike a pop fest (and previous Grammy shows), there was very little spontaneity - or a sense of fun. The performances were full and lush but still anti-climactic, for the most part. Despite all that, the program ran rather smoothly. But there was an obvious awkward spot early on.
Rihanna, the Bahamian pop superstar, was scheduled to perform but bowed out at the last minute. The Los Angeles Times reported that she had allegedly been assaulted by her boyfriend, urban-pop star Chris Brown, early yesterday morning. As result of her absence, actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Justin Timberlake struggled to fill the void.
British singer-songwriters were some of the most acclaimed in pop music last year. So it came as little surprise that acts from the other side of the pond - namely, Coldplay, Duffy and Adele - picked up awards for song of the year, best pop album and best new artist. The mighty folk-pop-blues duo of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, whose album Raising Sand was a critical smash if not a commercial blockbuster, picked up multiple gold trophies, including album and record of year. Their wins were evident of the Recording Academy's strong conservative bent, even as the nominations this year acknowledged fresher sounds.
U2, the band Coldplay wants to be, opened the show with its new single, "Get on Your Boots." Though the song boasts a fat groove with a slight psychedelic flair, the immediacy of it was undercut by a rather businesslike vocal from Bono.
The unfortunate trend of pairing stars of today with legends of yesterday continued. Justin Timberlake has no business on the same stage with Al Green.
Perhaps the oddest pairing on last night's show was the great Stevie Wonder with the yelping Jonas Brothers. Their performance of Wonder's "Superstition" was an embarrassment for the siblings. The trio's vocal and musical limitations were on full display as the Motown legend and the powerful soul band pummeled the teen heartthrobs.
The Grammys' acknowledgment of teen power had actually begun earlier in the program with a pitch-challenged performance of "15" by Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus. Like the Jonas Brothers, Swift and Cyrus moved millions of albums last year, transcending the tween market and conquering the pop charts, as the industry struggled for relevancy.
