Do You Hear The Music?

Another year of GRAMMY Awards have come and gone.  So much great music highlighted from the past year and of course a ton of great performances.  I’m also a fan of LL Cool J as the host, hopefully they bring him back for a third year.  So how about some ramblings from the show.

• If you’ve ever seen Bruno Mars live you know what to expect from him and his band but their performance was just sick.  Sting singing a verse to “Locked Out of Heaven,” finally a tip of the hat to the Police influenced track and Rihanna joining the party with Ziggy and Damian Marley for a great tribute to Bob Marley. My favorite performance of the night.
• Wow, what a great way to pay tribute to the late, great Levon Helm.  Elton John, Mumford & Sons, Mavis Staples, Zac Brown, Alabama Shakes singer Brittany Howard and T Bone Burnett, wonderful performance.
• Justin Timberlake with the band and orchestra, a tip of the hat and that I have to say overshadowed Jay-Z guesting for me.
• How cool was the rain during the fun. performance? So stoked to see those guys jump to stardom but every time I see Nate Ruess I am reminded of The Format, man do I miss that band.
• Mumford & Sons, well at least the escalated from that rickety little stage from a couple years ago.
• The Lumineers I sure hope they are the Mumford of two years ago and just reach new heights after the GRAMMY Awards. Let’s see how many units they move in the next week.
• The Black Keys with Dr. John and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band was just simply rocking. Seen Dan Auerbach and Dr. John together but that collection of musicians, whoa.
• Ed Sheeran getting to share the stage with Elton John, well done young man.
• Jack White, a tip of the hat to you!
• Frank Ocean, wish they would have had him perform earlier in the show.
• LL Cool J, Chuck D, Z-Trip and Travis Barker – I’d love to see an entire concert with these four.
• Was there an over/under on how many times they would show Taylor Swift?  And is there one song she didn’t sing along to?
• Is it odd that I thought of The Hunger Games when they showed Carrie Underwood’s dress?  All it needed to do was catch fire!
• Anyone else think John Mayer in the purple tux belonged in Alice in Wonderland and could have fit in the Taylor Swift performance?
• I guess people know who Miguel is now.  A tip of the hat to @TonyDasco who’s been all about Miguel for two plus years.
• Prince, he’s got to be up to something if he made an appearance.  I just wonder what.  I remember when he had his residency in Vegas, he would show up to one of the nightclubs I worked with an then have the curtains closed around him.  Odd then, odd now but still one of the greatest musicians/performers ever.
• Did Kimbra and her ‘I’m not sure what she was wearing’ rival Bjork and her swan dress?
• The other performances, meh. Or did I miss a great one?

Oh and the awards.  Here you go.

Tags: Alabama Shakes, Bruno Mars, Chuck D, Dr. John, Ed Sheeran, Elton John, fun, Gotye, Grammy Awards, Jay-Z, John Mayer, Justin Timberlake, Levon Helm, LL Cool J, Marley, Mavis Staples, Miguel, Mumford & Sons, PErformances, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Prince, Public Enemy, Rihanna, Sting, Taylor Swift, The Black Keys, The Hunger Games, The Lumineers, Travis Barker, Wiz Khalifa, Z-Trip, Zac Brown