Performances, rather than awards, are the heart of Sunday’s 63rd Grammy Awards telecast, and so it remained on Sunday when the first hour of the broadcast delivered live gems from Taylor Swift, the Bruno Mars-Anderson Paak Silk Sonic, and Dua Lipa.
Swift performed on a rustic set, opening with “cardigan” while lying on what looked like the moss-covered roof of a backwoods shack.
Then with Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner joining her on acoustic guitars inside the shack, Swift slipped quickly through “august” and “willow” before joining her fellow nominees for Best Pop Solo performance out on the Microsoft Theater patio.
Harry Styles, who’d changed from the green boa and black leather jacket of his earlier performance of “Watermelon Sugar” into a pink boa and yellow plaid jacket, won that Grammy, just the third handed out in the first 90 minutes of the CBS broadcast.
Styles received the Grammy from presenter Rachelle Erratchu, night manager at the iconic Troubadour in West Hollywood, part of the Grammys’ effort to put the spotlight on independent music venues that have struggled over this year of COVID-19 and lockdowns.
Earlier, J.T. Gray of the Station Inn in Nashville handed out the Grammy for Best Country Album to Miranda Lambert for her record “Wildcard.”
Before Swift’s performance and Styles’ win, Silk Sonic, the new ’70s soul-infused duo formed by Mars and Paak delivered a retro-perfect live debut with the single “Leave The Door Open.” Their outfits — burnt orange three-piece suits with wide, wide lapels — were both delightful and a reminder of why we don’t dress like that anymore.
Dua Lipa, the Kosovo-born, England-raised dance-pop star with a ton of nominations on Sunday also impressed with her performance of a pair of songs; Da Baby, fresh off his own live performance, joined her for “Levitating,” leaving the stage as she segued into “Don’t Start Now.”
All of the above, though, was nowhere near as touching as the Grammys tribute to those who’d died over the past year, the memorial segment not just a slideshow of the late greats, but a variety show all on its own.
Mars and Paak raced through a quick tribute to Little Richard. Brandi Carlisle paid musical tribute to John Prine. Chris Martin of Coldplay and Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes performed the classic “You’ll Never Walk Alone” in tribute to Gerry Marsden, who died in January, and Gerry and the Pacemakers who’d had a hit with that same song.
And Eddie Van Halen’s legendary guitar stood alone on stage in the spotlight as his face and a bit of his music played.
This post first appeared on ocregister.com
