MusicRadar

MusicRadar watches the roll-out of winners

View in gallery

It's music's big night, the 2009 Grammy awards. A chance to set aside egos and recognize the finest artistic achievements the recording industry has had to offer during the past year.

It's also time to see big stars wear some truly weird outfits, to witness crazy musical pairings and maybe win some loot in the office pool tomorrow morning.

This year's Grammy awards is jam-packed with superstar performers (U2, Paul McCartney, Radiohead, Coldplay, Kanye West), but of the artists nominated in the major categories, nobody seems like a certified shoo-in. In other words, it's anybody's game to win or lose.

In fact, the greatest suspense surrounding this year's show is whether Coldplay, who are being sued by Joe Satriani for plagiarism, will walk away with their arms loaded with trophies. Lawsuits and awards ceremonies make interesting bedfellows.

Uh-oh...looks like it's showtime. Let's take our seat.

The 2009 Grammy awards

8:00 U2 are up first with Get On Your Boots. The Edge is rockin' the lumberjack flannel like it's 1992. Meanwhile, Bono is sporting eyeliner. But the song kicks and the band is hungry, like they've got a big album coming out or something.

8:05 Whitney Houston is giving out the award for Best R&B Album. She looks dazed. Did they just wake her up from a nap? Jennifer Hudson gets the hardware in this category. Hey, that's nice - she's been through a lot this year. Still, why she's wearing a lobster bib is beyond me.

8:08 What the hell is The Rock doing giving a speech? Somebody please tell me he's not master of ceremonies? He achieves something interesting though: his jokes manage to be bad even before he says them. He just said something about Paul McCartney and Dave Grohl playing together and called them The Beatle Fighters. Comic genius, folks.

8:11 Justin Timberlake and Al Green are dueting - these pairings are headache-inducing - and the Reverend is schooling the young 'un big-time. Sorry, Justin, you can talk all you want about how you learned all you know about soul from Al Green, but that doesn't mean he's taught you everything he knows. (Oh - nice shot of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss almost smooching.)

8:20 The Mentalist guy from TV introduced Coldplay, but they're nowhere to be seen, just Chris Martin singing a song that doesn't sound like Joe Satriani wrote it. Chris is wearing one of those annoying stage outfits. Is he trying out for the cast of Les Miserables? Wait a minute...is that Jay-Z? Oh, no, another duet. 'Cause when I think rap, I think Chris Martin.

Whoops - Coldplay are out, and they're playing that song. You know the one...the one that would sound good with a guitar solo. Lots of shots of Chris Martin's navel for some inexplicable reason.

Around the web: