2012 Grammy Awards Show Performances
2012 Grammy Awards Show Performances (Review and List of performers)  By: Karen Engel ©karenengel.com
All in all I thought the show was great and rate it about an 8 out of 10. It was a really well rounded selection of performances this year. My only critique of some of the performances, was the clear trend away from true musical instrument proficiency and the music itself - towards staging, light effects, pyrotechnics, dancing and the âspectacleâ of the whole thing. Itâs an eye candy/circus effect targeted towards the social media generation. But letâs not forget learning music and how to actually play folks! There were some minor audio problems during the show but nothing too bad considering the overall size of the production.
In order of appearance -Â
âAre you alive out there?â seemed a little off considering the death of Whitney Houston looming over the show. I never really personally âgotâ Springsteen music, but it was good for what it is. One thing though - does his head seem unusually and incredibly enormous for his body to you? Weird.
LL Cool J didnât perform but did a decent job as host but isnât on the level of a Billy Crystal or Eddie Murphy. This was the first host theyâve used in some years on the show.
Iâm not overly familiar with his music but this was an entertaining performance. Itâs a mashup of Little Richard, Elvis, Ricky Ricardo and James Brown all in one!
Bonnie Raitt and Alicia Keys Duet -
A nice performance, great vocals and cool electro-acoustic instruments.
Dance music number - and he sure can dance, when he's not beating on women! I was worried he might miss one of those jumps off the hill of cubes on the stage with all the lighting changes, but he didnât miss a step - all while singing through a headset mic. Heavy use of Auto-Tune on this style of music may put some off, but thatâs the popular trend right now. In 10 years that all will be about as popular as big hair and leopard skin tights. WE HOPE!
Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson Duet -
Country guy and ex-Idol ballad was a very good performance. Iâm not sure if that song was supposed to be country but it sounded more like rock to me. Totally could see Meatloaf and Pat Benatar doing this one together instead.
A good energetic performance from inside a tent outside of the arena - I guess weâll call this grunge rock. Kind of reminds me of going out to see bands in clubs in L.A. back in the 80s and 90s a bit.
With lots of neon colors and wild lighting effects this medley went from a hard driving electronic dance song with a stuck drum machine, to acoustic and then a rock-ish ballady ditty. I wasnât a fan of any of it, but to each their own.
Reunion - Beach Boys and others -
This really confused me. Why put two groups doing covers out in front to warm up for the real thing? Maroon 5 did OK, but Foster The People was pretty shaky and the singer looked very nervous. The Beach Boys themselves were entertaining in the sense of history and legacy if nothing else! Memories of the many many concerts of theirs I went to in years past.
After a glowing musical intro by Stevie Wonder - joined by Joe Walsh and Diana Krall on an old timey âstandardsâ number that left me kind of wanting to hear the record version. It just seems a bit of a round peg in a square hole to me, but interesting and enjoyable nonetheless. How can you not like Paul? Hard to believe he is 70!!! And he actually looked even younger after they brought out Tony Bennett!
An acoustic singer-songwriter country duet with great vocals and energy! Pretty cool stuff if youâre into that whole country thing. Love this guy's voice.
A fun hootenanny country song guaranteed to sound like nails on a chalkboard if you hate country music. Luckily I donât, so it was enjoyable though the set did remind me of a ride in Disneylandâs Frontierland. Sheâs mastered the âlookâ of being unfettered and green - and yet somehow always surprised that people like her. Very cagey.
Here we go with the âmy production is bigger than yoursâ race! After a dark, false start and staged electronic systems failure, she descends from an elevated glass box, smashes the glass, flames blasting from all around and lights going crazy, dancing lighting effects - somewhere under there was a driving rock song that became lost, maybe for the better. The spectacle was entertaining though!
Rumors of her voice problems were greatly exaggerated as the Grammy darling of the evening took the stage and performed her award winning anthem. Just vocals and music, by an otherwise completely average gal. Maybe this is why people like her so much. She seems completely bewildered at her own measure of success as well.  60 Minutes did a segment with her before the Grammys, and sheâs just quite likable, cockney accent and all.
Glen Campbell and others -Â
I wasnât quite as put off by the two warm up bands in front as I was by the Beach Boys' - but still donât understand why.
The Band Perry did a good rendition of Gentle On My Mind - Blake Sheltonâs choice of Southern nights wasnât so great however - Glen wrote a lot of songs and this wasnât one of his best.  As a 76 year old, (hard to believe) I think Glen did pretty good (and had Joe Walsh dancing in the aisles!) I loved his closing lines - âThank you all - thank you all so much - Awww - where do I go? Do I go somewhere or shut up?â ha ha  Have to wonder why he wasnât also in the Beach Boys segment though as he was a member in the '60s afterall.
Tony Bennett and Carrie Underwood -Â
This was great - a bit of an odd matchup but turned out well. Everyone loves Tony! 86 years old this year - amazing!
A well done and emotional performance, though her vibrato is a little over the top for my tastes. This was probably just added to the show at the last minute but quite good and very appropriate!
Dance music party (external to show) -
Chris Brown, David Gueta and Dead Mau5, Foo Fighters (and looked like Lil Wayne joined in?)
OK, itâs dance and electronica - just not my cup of tea. The show fell off track at this point.
How did both Chris Brown and Foo Fighters rate two performances in the show? That never should have happened, but Iâm completely confused as to the appeal of an electric mouse head/DJ psychedelic neon Mickey Mouse LSD trip. Whatever.
The LSD trip continues. This time with a healthy dose of crack - and Tim Burton breakfast cereal done to the theme of the Exorcist as performed while rapping in a Broadway show on the Vegas strip. In other words - WTF? Worst performance of the night award.
Paul McCartney and friends -
To close the show - what better? This Beatles song was the highlight performance of the show with the guitar jam at the end being quite fun! Â
From left to right it included -Â
Bruce Springsteen, Joe Walsh, Rusty Anderson*, Paul, Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters), Brian Ray*
* = Paulâs band players
Loved Joe Walsh throwing down some James Gang licks! Springsteenâs guitar sounded terrible and he really shouldnât be allowed to play leads - ha ha.Â
That's a wrap - probably the best thing is the new direction the show is headed - towards more performance variety across many genres. Â Cheers!
