The best performances at the 2014 Grammys

LUCKY STARS Musicians Pharrell Williams, Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk accept the Grammys’ best pop duo/group performance award for “Get Lucky.” AFP

As a viewer at home, I have made it a yearly tradition to watch the Grammy Awards. And with the confirmed line-up of guest performers, I fully expected this one to be even better than last year’s show.

The 56th Annual Grammy Awards will go down in the record books as one of the best presentations in terms of delivering quality musical content. You had a good number of guest performers who were not the same usual artists that we had grown accustomed to watching in other awards shows.

In the recently concluded Grammy Awards, there was a clear attempt to shake things up, and to pair up seasoned and even legendary acts with young and upcoming artists.

That being said, there were a few performances that really stood out and left a strong impression on me as a music aficionado.

Below are the two outstanding performances from the 56th Annual Grammy Awards that, for me, serve as among my all-time favorites in recent Grammys history, thus far.

*****

Daft Punk

For an act known to be tech-heavy and to utilize often the latest advances in technology to make their sound more dynamic, complex, and yet still very enjoyable to listen to, Daft Punk perhaps can also be remembered now for bringing back the “lost vintage vibe” back to the Grammys.

Daft Punk’s performance of their chart topping hit “Get Lucky” was a collaborative effort that brought in the likes of guitarist Nile Rodgers from the disco-era band Chic, Pharrell from acts like N.E.R.D., The Neptunes, and the incomparable Stevie Wonder.

METALLICA today (from left): Robert Trujillo, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich. Photo by Ruben Nepales

You had these artists essentially jamming to the tune of “Get Lucky” with a lot of improvisations; even some sampling was thrown in. For instance, you had Pharrell sampling “Le Freak” from the disco-era band Chic, which band had guitarist Nile Rodgers as its founding member.

Then, Daft Punk even sampled some of their earliest hits from way back in the 90’s “Around The World”, and a recent collaborative work with “Stronger”.

To add icing to the cake of what was already a memorable performance was Stevie Wonder’s singing of a couple of lines from his 1977 classic “Another Star”.

That was the only number wherein you could see both artists and fans alike at The Staples Center enjoying what they were seeing and hearing.

What others had assumed would be a “standard” performance is now considered in many circles as a classic.

*****

Metallica w/ Lang Lang

In what would be the second time only that Metallica would get to perform at the Grammys, The “Metal Giants” were to perform their classic song “One” from the “,,, And Justice For All” album– their landmark album, by the way, and which was a precursor to what would be the band’s global success in the coming years.

While some simply shrugged at the thought of watching Metallica perform a song that is more than 20 years old already, this would prove to be anything but ordinary. This was a different rendition. It was an “updated version”, if you will. They were not alone onstage; they were accompanied by Lang Lang who is a world renowned classical concert pianist.

Metallica showed no clear signs of slowing down as they had brought with them the heaviness and the ferocity that this song is known for–from Kirk Hammett’s wicked guitar solos to James Hetfield’s vocal work that was extremely expressive and delivered “big time” came awards night.

The members of Metallica were firing in all cylinders!

And, of course, Lang Lang was there to showcase his own technique of piano playing—an aggressive and exuberant style that, to me, really echoed a young Jerry Lee Lewis. Lang Lang also has a lot of bravado, and that probably was another reason why this particular team up with Metallica worked so well.