Grammy Awards 2014: Watch The Performances

Carl Williott | January 26, 2014 7:35 pm

The 2014 Grammy Awards began with a self-contained advertisement for the Awards themselves, which were touted as a platform for performances that “people will be talking about for years.” So did this year live up to the high standards? Eh, maybe a couple of them? Pink‘s trapeze act was expected, but that made it no less impressive (let’s ignore the second half with Nate Ruess for now). Daft Punk and Pharrell‘s “Get Lucky” rendition was pretty tame at first, but once Stevie got comfortable and dug in, and the Robots appeared behind the faux studio, it became perhaps the highlight of the night. They were just totally committed to that ’70s studio cheese vibe, resulting in a well-executed, hard-to-dislike performance.

Meanwhile, rap fans were bracing for the worst all night, knowing Kendrick Lamar would be paired with Imagine Dragons. But you know what? Their “Radioactive”/”m.A.A.d city” mashup was rad! K-Dot didn’t necessarily need the added rock heft, but he was never in danger of getting buried by the thunder, and instead it only made him more menacing and dialed in. And you gotta give it to ID’s singer, that is a great rock howl.

As for Beyonce, she gave us a promising start, with a Flashdance-y rendition of “Drunk In Love,” rocking wet hair (presumably from riding that surfboart) and a bootylicious body suit. Hubby Jay Z joined her near the end of the song on his suit and bow tie shit once again, and they held hands and embraced for some classy steamy Grammy goodness.

Check out all of the performances below. (There were so, so many.)

Beyonce & Jay Z — “Drunk In Love”

Lorde — “Royals”

Hunter Hayes — “Invisible”

Katy Perry & Juicy J — “Dark Horse”

Robin Thicke & Chicago — Medley

Keith Urban & Gary Clark Jr — “Cop Car”

John Legend — “All Of Me”

Taylor Swift — “All Too Well”

Imagine Dragons & Kendrick Lamar — “Radioactive”/”m.A.A.d city”

Ringo Starr — “Photograph”

Kacey Musgraves — “Follow Your Arrow”

Pink & Nate Ruess — “Try”/”Just Give Me A Reason”

Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr — “Queenie Eye”

Daft Punk, Stevie Wonder, Pharrell & Nile Rodgers — “Get Lucky”

Sara Bareilles & Carole King — “Beautiful”/”Brave”

Metallica & Lang Lang — “One”

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Mary Lambert, Trombone Shorty & Madonna — “Same Love”/”Open Your Heart”

Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Merle Haggard & Blake Shelton

Billie Joe Armstrong & Miranda Lambert — “When Will I Be Loved”

Nine Inch Nails, Queens Of The Stone Age, Dave Grohl & Lindsey Buckingham

Get an eyeful of even more pop music coverage, from artist interviews to exclusive performances, on Idolator’s YouTube channel.