Opinion: Grammys showcase unforgettable performances

The biggest night in music celebrated its 52nd anniversary on Sunday night. The Grammys featured performances by many of today's top artists including Pink, Lady Gaga, Lady Antebellum and Taylor Swift, in addition to the main event: receiving the coveted awards.The celebrations actually began on Friday night with the MusiCares event. MusiCares is a program that honors a musician for his or her musical contributions as well as humanitarian work completed throughout his or her career. This year, the event honored Neil Young. Artists including The Red Hot Chili Peppers; Lucinda Williams; Crosby, Stills & Nash; Dave Matthews and many others honored Young by performing some of his greatest hits throughout the years. The event was streamed live on the Grammy Web site, and many of the performances are still available online.

Sunday, of course, was the main event. The show opened with Lady Gaga and Elton John. While I'm not personally a huge fan of Lady Gaga, even I have to admit that she did a great job. My only problem was that I don't see what's wrong with musicians wearing jeans and a t-shirt and simply standing on stage performing their music. I really don't think all the extra stuff is necessary. If your music alone isn't good enough to keep people entertained, take the time to make it better, instead of creating this elaborate stage show. It's distracting and takes away from the music.

Lady Gaga wasn't the only one to do this. Pink's performance included spinning above the stage in a nude body suit and dipping into water at one point, all of which was unnecessary.

Taylor Swift, who took home multiple awards that night, performed with Fleetwood Mac star Stevie Nicks. The duo performed parts of "Rhiannon" and "You Belong with Me." Throughout the performance Swift's singing was a little flat, but Nicks definitely gave one of her best performances. The performance was one of the best all night because it was just the two of them on stage with their guitars. There was nothing fancy or extra added.

Later in the night, the Grammys paid tribute to the late Michael Jackson. The tribute included a 3D music video "We are the World" and speeches from his children. Making the video 3D didn't really make sense because not many people have the technology to properly view that on their televisions, so it ended up looking a little strange. The speeches were very nice, though. You could tell that both Prince Michael and Paris were speaking from the heart.

The 52nd annual Grammys show was, like always, unforgettable. It was filled with over-the-top musical performances and bold fashion choices. And it was definitely a night to remember.