Pink Performs "Glitter in the Air," Rises Above Other Performances

For those who missed the 2010 Grammy Awards, it is fortunate that we live in the age of the computer, video streaming, downloads, and YouTube, because missing Pink's "Glitter In The Air" performance would have been a virtual crime and a cruel

Pink's 2010 Grammy Awards Performance Thing of Naked Beauty (And Why We Thank the Heavens for Video)

Date: January 31, 2010

Los Angeles, CA
United States of America

 shame. Pink's performance, to put it bluntly, was simply beautiful, from the lifting vocals to the downplayed white-cowled singer that emerged from her constraints as if reborn to fly above the audience. It was artistic triumph. It was a graceful weaving of song and staged theatrics. Again, it was beautiful. And although there were no awards given Sunday evening for Best Live Performance at the 2010 Grammy Awards, there is no doubt that Pink walked away the winner of that unofficial competition.

Pink had some stiff competition. Lady Gaga opened the show with her "Fame Monster" set, sang a bit of "Poker Face" in a green heart-shaped unitard and got dumped into a "Rejected" smokestack-like recycler, only to come out dueling with Elton John on head-to-head pianos. They sang "Speechless" and the crowd, obviously enjoying the first-ever collaboration between the two 'glam' rockers, went wild.

Needless to say, topping that bit of theatre and showmanship was not the easiest of feats.

Beyonce, who would go on to win six of the ten Grammy Awards she was nominated for (a record for a female artist), couldn't top it. She marched out with a legion of black-uniformed troopers and sang "If I Were A Boy." And although the performance was exciting and well sung, it lost its edge due to its highs and lows, building too many crescendos.

Taylor Swift, who took home four of the little gramophone trophies (and winner of Album of the Year), didn't even come close to topping Pink's performance. Even after singing two songs -- Fleetwood Mac's "Rhiannon" and her own -- with the incomparable Stevie Nicks, she did not compare. Truthfully, Taylor Swift's reedy and weak vocals are nowhere in the same league as Lady Gaga's, Beyonce's, or Pink's. So what might have been an exciting duet with one of rock's most legendary female performers turned into a disappointment.