Live blogging the 2010 Grammy Awards

Lady Gaga is up for five awards tonight (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)

The most popular names in music are hitting the stage at the 2010 Grammy Awards, and we're offering pointed commentary on the winners and performers. Some of the notable performances to look forward to tonight: Lady Gaga doing a possible duet with Elton John, the Dave Matthews Band, Taylor Swift with Stevie Nicks, and the all-star 3D tribute to Michael Jackson.

8:00
Lady Gaga, winner of two awards already tonight, opens the Grammy Awards with a performance set in "The Fame Factory." She's wearing a wild green butterfly outfit and playing "Poker Face." I've seen her sing "Bad Romance" so many times on tv lately that "Poker Face" is actually a nice change of pace.

8:03
The rumors were true - Elton John is singing with Lady Gaga! Elton and Gaga, both wearing glittery glasses and covered in fake soot, duet nicely on Gaga's ballad "Speechless" and John's classic "Your Song."

8:07
Once again there's no host for the Grammy Awards, so Stephen Colbert is on hand to introduce the show. "Stay away from Katy Perry," Colbert warns his daughter.

Colbert also scores with a Susan Boyle joke: "Sure, Justin Timberlake may have brought the sexy back, but Susan Boyle sent it away again."

8:11
Colbert presents Song of the Year (the songwriter's award) to Beyonce for "Single Ladies." This is Beyonce's fifth award of the evening and it may make her the favorite to take Album and Record of the Year as well.

Grammys have become so routine for Beyonce that she doesn't bother to come out and accept it. Her co-writers accept instead.

8:15
Green Day performs "21 Guns" with the cast of American Idiot the musical. Not a bad performance, but it makes clear that no one can ever again claim that Green Day is still punk.

8:26
Taylor Swift wins Best Country Album and seems totally shocked. Her "overwhelmed" act every time she wins any kind of award is getting old. It's nice that she's humble, but she's being borderline fake. That makes three awards for Swift, who could still make history if she wins Album and Record of the Year.

Taylor Swift wins a Grammy. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)

8:29
Beyonce appears with a military troupe behind her. She plays one of the weakest tracks on her record, "If I Were a Boy." Look out, Eminem - Beyonce does the crotch grab better than you. So much for being classy on this historic night.

Beyonce's angry vocals sound great and the song is nicely enhanced by electric guitars.

8:31
Whoa, now Beyonce is covering Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know." What is she thinking? Did Beyonce break up with Jay-Z last night or something? I can't recall ever seeing such a violently anti-male performance.

8:43
The first truly great performance of the night belongs to Pink, who sings the terrific ballad "Glitter in the Air" while spinning through the air in a jaw-dropping, high-flying act. Pink got overshadowed this year by all the other great female artists, but people will be talking about this performance for years.

8:46
It's Best New Artist time. Despite my fantasies that MGMT might somehow prevail, the Zac Brown Band take the award. The band clearly prepared for this moment.  Each member takes a few seconds to thank a few people. Their speech is choreographed, to the point of being annoying.

8:52
Miley Cyrus introduces the Black Eyed Peas. As much as people make fun of Miley, her "Party in the USA" was such a fun pop song, it should've been nominated for something.

8:54
will.i.am is a modern-day phantom of the opera as the Black Eyed Peas play "Imma Be" and "I Gotta Feeling." The latter song has been done to death. Apparently, will.i.am didn't get Jay-Z's message that auto-tune is dead, because he's going overboard with the auto-tune effect, while giant robots dance onstage. Dennis DeYoung would be proud.

9:06
Lady Antebellum singer Hillary Scott gets hit in the head with the curtain that was supposed to fall in front of her. Yes, we saw that.

9:09
It's Best Comedy Album! I'm so excited to see this award presented on the main broadcast because it features three of my favorite people - Stephen Colbert, Kathy Griffin, and Weird Al Yankovic. Colbert wins. "This is a Christmas album, so I should thank Jesus Christ for having such a great birthday."

9:18
Kings of Leon beat the more famous names to win Record of the Year for "Use Somebody." Many viewers probably see this as an upset, but the conventional wisdom had been that Beyonce, Swift and Kings of Leon were all equally likely to win. "We're all a little drunk, but we're happy drunk" notes one of the victorious Followill brothers.

9:21
More auto-tune as Jamie Foxx and T-Pain play a heavily lip-synched "Blame It." T-Pain is not even trying to look like he's singing live.

The director thinks he's being clever by constantly cutting to shots of Jay-Z to see if he approves. Slash finally comes out for a guitar solo but even he's unable to save this train wreck of a performance.

9:27
Justin Bieber (who let this kid in?) makes a scripted, painful joke about Beyonce. It was nice to see Ke$ha, though her appearance was fleeting.

9:33
Green Day wins Best Rock Album. A predictable but lame choice. This should've gone to the Dave Matthews Band.

Green Day win another Grammy Award tonight. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

9:35
The Zac Brown Band plays with Leon Russell. They do their best Darryl Worley impression with an overly patriotic performance that barely showcases "Chicken Fried." A straight-up rendition of the song would've been better; for viewers who'd never heard of the Zac Brown Band, this performance probably has them scratching their heads about why this band won Best New Artist.

9:46
Taylor Swift has taken some flak for her inconsistent vocals, and she's not helping her case with a pitchy rendition of "Fairytale." Stevie Nicks comes out for a duet on "Rhiannon," but Swift isn't hitting the high notes. This is not sounding good at all.

They finish with a folksy, banjo-heavy "You Belong With Me." Much better.

9:52
Put on your 3D glasses! Lionel Richie is here to start the Michael Jackson tribute.

The parade of stars sings Michael's "Earth Song." Maybe you need an HDTV to see the effect, because for me the 3D effect just isn't working. And they keep cutting away from the video to show us the audience. The whole build-up of this 3D performance turns out to be one big letdown.

10:02
Prince and Paris Jackson accept the Special Merit Award for Michael Jackson. This is the first time the public has heard from Prince and his speech is impressive. It's hard not to get emotional when you hear these kids speak.

10:09
Bon Jovi are performing for the first time ever at the Grammys. They start with "We Weren't Born to Follow," an utterly forgettable new song. Next up is "Who Says You Can't Go Home" with Jennifer Nettles, a nice song but one that's two years old.

Bon Jovi closes with the song selected by the fans, "Livin' on a Prayer." There was never any doubt the fans would choose this song - that's what made the entire fan vote a farce. Still, "Livin' on a Prayer" is one of the most anthemic rock songs of all-time so hearing it is a treat.

Except for one thing - why is Jennifer Nettles still on stage?! She should've exited stage left. Nobody wants to hear her on this legendary song.

10:16
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration is extremely predictable - Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye win for "Run This Town." Sadly, for those of us interested in drama, Kanye didn't show up.

I was secretly hoping T.I. would win, so somebody would have to say, "T.I. couldn't be here tonight, because he's incarcerated."

Rihanna won another Grammy tonight. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

10:26
Andrea Bocelli shows off his amazing voice on "Bridge Over Troubled Water." His duet partner Mary J. Blige is one of those artists who too often walks the line between singing and oversinging, but she sounds good tonight.

10:37
Grammy President Neil Portnow is on stage giving his annual shpiel. Hopefully this will be quick.

10:40
The Dave Matthews Band plays "You & Me." Their performance is pretty solid, though I still think "Shake Me Like a Monkey" would've been a stronger choice - that song really showcases the full energy of this band.

10:46
Ricky Martin comes out of hibernating to present Best Pop Vocal Performance to Beyonce for "Halo." It's her record-breaking sixth award, a new record for most awards by a female artist in one night. And she still has a shot at Album of the Year.

10:56
Maxwell brings some class to the broadcast with the Song of the Year nominated "Pretty Wings." He duets with Roberta Flack on "Where is the Love." Nicely done.

11:03
Jeff Beck - a guy many of the younger musicians in the crowd might not be familiar with - plays a tribute to Les Paul. Jeff Beck is a great artist, but I get the feeling many viewers are going for a bathroom break right about now.

11:14
It's the big rap team-up with Eminem, Lil Wayne and Drake. Because of all the bleeping for profanity, the performance features more dead air than any awards show performance in history.

Lil Wayne has apparently heeded the advice of the "Pants on the Ground" guy - his trousers are much higher than usual.

11:24
Santana and John Legend present Album of the Year. It would've been great to see Lady Gaga win, if only to see her walk to the stage in that crazy outfit. But it's Taylor Swift.

That gives Swift four awards - a big night, but not enough to top Beyonce's six. Kings of Leon and the Black Eyed Peas won three each.

See also:
Our complete Grammy Awards coverage – a full list of predictions, features, and analysis of major categories