The 2026 Grammys had fantastic performances — and too much politics

Beyond a couple big awards, nobody really cares who wins at the Grammys.

You know the kind of major prizes I’m talking about.

Congratulations to our Best New Age, Ambient or Chant Album winner, “Nomadica”!

For those of you who are genuinely invested: Bad Bunny won Album of the Year for “DTMF”, Kendrick Lamar got Record of the Year for “Luther” and Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell took Song of the Year for “Wildflower.”

But really, the ceremony honoring the best in music must be judged by how thrilling a concert it is. These are live entertainers, after all, not Nobel Prize recipients.

And Sunday night’s Grammy Awards at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles especially had to be a blast. Because Taylor Swift and Beyonce weren’t there.

Well, roughly half of it was terrific.

Some smart producers picked the perfect track to begin the night: a loud and pulsing rendition of Bruno Mars and Rosé’s Record of the Year nominee “APT.”

Infectious as a cold, the upbeat tune shook everybody awake. And, unusual for an award show — an event that tends to get worse not better — a lot of fantastic performances went on to match it.

For a while anyway.

Camp-loving Sabrina Carpenter turned the stage into an airport terminal for her sexy song “Manchild.” She rolled in on a functioning baggage carousel and handled a live dove.

Later, during “Sugar On My Tongue,” Tyler, the Creator drove a red hotrod into a dancer and “killed him.” And then the gas station scenery upstage blew up, complete with pyrotechnics and debris. I’ll have to pay closer attention to those lyrics.

Making a comeback of sorts, Justin Bieber stripped down in more ways than one. For his first performance in front of a large crowd in four years, he strolled onto a rug shirtless and wearing only boxers and socks.

Then he sang “Peaches” accompanied by just a guitar, a looper pedal and a biker bar’s worth of tattoos.
He exited abruptly with no acknowledgment of the crowd, as if he’d sleep-walked miles from his home and into the theater.  

Proudly weird Lady Gaga jammed to “Abracadabra” behind Satan’s DJ booth with an upside down basket on her head. Next to the meat dress, that’s business casual for her.

Fun, fun, fun. Around then the Grammys started to grow long in the tooth.

The In Memoriam was divided up between Reba McEntire, a heavy-metal tribute to Ozzy Osbourne and Lauryn Hill honoring D’Angelo. It was nice — particularly to see some heretofore banished rock ‘n’ roll in the mix — but it went on for a while.

In between the music? Groaner jokes and politics.

Trevor Noah returned as host for the sixth and final time. His chief virtue in that role is that he’s quick. He rattles off his lines like he’s a fast-food window operator, and never holds for laughs. This is probably for the best. They might not come.

Being a former “Daily Show” host, Noah glad-handed celebs at their tables and shot off repetitive Trump barbs. “Hurry up and get to the songs,” went everyone’s thought bubble.

Sunday night was a very political ceremony that made frequent mention, direct and indirect, of the ICE protests in Minneapolis. These musicians made their compatriots in the movie industry seem sheepish and indifferent by comparison.

Stars such as Carole King, Joni Mitchell and the Biebers wore “ICE Out” pins.

And when Eilish won Best Song, she went full-on anarchist.

“No one is illegal on stolen land!,” she proclaimed.  

Next year, after decades on CBS, the Grammys will make the jump to ABC.

But I know where they will move for me: To YouTube clips on Monday morning.