This year’s Grammys doubled as an awards ceremony and a fund-raising appeal to support those affected by the wildfires in Southern California, striving to strike a balance between glitzy celebration and somber affair.
Trevor Noah, the ceremony’s host, opened the show by noting the devastation of the fires and the resilience of Los Angeles before introducing a performance of Randy Newman’s song “I Love L.A.” by the band Dawes, whose members lost homes, their studio and many instruments in the fires. They were joined by John Legend, Sheryl Crow, Brad Paisley, Brittany Howard and St. Vincent.
Presenters and winners wove in references to the fires onstage. In one poignant moment before presenting best pop vocal album, Anthony Kiedis and Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers reflected on the fires, singing an a cappella snippet from their song “Under the Bridge.” “Sometimes I feel like my only friend is the city I live in, the City of Angels,” they sang. “Lonely as I am, together we cry.”
The telecast also featured advertisements for Los Angeles-area businesses that were affected by the fires, including a segment for the destroyed Orla Floral Studio that featured the rapper Doja Cat helping out in the flower shop’s temporary space.
The ceremony took place one day after Cal Fire announced that the Eaton and Palisades fires, which killed at least 29 people, razed neighborhoods and displaced thousands of Los Angeles-area residents, were 100 percent contained more than three weeks after they began.
The night’s fund-raising will benefit the MusiCares Fire Relief fund, with money going to the Grammys charity MusiCares, which supports musicians in need in the Los Angeles area. It will also support the California Community Foundation and the Pasadena Community Foundation, which will disburse fire aid to local nonprofit groups.
Performances during the premiere ceremony and the televised show, where the major awards are given out, featured tributes to responding firefighters and to the city of Los Angeles. On the red carpet, celebrities and members of the Los Angeles County Fire Department stood in front of advertising appeals for online donations.
On Thursday, the unaffiliated benefit concert FireAid, which featured performances from Billie Eilish and Joni Mitchell, raised more than $60 million for short-term relief efforts and longer-term preventative initiatives.
