My Big Night at the Grammy Awards

 I was invited by MasterCard to attend the 56th Annual Grammy Awards at Staples Center in Los Angeles. I was not monetarily compensated or required to write about the event. All opinions and photos are my own (and some are my husband’s).

One of the things I hate most about live awards shows is that more often than not they are tape delayed here in California. It makes no sense to me. The Golden Globes were shown live on both the east and west coast and they started here in Los Angeles at 5pm. The Grammy Awards also started at 5pm here in Los Angeles, but they were only shown live to the east coast. I’m sorry… why on earth couldn’t they be shown live here at 5pm as well? Dumb. Dumb dumb dumb.

That said… it was a little surreal to have been AT the Grammy Awards and gotten home in time to actually watch the Grammy Awards. Well, at least the second half of the show.

First things first… the show is completely different live than from what you see on TV. Really. What struck me is how difficult this show is to put on. Not only does the director have to make sure it is all going to look great on TV, he also has to make sure the people sitting in Staples get a great show as well. To that end… there is so much more that goes on inside the arena. Things you just can’t translate to TV. I came out of the show spellbound at how great it was. Then I came home and took a look at my Facebook feed to see that most people watching at home didn’t agree with me. That’s okay… it DOES look different on TV. Music performances are always much better live.

It’s like when I went to see a live taping of The Voice. I was surprised by how different the singers sounded in person over how they sound on TV. So very different.

But… it was my first awards show. My first Grammy’s. And wow… was I ever impressed by it all.

A couple of questions I want to get taken care of.

1. I was invited to go by MasterCard via twitter. I know it seemed a little random… why on earth would they choose me. But… I have a history with MasterCard. I went to the Red Carpet at the Grammy’s last year. I’ve written several posts for the MasterCard Priceless campaign. I’m on their radar. So if you’re asking, “Why HER?” Well, that’s probably why.

2. Yes, I DID get to walk the red carpet. Yes, the SAME red carpet that the celebrities walk down. No… if wasn’t exactly the same SIDE as them, but YES I could see some of them making their way down.

3. My seats were damn good inside the arena. I was honestly thinking I’d have nosebleed seats, but we were sitting directly in front of the stage on the second level. They were amazing.

4. The show is long. 3 1/2 hours. Yes, we were able to get up as often as we wanted to. No, I didn’t get up because I was afraid of missing something.

5. Nothing happens during commercial breaks. We just sit there and watch them change sets. Or go to the bathroom. Or talk to our neighbors.

6. All the musical numbers are set up as if you were seeing a concert. The lighting, sound, everything is geared towards making it the best entertainment possible. There are lasers and lights and parts of the set that you don’t see on TV. On TV, you only see what the camera wants to show you.

7. Yes, there are fun things that happen during the show. Sir Paul McCartney blew kisses to fans. Taylor Swift got up and danced… a lot. And you thought the hair swinging was strange.

8. Steven Tyler kept turning around to look out at all the people.

So, I know everyone has been asking for photos…. here they are:

 

Dress was black sleeveless. Hard to see but the bust was sparkly, the rest of the dress draped and there was a rather long slit up the side. It also came with a sparkly bolero jacket that you’ll see better below.

 

This photo was taken inside the MasterCard pre-party.

 

 

As we were making our way from the pre-party over to Staples, we were instructed to walk to the end of the sidewalk and a golf cart would be waiting for us. Ummm…. what??? Sure enough, there were golf carts ready to whisk up from the J.W. Marriott Hotel over to the start of the red carpet. It was a fun (and windy) ride.

 

 

Just a word about walking down the red carpet. It’s very crowded and there are security people constantly yelling at you to move along. Every now and then you can get a glimpse of the “other” side of the wall, where the celebrities go down, but it’s hard to see very much. We did manage to catch a pretty good glimpse of Katy Perry.

 

All in all, it was a fabulous evening. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to do it all again. Maybe next year???

A huge thank you to MasterCard. The pre-party was just lovely… open bar and great food. It was also a lot of fun being able to share this experience with friends (and bloggers) Chelsea, Xenia and Melissa.