Grammy Awards 2010 highlights: Lady Gaga and Elton John, Solange Knowles' son, Prince and Paris Jackson, 'You Oughta Know'

Sunday's Grammy Awards included a Lady Gaga/Elton John duet, a cover of "You Oughta Know" by Beyonce and a random cameo by Solange Knowles' son. There was also an appearance by Michael Jackson's kids, Prince and Paris Jackson. Here's what happened when we live-blogged the show:

8:00: Lady Gaga opens the show. She sings "Poker Face" while performing in a set dubbed the Fame Factory. She's surrounded by all sorts of engines and backup dancers. Her getup? A green leotard with wing-like accents. Think a less family-friendly version of Tinkerbell. Uh-oh. Time for a song transition. "Take her away! She's a monster! She's a monster! She's a monster!" our suit-clad narrator says on stage.

"Take my picture, Hollywood! I want to be a star!" Gaga says.

Now, she ends up at a piano...right beside Elton John on a piano! Yes! Rumors about this highly anticipated duet are true! The pair sings Gaga's "Speechless" together. Do you think Elton is wearing Gaga makeup? Duh, he totally is. He has silver paint on his face, rhinestone glasses and a sparkly earring.

Oh man, they're transitioning into Elton John's "Your Song." I'm ecstatic. This is going to be a good night.

8:07: Stephen Colbert tries to banter with Jay-Z. It doesn't work. Colbert says the Grammys are the music industry's highest honor -- next to having your song covered by the cast of "Glee." He says he'd like to see Adam Lambert collaborate with "any sense of personal restraint." Colbert gives a major shout-out to Susan Boyle.

8:11: Colbert announces nominees for song of the year...by reading a list off his iPad.

8:12: "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)" wins song of the year. Beyonce isn't on stage with the songwriters because she's preparing for her performance. The songwriters' acceptance speech is cut short by the "get off the stage" music.

8:15: Green Day and the cast of the "American Idiot" musical perform "21 Guns." I'm digging the women singing this. Normally I kind of hate this song, but this is one of the most enjoyable versions I've seen. Anyone else getting a "Glee" vibe here?

8:25: Taylor Swift wins best country album. "I want to thank my record label for letting me write every song on my album," she says. She says she feels like she's achieved an impossible dream.

8:28: Beyonce performs. She begins near the audience and marches in wearing a short black industrial-type dress. She's surrounded by her own sunglasses-clad army. She starts with "If I Were a Boy" and gives the song a little rock edge. WHOA! Here's the most random song transition in history: Next, Beyonce covers Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know." I did NOT see that coming. Beyonce goes all out on the cover, shaking her hair like crazy on stage. The song ends with a return to "If I Were a Boy."

Some critics might call that a hot mess, but I liked it almost as much as Elton John and Lady Gaga. And yes, I will be listening to "Jagged Little Pill" all week.

8:40: Pink performs "Glitter in the Air." She starts the song wearing a monk-like getup, but then takes it off to reveal a look that is anything but monk-like. She's covered in what look like strips of white tape with just some sparkles strategically placed over her, um, upper region. Then, she elevates into the sky and is spinning from a ribbon-like apparatus with some barely-dressed companions. There's also water involved. Regardless of your opinion of Pink, you have to admit it's pretty amazing she can sing while hanging upside down.

8:41: Zac Brown Band wins best new artist. Our pop culture blogger, Katie Holland, was spot-on in predicting this one.

8:55: Black Eyed Peas perform "Imma Be" and "I Gotta Feeling." It's a metallic performance driven by silver, armor and pleather. I'm talking to you, Fergie. They're surrounded by the Transformer-like backup dancers we've seen in previous performances. I should also note that Fergie is wearing a silver visor.

9:05: Lady Antebellum performs "Need You Now." Sure, the performance isn't as flashy as others, but this band seems genuinely nice and I'm glad they're doing well.

9:09: Best comedy album goes to Stephen Colbert's "A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All." He thanks Jesus Christ for having such a great birthday.

9:18: Record of the year goes to "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon. "We're all a little drunk, but we're happy drunk," a band member says on stage. After giving a brief list of thank-yous, he says he'll buy a shot for anyone he forgot.

9:21: Jamie Foxx performs "Blame It." He starts off with, um, some opera. Strangely, Mozart is on stage and Jamie looks like somebody from the Revolutionary War. We have officially entered the Grammy haze. Wait, it turns out Mozart is actually T-Pain. Things are much better now. Just when I couldn't get more confused, Slash comes on stage and joins the crew.

9:26: Most random on-stage combo: Justin Bieber and Ke$ha.

9:33: Green Day's "21st Century Breakdown" wins best rock album.

9:35: Zac Brown Band performs. They sing "America the Beautiful" and are then joined by Leon Russell to sing "Dixie Lullaby." Then, they transition to the Zac Brown Band's "Chicken Fried."

9:46: Taylor Swift sings "Today Was a Fairytale." I'm not a big fan of this song. Fortunately, it doesn't last long. Taylor is joined by Stevie Nicks and sings "Rhiannon." And now, another song: Stevie and Taylor collaborate for a folk version of "You Belong With Me." The version seems a couple decades too old for her teenybopper fans.

9:54: Carrie Underwood, Usher, Jennifer Hudson, Celine Dion and Smokey Robinson perform Michael Jackson tribute and sing "Earth Song." It's accompanied by a 3-D mini-movie. Stars in the audience try to look cool in their 3-D glasses.

10:00: Michael Jackson's children, Prince and Paris, accept the lifetime achievement award on their father's behalf. Prince speaks first with longer speech that concludes, "We will continue to spread his message and help the world," he says. Paris' comments are brief. She wraps up with, "Thank you. We love you, Daddy."

10:10: Bon Jovi performs "We Weren't Born to Follow," then "Who Says You Can't Go Home" with special guest Jennifer Nettles. Then, we find out which song fans voted for Bon Jovi to perform. The answer? "Livin' On A Prayer." Good choice.

10:17: Best rap/sung collaboration goes to "Run This Town" by Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye West. I wanted "I'm On A Boat" to win. Rihanna and Jay-Z accept the award. Solange Knowles' son, Julez, comes on stage with them.

10:25: Wyclef thanks everybody for supporting Haiti. Then, David Foster, Mary J. Blige and Andrea Bocelli perform the Haiti tribute, "Bridge Over Troubled Water." It's pretty touching.

10:40: Wow! Here's Adam Sandler introducing the Dave Matthews Band. They perform "You And Me."

10:46: Best female vocal performance goes to Beyonce for "Halo."

10:55: Maxwell performs "Pretty Wings." Then, he's joined by Roberta Flack to sing "Where Is the Love."

11:03: Lady Gaga spotted in the audience wearing some weird triangular headpiece.

11:04: Jeff Beck performs a Les Paul guitar tribute. Irish singer Imelda May does vocals.

11:13: Quentin Tarantino -- wearing an EXTREMELY loud black and white shirt -- introduces Lil Wayne, Drake and Eminem. Travis Barker joins them on drums. Lil Wayne and Eminem perform "Drop the World" and a good majority of the song is censored out. Then, Drake joins them to perform "Forever." Taylor Swift is jamming out in the audience. I wonder if she's heard these songs before. Wow, they might be over-using the censor technology tonight. Note to producers: There is not a dirty meaning behind "it may not mean nothing to y'all."

11:26: Taylor Swift wins album of the year. "This is the story we're going to be telling over and over again," she says.

Weigh in: Did Taylor Swift deserve the night's top honor?

This story was originally published January 31, 2010 at 8:01 PM with the headline "Grammy Awards 2010 highlights: Lady Gaga and Elton John, Solange Knowles' son, Prince and Paris Jackson, 'You Oughta Know'."