The fact that the Grammys and the BAFTAs fell on the same night brings into focus a crucial difference between the movie and music worlds.

Whereas the film industry rewards arty, uncommercial fare ('Man On Wire', 'In Bruges' etc), thus granting much-needed mainstream oxygen to films that would otherwise go largely unnoticed, the music biz still feels that honouring the biggest-selling artists is somehow a worthwhile pursuit.

Do we really need to be told (again) that 'Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends' is the best album of the past year? Is the reformation of Blink-182, confirmed on the night, significant for any reason other than they sold tens of millions of records back in the day and their label hopes they may do so again?

In the age of file-sharing, Spotify and the long tail, this kind of non-critical, glitzy celebration of a narrow group of big-hitters – Kanye West, Dave Grohl, U2 etc – feels seriously out-dated, a relic of the days when the music industry really was swimming in cash, bling and self-confidence.

Nowadays, the bright lights and big budgets ring hollow. The Grammys has become the story music desperately wants to tell about itself, long after the rest of the world stopped listening.

Still, organisers did at least make a convincing stab at generating a big-ticket atmosphere. Aside from the make-do collaborations such as Justin Timberlake and Al Green (brought in at the last-minute to replace Rihanna and Chris Brown, who pulled out after an alleged domestic violence incident), many of the performances felt genuinely special and unique. Especially these three:

Radiohead – 15 Step
Introduced by Gwyneth Paltrow as "one of the most influential, adventurous and thoroughly artistic musical groups of all time", Radiohead received mesmerising, jackhammer-heavy backing from the USC Trojan marching band, although the performance was also notable for Thom Yorke's newly flaxen hairstyle, which makes him look more like Jon Bon Jovi than I ever thought possible.

M.I.A., Jay-Z, TI, Kanye West, Lil Wayne – Swagga Like Us
The first time T.I.'s song has ever been performed with its full original line-up – plus a heavily pregnant M.I.A., whose track 'Paper Planes' it samples. Check out her gutsy, incisive guest verse at 1.59 – you'd never guess this (February 8) was actually her baby's due date.

Coldplay/Jay-Z – Lost!/Viva La Vida
Preceded by some waffle from Simon Baker ("star of 'The Mentalist'," apparently), this kicked off with Chris Martin doing a surprisingly affecting and understated 'Lost!' with Jay-Z before the rest of the band joined in for 'Viva La Vida', which later won the award for best song. Contrary to advance rumours, Joe Satriani was not, in the event, on hand to serve his plagiarism writ.

[Photo Gallery - Grammy Awards 2009]