Grammys 2024 lineup: Who’s performing live at the ceremony tonight
Joni Mitchell has been announced as a surprise performer at this year’s Grammy Awards.
The legendary artist, 80, will sing at the ceremony for the first time on Sunday 4 February, along with fellow artists Billie Eilish, SZA, Dua Lipa, Olivia Rodrigo, U2, Travis Scott, Luke Combs, Burna Boy and Billy Joel.
U2’s performance will be broadcast live from Las Vegas’s headline-making new venue, the Sphere, where they have been hosting a months-long residency – U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere – that will conclude on 2 March.
Billboard reports that Taylor Swift will not perform but she will be at the ceremony. Meanwhile, Joel will perform his first single in almost two decades, “Turn the Lights Back On”, while Combs will duet with Tracy Chapman on her song “Fast Car”, which he covered last year.
Burna Boy is expected to perform with 21 Savage and Brandy, while Mitchell is teed up for a duet with Brandi Carlile.
Mitchell, regarded as one of the greatest and most influential artists of all time, has steadily been making a return to live performances after suffering a brain aneurysm in 2015.
The Blue artist appeared at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2021, then, alongside Bonnie Raitt, introduced Brandi Carlile’s performance at the 2022 Grammys.
A few months later, she and Carlile gave a rapturously received performance at the Newport Folk Festival, then played a headline show at the Gorge Amphitheatre in Washington in 2023.
At the Newport Folk Festival – her first full-length performance since 2002, Mitchell played renditions of “Big Yellow Taxi”, “Shine”, “Help Me” and “Come In From the Cold.”
She also played a solo instrumental version of “Just Like This Train”.
Carlile had been expected to perform at the festival alongside Wynonna Judd, Holly Laessig and Mumford & Sons frontman Marcus Mumford. However, Mitchell was a surprise – Judd was seen wiping away tears while Mitchell sang her 1996 track “Both Sides Now”.
The live recording of her Newport performance is up for the Grammy for Best Folk Album.
Mitchell has received a total of 18 Grammy nominations over the course of her career and has won nine times, plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award in 2002.
This year’s Grammy Awards will be hosted by comedian Trevor Noah and broadcast live by CBS from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Women are set to dominate at this year’s awards show, with stars including SZA, Taylor Swift, Eilish, Miley Cyrus, Olivia Rodrigo and Victoria Monet up for some of the night’s biggest categories.
Swift could break a record if she wins the coveted Album of the Year for her 2023 record, Midnights, which would make her the only artist in Grammys history to have won the prize four times.
She has previously won for her albums Fearless, 1989, and her 2022 album Folklore.
Last year, Beyoncé won four Grammys, breaking the record for most career wins with 32. She is also tied with her husband, rapper Jay-Z, with the most career nominations with 88.