U2 have been confirmed as one of the acts at the 51st annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. This performance takes place next week on Sunday the 8th of February. U2 are not actually nominated for any awards as they did not release anything within the timeframe for eligibility. Other performers at the ceremony include Coldplay, Paul McCartney, Kanye West, Radiohead, Katy Perry, Kid Rock, and the Jonas Brothers. For those of you in the US, the event will be broadcast by CBS, beginning at 8pm eastern time.

See U2.com's announcement here. With appearances at the Brit Awards on 18/02 and Echo Awards on 21/02 already announced, it looks like U2's promotion of No Line On The Horizon through televised live appearances is getting underway on both sides of the Atlantic. Stay tuned for setlist updates!

As a bit of a historical post-script, although U2 won Grammy Awards as early as 1988, the first time a band member actually performed at a ceremony was in 1999, when Bono joined Mary J. Blige, Crystal Lewis, and Kirk Franklin to perform Franklin's Grammy-nominated Lean On Me. Since then, U2 themselves have played the Grammys multiple times: Beautiful Day in 2001, Walk On in 2002, Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own in 2005 (at which Bono also participated in a performance of Across The Universe), and Vertigo and One in 2006.

Posted on January 29, 2009 by Axver