Getty Lady Gaga attends the 91st Oscars Nominees Luncheon at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on February 04, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California.
While many are waiting to see who could take home a gold statue at the Academy Awards, others are wondering who is performing at the event. In honor of the Best Song category and for other moments in the show, like the In Memoriam Tribute, there are several big names set to take the stage. According to BBC, Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter recently weighed in on how performers were originally added to the show. Feinberg said, “The first Oscars took less than 10 minutes, which was obviously pre-television. Television came along, and networks paid a fortune for the Oscars, and as a result they expected a more complete kind of show. That meant no longer just handing out the awards but adding performance elements, so it became more telegenic, to include singing, dancing and comedy.”
There is no reported host this year, which means that there’s probably no opening monologue. Karey Burke, the president of TV network ABC, released the following statement about this year’s opening performance, “We have a very exciting opener planned. We are not going to go straight into people thanking their agents.” So, what could the opening be? Well, recently, the Academy reported that Adam Lambert would be performing at the Oscars with Queen. According to Pitchfork, Lambert and the band have been touring together since 2011. Their performance would be in tribute to the nominated film Bohemian Rhapsody, which focused on the lives of Freddie Mercury and the Queen band. We’re thinking that whether this performance is or isn’t at the beginning of the show, it would be a good opener.
Generally, all of the Best Original Song nominees perform at the show, but the only one missing this year is Kendrick Lamar. In the Best Original Song category, Lamar is nominated, along with Mark Spears, Solana Rowe, and Anthony Tiffith for “All the Stars” from Black Panther. There will be no performance of this song as the BBC reported that Lamar dropped out earlier this week due for “logistical issues”.
Now let’s get into the rest of the scheduled performances.
Oscars 2019 Performers
Getty(L-R) Queen drummer Roger Taylor, Rami Malek, Queen lead guitarist Brian May, and actors Joe Mazzello, and Gwilym Lee pose on the red carpet at the World Premiere of “Bohemian Rhapsody” in north London.
For this year’s In Memoriam tribute, which generally includes a performer and a video presentation of stars and industry members that entertainment has lost this year, features Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Dudamel is a violinist and conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
When it comes to the Best Song performances, some of them are not going to be performed by the original singers. For example, “The Place Where Lost Things Go” from Mary Poppins Returns was performed by actress Emily Blunt in the movie, but Bette Midler is stepping in to perform the song. Jennifer Hudson is appearing to perform “I’ll Fight” from RBG.
David Rawlings and Gillian Welch are set to perform “When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. But, one of the most anticipated events is Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper singing “Shallow” from A Star Is Born.
The show begins at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT/7 p.m. CT and will air on the ABC network. Tune in to watch the performances and see who takes away the biggest wins of the night.