This past weekend, my siblings and I headed to Madison Square Garden and attended the first Grammy ceremony in New York City in 15 years.

The transportation was really easy. We took the train out of New Brunswick and headed straight into Penn Station after a quick 30-minute ride. 

The first thing we did was attend the Grammy pre-ceremony, which gives out the first 75 Grammy awards that aren’t televised. This whole pre-ceremony was the true reason I was able to attend the Grammys in the first place.

Elisa Shokoff,my aunt, and the company she works for, Simon and Schuster, were nominated for an award. She was being recognized for the audio book she produced with Bruce Springsteen called, “Born to Run”, and was in the conservation for “Best Spoken Word Album”.

The pre-ceremony was an exciting way to begin the day and was hosted in its own separate auditorium within the Garden. It was filled with fancy hor d’oeuvres such as filet mignon on a stick and all types of sushi rolls. There were also many celebrities and well dressed individuals, including Chris Stapleton, Paul Shaffer, Neil Degrasse Tyson and many more strolling around the room in which the first awards were being distributed. My seats for this venue were right up front.

Immediately following the Grammy pre-ceremony, we headed upstairs into the main arena in Madison Square Garden where the Knicks and Rangers play. It was time for the main event.

Since it was a black tie event, everyone was dressed extremely well despite the fact that the Garden was serving stadium food like nachos and chicken tenders. Unlike the pre-ceremony, my seats were very high up, but I was extremely grateful to be at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards.

It was amazing to see such a wide variety of musicians and groups perform throughout the day. From rap sensations like Logic and Kendrick Lamar, to country bands like Little Big Town, to Ice-T’s heavy metal group Body Count, I saw it all.

For me, seeing firsthand how impactful the power of music is and can be was astonishing. It was so cool to see how music has touched these performers’ lives and how they have used it to help others. I learned that the Grammys is much more than a competition for trophies, but rather a platform to make a difference in the world with something as simple as a song.