Everyone loves a good awards show: The dresses, the red carpet, the tear-drenched acceptance speeches. But admit it, three plus hours of watching pretty people open little envelopes can get a little tedious. But turn the show into a concert featuring the biggest hits of the year? And you’ve got the Grammys.

Known for many innovative performance collaborations, the Grammys this year are set to be a show to remember. Since this is, afterall, the 50th anniversary of the Grammys, the night will be filled with special performances and segments, on top of what we have come to expect to be a fantastic show. Nominee John Fogerty will be performing along with Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard for a segment entitled “Cornerstones of Rock;” Fergie and John Legend are set to perform a duet; and Andrea Bocelli and Josh Groban will also be collaborating on a song. Personally, the most exciting performance of the night will have to be the casts of the Beatles-themed Cirque du Soleil show “LOVE” and the Beatles-themed musical movie Across the Universe coming together to perform in a special tribute to the iconic band.

Even more exciting than the performances, however, will be the announcements of the winners of the actual awards, which always prove to be controversial. The most anticipated awards of the night are Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Best New Artist and Song of the Year — all categories with no clear frontrunner. The Foo Fighters, Kanye West and Amy Winehouse lead the pack on numbers of nominations, but all three leaders have serious problems facing them to actually pick up the big awards.

Rock groups tend to get shut out in big categories like Album and Record of the Year (unless you happen to be U2), so the extraordinarily-deserving Foo Fighters are probably out. West has not been a Grammy favorite over the years, and although Graduation was one of the best hip-hop albums of the year, he might be in for an upset. Finally, Winehouse’s personal life has been a black hole in recent months (picture the train wreck that is Britney Spears, multiply by 100 and add a few drug arrests), and although Back To Black is quite possibly one of the best albums in the past 10 years, her personal life could dissuade Grammy voters. Also, don’t anticipate Amy to show up for the awards, because contrary to the line in her break out hit “Rehab” in which she says “no, no, no” to entering such a facility, Winehouse is currently in a U.K. treatment center for substance abuse and has been denied a visa to enter the United States.

In the Record of the Year category, whose nominees are Beyoncé for “Irreplaceable,” Foo Fighters’ “The Pretender,” Rihanna feat. Jay-Z with “Umbrella,” Justin Timberlake’s “What Goes Around…Comes Around” and Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab,” it is pretty much a three-way race between Foo Fighters, Winehouse and Rihanna. I believe that the Foo Fighters deserve the award the most, but many industry insiders are predicting that Rihanna’s ubiquitous “Umbrella” is going to take the category. However, I predict an upset here, and an unlikely win for the Foo Fighters, whose newest album far outshines Rihanna’s most recent work.

Best New Artist (nominees Amy Winehouse, Taylor Swift, Paramore, Ledisi and Feist) will most likely go to the deserving Winehouse; however, a Feist upset is possible and would be very exciting. In the end however, I predict that due to the amount of critical acclaim for her most recent album, Winehouse will indeed take the category.

Song of the Year is hard to call, with nominees Carrie Underwood for “Before He Cheats,” Plain White T’s for “Hey There Delilah,” Corinne Bailey Rae’s “Like a Star,” Amy Winehouse for “Rehab,” and Rihanna for “Umbrella.” It would be wonderful to see the under-the-radar Plain White T’s take it, or even Amy Winehouse, but Rihanna will most likely win the category since the phrase “Ella-ella-ay-ay-ay” should probably just be added to the word umbrella, due to the song’s inexplicable yet inescapable popularity.

Finally, Album of the Year (Foo Fighters, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace; Vince Gill, These Days; Kanye West, Graduation; Amy Winehouse, Rehab; and Herbie Hancock, River: The Joni Letters) should go to the Foo Fighters or Kanye West, but I predict West to take home the honor, which will be his first win in the category. With the ongoing writers strike putting the kibosh on most of the awards shows this season, it is nice to know that we can count on the Grammys to come through with a great show filled with wonderful music and drunken musicians making fools out of themselves during acceptance speeches — does it get any better?