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Paul McCartney, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and The Rolling Stones were among the veteran artists to win at last night’s 56th Grammy Awards. The annual awards show was broadcast live from Los Angeles’ Staples Center and hosted by LL Cool J.

The big winners were Daft Punk who picked up Album Of The Year for “Random Access Memories,” and both Record Of The Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Get Lucky” on which they collaborated with Pharrell Williams and Chic’s Nile Rodgers. Rap duo, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, will also be particularly happy after being named Best New Artist, and also winning the Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song awards for “Thrift Shop”, and the Best Rap Album award for “The Heist”. The duo also helped make television history when 33 same-sex couples got married on stage while they performed “Same Love”. The ceremony was presided over by Queen Latifah and there was also an appearance by Madonna who sang “Open Your Heart”.

Justin Timberlake also did well, receiving the Best R&B Song award for “Pusher Love Girl,” and the Best Rap/Sung Collaboration and Best Music Video awards for his collaborations with Jay-Z on “Holy Grail” and “Suit & Tie”, respectively.

Song Of The Year went to Lorde’s “Royals”, as did Best Pop Solo Performance.

The musical performances included the usual unexpected collaborations from artists old and new, including a popular reunion of Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr for a run through of McCartney’s “Queenie Eye”.

They weren’t the only veteran performers on stage though, as Kris Kristofferson, Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson teamed up on the classic “Oakie from Muscogee”.

Stevie Wonder was also on hand to perform with Daft Punk, Pharrell Williams, and Nile Rodgers on a mash-up of “Get Lucky/”Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”/”Le Freak”/”Another Star”.

The evening had kicked off with a strong performance of “Drunk In Love” by Beyonce, who was joined on stage by her husband Jay-Z. There were also performances by Lorde (“Royals”), Hunter Hayes (“Invisible”), Katy Perry (“Dark Horse”), Robin Thicke and Chicago (“Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?”/”Beginnings”/”Saturday in the Park”/”Blurred Lines”), John Legend (“All Of Me”), Pink (“Try”), and Kendrick Lamar and Imagine Dragons (“Radioactive/M.A.A.D City”).

There was also time for Metallica to pay tribute to the late Lou Reed with whom they collaborated on the 2011 album “Lulu”.

Grammy successes for veteran acts

Led Zeppelin’s “Celebration Day” won in the Best Rock Album category for “Celebration Day”. Other nominees included David Bowie for “The Next Day”, Neil Young With Crazy Horse for “Psychedelic Pill,” and Black Sabbath for “13”. Black Sabbath’s “God Is Dead?” did earn the band a Grammy in the Best Metal Performance category, beating out “T.N.T.” by veteran rockers Anthrax.

Zeppelin and Bowie were also in the running for the Best Rock Performance award for “Kashmir (Live)” and “The Stars (Are Out Tonight)”, respectively, but the Grammy went to Imagine Dragons for “Radioactive”.

Dave Grohl, Paul McCartney, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear won the Best Rock Song award for their “Cut Me Some Slack” collaboration. There were also nominations for The Rolling Stones’ “Doom And Gloom,” Black Sabbath’s “God Is Dead?”, Gary Clark Jr’s “Ain’t Messin’ ‘Round,” and Matthew Bellamy’s “Panic Station”.

This wasn’t the only success for McCartney. His “Live Kisses” film (directed by Jonas Åkerlund, and produced by Violaine Etienne, Aron Levine & Scott Rodger) won the Grammy for Best Music Film, and his “Live Kisses” album won the Best Surround Sound Album Grammy. Furthermore, the Paul McCartney & Wings’ “Wings Over America (Deluxe Edition)” was named Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package. There was also a nomination for The Rolling Stones’ “The Brussels Affair”.

The Rolling Stones fared better in the Best Historical Album category with “Charlie Is My Darling – Ireland 1965” tying for the award with Bill Withers’ “The Complete Sussex And Columbia Albums”.

Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell’s “Old Yellow Moon” won in the Best Americana Album category. There were also nominations for Mavis Staples’ “One True Vine”, Allen Toussaint’s “Songbook”, Buddy Miller And Jim Lauderdale’s “Buddy And Jim”, and Steve Martin and Edie Brickell’s “Love Has Come For You”.

Edie Brickell & Steve Martin won the Best American Roots Song award for “Love Has Come For You”. Other nominees included Allen Toussaint for “Shrimp Po-Boy, Dressed”, and Steve Earle for “Invisible”.

Guy Clark won the Best Folk Album Grammy for “My Favorite Picture Of You”, beating out albums by The Greencards, Sarah Jarosz, and The Milk Carton Kids, as well as the multi-artist “Artgiikue Records 50th Anniversary” collection.

The Gipsy Kings’ “Savor Flamenco” was named as Best World Music Album, ahead of the late Ravi Shankar’s “The Living Room Sessions Part 2, Femi Kuti’s “No Place For My Dream”, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s “Live: Singing For Peace Around The World”.

The Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album category included nominations for Tony Bennett’s “Viva Duets”, Gloria Estefan’s “The Standards”, and Dionne Warwick’s “Now”, but the award went to Michael Bublé’s “To Be Loved”.

Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton’s performance of “You Can’t Make Old Friends” was nominated in the Best Country Duo/Group Performance category but lost out to The Civil Wars’ “From This Valley”.

Brian Eno’s “Lux” was up for Best New Age Album but the Grammy went to Laura Sullivan for “Love’s River”.

Congratulations to all winners.