At the end of the first part of Justin Bieber’s performances at the 2016 Grammy Awards the lights dimmed and he took off his acoustic guitar. However, in a careful examination of the video you can see him smash the guitar onto the stage.
Some details about Bieber and that guitar have just come to life. An audio engineer speaking on a Home Theatre Geeks podcast several days after the Grammy has revealed it was a classic guitar just under 100 years old.
Michael Abbott is an audio engineer from All Ears Inc who has worked on the sound for the Grammys show for close to 30 years. Speaking to the host of the Home Theatre Geeks podcast, Scott Wilkinson, Abbott didn’t want to identify the artist who smashed the guitar.
However, he did mention how one artist demanded a left-handed acoustic guitar which was delivered to the Staples Center.
When Wilkinson showed a photo of some of the guitars backstage waiting to be used during the show, Abbott said: “Those are pictures of art. Those guitars are beautiful pieces of equipment. We had one artist that insisted on having a left-handed acoustic guitar delivered. One of the guitar vendors delivered that and brought it to the show. That particular artist smashed it on the stage and it was a vintage guitar from the 20s.”
Wilkinson then replied: “Oh my god… oh no.”
Abbott: “Let’s not say [who it was]. It is sad… it breaks my heart. These things happen.”
The Home Theatre Geeks podcast airs every week on the Twit Network.