There was a moment at the Black Eyed Peas concert Tuesday night at Staples Center when the screams from the audience were enough to shatter glass and earlobes, and it had nothing to do with the powerhouse group.

In fact, the moment occurred during opener Ludacris’ set as the rapper introduced special guest Justin Bieber, the precocious pop sensation who dominates the trending topic stream of Twitter on a daily basis. The 16-year-old took the stage to perform his hit “Baby” with every bit of swagger as the single-named pop stars he is now bumping off the charts.

With the crowd at its feet, and a few girls close by tweeting their hearts out, this was the moment that set the tone for what would be a night of sensory overload as the group responsible for dominating the pop charts last year with its album “The E.N.D.” hit the stage.

Tuesday was the last of two dates the Peas played in Los Angeles, and there wasn’t a single sign of fatigue as they played hit after hit.

 

Not counting the group’s triumphant appearance at last year’s Electric Daisy Carnival and a Coachella or two, big beat electronica duo the Crystal Method has not performed a stand-alone set in Los Angeles for six long years. That's an eternity, especially when measured against the platinum-selling group’s choice to maintain a SoCal home base since the early '90s.

But all that is about to change with the group’s date at Hollywood’s Avalon on Friday night – a rare live set booked into the Crystal Method’s North American “Divided by Night” tour that band members Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland promise will be “full of surprises.” So much so, that until fairly recently, they didn’t know for sure what was going to happen.

Pop & Hiss bumped into the Vegas natives on the red carpet at the Grammys last month, moments after it had lost out to Lady Gaga in the best electronic/dance album category. Adding insult to the injury of their defeat, the pop diva skipped collecting her trophy in order to primp for show time, leaving the Crystal Method to stew in its own vitriolic juices.

“Lady Gaga took us down and she couldn’t even show up to collect the award,” Kirkland groused. “Next year, I think they should implement a thing where if you’re not in the room to collect the award, your award goes to someone else. It’s like, if you put in to win the blender, you’ve got to be there to win the blender, right? You gotta be there to win the award!”

A recap of our conversation follows.

The Times gave plenty of inches to the Grammys' winners tally, quotes from stars and unpacking What It All Means. But we thought you'd like to see the planning, wisecracking and behind-the-scenes machinery that an artist goes through on his or her first time being nominated.

We couldn't have asked for better hosts than the bawdy electro-rap duo LMFAO, who were up for (but did not win) best electronic/dance album and presented a bevy of awards at the pre-telecast.

We followed them from their hotel room into the limo, onto the red carpet and into their seats at the Grammys on Sunday. Read the whole story of their Grammy day right here, or watch The Times' red carpet interview with the pair after the jump. Who is that dapper, dashing fellow standing to the left of them in the video though?