Invocation
Aretha
Ma, Pearlman & co.
Barack’s speech (speech starts about 3:00)
Closing prayer (only half of it–can anyone find the whole thing?)
I’ll put in my $.02 re: each a bit later.
Lowrey blew Warren out of the water. The former was warm and personable and humble, while the latter seemed like he was doing his best to impress us with his “scholarly” orientation and delivery.
I thought Aretha was fine and the Williams piece was played well but tried too hard to be Copland-esque without distinguishing itself as particularly memorable. The chorus was good, but I would have preferred they broke into harmony earlier than “the rockets’ red glare.”
Stevens was also a lot better than Roberts, Dianne did a good job as emcee, and Barack was good in his direct (not too flowery-flourish) approach.
Not one thing in particular stood out as individually stellar, other than the visual of history being made and the sheer size of the crowd and its enthusiasm. Marvelous. 
Oh, and the poem was the worst part. Blah.
I have to disagree with the first half of your statement: that was the worst arrangement of the Star Spangled Banner I’ve ever heard, and you could hear two sopranos struggling to be be divas. In a chorus, you’re supposed to minimize vibrato to unify the tone, but several members were absolutely hamming it up.
The other performances were great though.
I shouldn’t have said “good” but merely Fine. Nothing special for a song that’s fairly tedious to sit through (and at least the Divas brought some energy to the piece, since the first two verses were Zzzzzzzzzz)
The poem was so bad, right? It picked up at the end, but the first half was awful.
It. Didn’t. Help. That. She. Read. It. Like. This.
Also, Lowery’s benediction was awesome. “We ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when white will embrace what is right.”
I really enjoyed the “'Tis the gift to be simple” routine by Ma, et al.
I’m one of those non-believers that Obama surprisingly gave a shout out to, but I agree with the awesomeness of Lowery.
Though, I couldn’t help but involuntarily chuckle at the “Yellow will be mellow” just because I couldn’t help but think of the water rationing in California several years back. To get people to not use as much water when folks flushed toilets they wanted to discourage flushes when all there is in the bowl is a bit of pee and toilet paper. They (whoever “they” are, I don’t know) came up with a slogan: “If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down.” No disrespect meant to our yellow-skinned brethren, I certainly don’t equate yellow-skinned people with pee, but I just couldn’t help thinking of that slogan. hangs head in shame
As far as rankings,
Obama speech (10)
Biden speech (he looked positively giddy. I love Joe) (9)
The quartet (8)
Lowrey (8)
Aretha (7)
Poem (liked the words, hated the delivery) (4)
Warren (hypocritical bigot) (-10,982)
Much commentary on Warren’s hypocrisy at chez susan.
We saw it at a packed movie theater, in high definition, and even though it was open to anyone (a specific group didn’t set it up) the theater was in a very liberal part of a very liberal city, Obama’s city, but also within blocks of the area known as “Boystown” (you can guess), so it was viewed, not surprisingly, with a very partisan audience. It warmed my heart to hear all the booing and hissing that went on when Warren was introduced. Very little clapping at the end of his hypocrisy, just more hissing. Lowery, on the other hand, got a big ovation. You can imagine how Obama’s speech was received. It was wonderful.
On a scale of 1-10…
Invocation
Material: 2
Performance: 3
Rather insincere sounding but professional except for the fact that he never looked up from his text. He varied between tent preacher and high-school-speech-class-excessive-emphasis-&-spitting. Boring material, and the Lord’s Prayer as a closer put the “everything totally as expected” cap on it.
Aretha
Material: 5
Performance: 5
I would have preferred a different song, but wadda ya gonna do? Ms. Franklin sounded to me like she was having trouble getting enough air, but she’s still the Queen of Soul. There’s a thread specifically for discussion of same.
Ma, Pearlman & co.
Material: 3
Performance: 9
Totally forgettable piece, but professionally arranged. It doesn’t get better than Pearlman & Ma, and they lived up to their reputations here. Stunning technique and almost overwhelmingly emotional performances–as I expected and was not disappointed.
Barack’s speech
Material: 7
Performance: 9.5
I was waiting for the kicker phrase, the “Four score and…” or “Ask not!..” and it never came. He addressed the issues of the day, asked and inspired many to do better, disowned the previous administration, and stated his plans for the future. Well done, but not the it-will-be-quoted-for-the-ages material that I was expecting. His delivery, as always, was exceptional.
Oy! I forgot the poem. Probably blocked it.
Material: 5
Performance: 1
As most have noted in this thread, uninspiring material, horribly delivered. I’m not a poet and have no particular opinion on the poem itself, but I know a good performance when I see one–this wasn’t it.
Closing prayer
Material: 9
Performance: 10
Thank you ArchiveGuy for the good link.
I was concerned at the beginning that he wouldn’t physically make it to the end, but he got stronger as he went. His ability to meld the most serious subjects with humor in his prayer was excellent, and he pulled it off as a performance, too.
His use of the contrast of “high office” vs. “low moment” and the humor in his voice on “we know you got the whole world in your hands” were top notch. Plus, anyone who can put “the national, and indeed the global, fiscal climate” into a prayer–and make it work–gets my respect.
He made several nice changes in the quotes he used, “tanks will be beaten into tractors” was my favorite. How many people know what a plowshare is these days anyway? It made it much more listenable that it wasn’t simply one more bible quote in a prayer from a preacher. Nice!
Combining Barack’s “yes we can” with the Constitution’s “to achieve a more perfect union” was good, too.
Finally, using “Look over our little angelic Sasha and Malia” to lead into “We go now to walk together as children, pledging that we won’t get weary in the difficult days ahead”–perfect!
I’m an atheist, but that was an excellently written speech and an impressive performance.
I prefer the original quote, personally.
The way Warren said “Sasha! and Malia!” creeped me right the fuck out. Someone is going to sample that and use it in a song.
I’m a big fan of Aretha Franklin, but frankly I hated her rendition of TSSB. Part of it is that I just really don’t think a patriotic standard, like a classic hymn, should be given too much revamping whether it’s R&B, rap, bluegrass, rockabilly, or whatever (and I’ve heard all of those), but it also wasn’t Arethan. I’ve wondered if she’s sick; she looks terrible, and if anyone ever needed breast reduction tis her I fear (she has to have major back problems with those pumpkins out front) and I’m guessing she’s diabetic and hypertensive as well; if she doesn’t do something I don’t think she’ll be able to perform at all soon.
Perlman- good, but not a candle to his best work, nor given the material could it have been.
Obama- I agree that it didn’t have the “they’ll be memorizing it in 3rd grade in 2086” line, but otherwise I thought it was excellent.
Warren- Divorcing my rabid dislike for the man (who has gay friends you know- just ask him), it was an okay prayer. Nothing I particularly liked about it or took issue with.
Poem- I didn’t particularly care for it but then I’m the last person to judge poetry. I think it’s one of those “way too personal” forms of writing and almost cringe when it’s read aloud to a large audience.