Alberta drum group Northern Cree shine at 2017 Grammys pre-show

The Grammys are always one of the biggest nights in music, and last night's event was no exception. With performances by Beyonce, Adele, Katy Perry and Metallica with Lady Gaga, Sunday'sevent attracted an audience of 26 million viewers.

But among Indigenous communities in Canada and the U.S., the most anticipated performance happened during the Grammys pre-show, when Alberta drum group Northern Cree performed.

• Grammy award nominees Northern Cree will kick off ceremony in L.A.

In addition to performing, Northern Cree was nominated in thebest regional roots category, thoughthey lost to Hawaiian musician Kalani Pe'a. It was the group's seventh Grammy nomination.

Five of the group's previousnominations were in the category of best Native American album a category the Grammysgot rid of in 2011.

After the performance, Twitterwas ablaze with tweets about how proud people were of the performance.

Being from Alberta, the group got a shout-out from Premier Rachel Notley, and Samson Cree Nation, the home community of some of the Northern Cree members.

Some people took to Twitter to say how the performance is a step in the right direction to recognize Indigenous musicians.

But others thought the group's stellar performanceshould have warranted them a slot during the televised event.

In addition to Northern Cree's performance, theissue of clean drinking water on the Standing Rock reservationcame up during the televised portion of the Grammys.

When introducing Canadian musician The Weeknd, Paris Jackson daughter of Michael Jackson quipped, "we could really use this excitement at a pipeline protest guys, hashtagNo DAPL."