Grammy Awards 2021: where will the ceremony be held and what restrictions will there be?
The 63rd edition of the Grammy Awards will be a virtual event this year with the main ceremony taking place at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
As with so many other events this year covid-19 has made people change or put off plans, most frustrating of all usually both. The Grammy Awards are no different, originally set to happen 31 January and at the Staples Center, both the date and location were changed. However, the show must go on and finally the Grammy Awards ceremony will take place 14 March. The Staples Center, will serve as a backdrop but the main ceremony will be held in and around the Los Angeles Convention Center, and with in-person and pre-taped appearances.
Trevor Noah, comedian and Daily Show host, will be the MC for the 63rd annual Grammy Awards with a star-studded line up of performers. Trevor Noah will host the awards show from the main stage, along with other presenters, and four other stages will be for performances from BTS, Billie Eilish and many more, with Harry Styles opening the show.
What are the covid-19 restrictions
The Recording Academy has set up strict protocols to try to keep covid-19 out of the show. According to Variety, any money that they saved on a scaled-down approach has been eclipsed by the “expense and complexity of the necessary safety precautions.” Jack Sussman, CBS’ executive VP of specials, music and live events, told Variety “Short of the Super Bowl, the Grammys are as big and intricate as it gets as a production.”
Patrick Menton, the Grammys’ talent producer told Variety “Everyone is tested every 48 hours, everyone has to wear PPE or face shields, there’s no eating and drinking, we all have to stay six to eight feet away from each other, there’s no yelling, there’s pipe and draping in the hallways to make sure there’s one-way traffic. We’ve spent countless hours making sure that safely is the number-one priority.”
The venue will have five stages facing a central area where the audience will be. The audience this year will only be the nominees and one guest. The artist and their guest will be separated into pods with other artists that they are vying for the same award. After each performance the nominees for the award that is announced will leave, everything will be wiped down and then the next pod will come in.
How often will the artists and guests be tested for covid-19?
To keep covid-19 at bay, the Grammy Awards executive producer Ben Winston and his team set up a strict regimen of testing before and during the show. Jack Sussman told Variety “Ben Winston and this team really figured this out. Some of the artists asked for more protections and we want them to feel safe.”
Patrick Menton gave a fuller explanation of just what the artists and their guests will have to go through. “You get tested before you come anywhere near the building, and once you get to the building, there’s another test. Then, there are zones you can go into — and zones you cannot — and different testing for every zone. There are a lot of steps in place to make sure that no one here has COVID, and if someone did, we would have very specific guidelines around who that person came into contact with, and what zones they were in,” Menton said.