Due to the explosion of cases of the Omicron variant, the Recording Academy, which organizes the Grammy Awards, announced in early January that it could not maintain the show scheduled for January 31 in Los Angeles, judging that it presented "too many risks " in terms of health for the hundreds of artists and technicians mobilized.
The 64th edition will finally take place not in California but in Las Vegas on April 3 in the hall of the MGM Grand Garden Arena, the organizers indicate in a press release.
Omicron has become the ultra-majority Covid-19 variant in the United States and continues to spread in California where more than a million new cases have been reported in one week.
In total, seven million cases have been identified since the start of the pandemic in the most populous state in the country (about 40 million inhabitants).
The Grammy Awards nominations this year gave pride of place to diversity and youth (Justin Bieber, Olivia Rodrigo or rapper Doja Cat), led by Jon Batiste, a 35-year-old African-American jazz pianist and his eleven nominations .
Last year, the Grammy gala evening had already had to be postponed due to the coronavirus, but had finally adapted to health requirements - tests and social distancing - to produce a show particularly well suited to television broadcasting, rich in spectacular performance.
The 2022 edition was supposed to return to a more traditional format in a large stadium in central Los Angeles.
© 2022 AFP