After more than a decade in Los Angeles, the Recording Academy has announced that the 2018 Grammy Awards will take place at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. The ceremony, scheduled for January 28, 2018, marks the 60th anniversary of the Grammys.
While the Awards regularly alternated between New York and Los Angeles in the 70s, 80s and 90s, the ceremony has taken place in Los Angeles every year since 2004. When the Awards return to New York early next year, it will be the third time in history that MSG has hosted the event. It was previously held there in 2003 and 1997.
“It had always been something I had thought was of interest to us; it was really all about the details,” Neil Portnow, president of the Recording Academy and a native New Yorker, told Billboard. “We’ve been in L.A. for many years; we used to bounce back and forth from time to time. With the East Coast being the home for half the membership of the Academy — certainly there’s a very vibrant, vital part of the music industry on the East Coast and in New York — and given that this is an anniversary year for us, it’s a special chance to celebrate.”
According to the New York City Mayor’s office, the Grammy Awards will bring an estimated $200 M in economic benefits to the city.
Watch the announcement video featuring Joan Jett, Nile Rogers, Cyndi Lauper, and Tony Bennett, among others, below.
