The Covid-19 pandemic has forced the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to permanently alter its schedule.
Going forward, the annual ceremony will be pushed to the fall from its spring-time fun. The nomination process also will be conducted in the same year as the ceremony. That’s also a change. The class of 2020 was selected in late 2019.
Joel Peresman, the president and CEO of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation confirmed the changes to “Vulture” in a recent interview.
We moved the timing of the ceremony,” Peresman said. “We’re going to move the ceremony permanently so it’s in the fall of each year because of COVID. We’re also moving the nomination process. Normally, the nomination process starts in September, we announce the nominees in October, and then we announce the inductees in January. This time the nomination meetings will happen in January, so we’ll announce the nominees in February and start that voting process then.”
Hall of Fame Inductees include Depeche Mode, Doobie Brothers and The Notorious B.I.G.
This year’s inductees are Depeche Mode, The Doobie Brothers, Whitney Houston, Nine Inch Nails, The Notorious B.I.G. and T-Rex. Long-time music managers Jon Landau and Irving Azoff were honored with the Ahmet Ertegun Award.
Rather than the traditional live celebration in Cleveland, the site of the Hall of Fame, this year’s inductees will be honored with a show on HBO. The show airs Saturday.
Some of the performers joining the honorees include Bruce Springsteen, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Miley Cyrus, Ringo Starr, Luke Bryan and Jennifer Hudson. Check here for more info on the show.
Peresman told Vulture he was sorry this year’s show had to be taped.
“We felt so badly, and I know a lot of the inductees did, too,” Peresman said. “This was their moment to be onstage with their bandmates and their families and friends to celebrate this moment. It was devastating to us and for them to be able to not have that live moment.”
