MTV’s 2019 Video Music Awards show will take place at the Prudential Center in Newark, Aug. 26.
Becoming the first major entertainment awards show to venture into the Garden State, MTV’s 2019 Video Music Awards has booked itself into the Prudential Center in Newark. The show will take place on Aug. 26.
(June 16 Update: Comedian Sebastian Maniscalco will be the host.)
“New Jersey has an incredible music heritage and is home to some of the world’s biggest artists including ‘Chairman of the Board’ Frank Sinatra, ‘The Boss’ Bruce Springsteen, Queen Latifah, Bon Jovi, Whitney Houston, the Jonas Brothers, the Fugees, and Halsey. The list is wide and endless,” said VMA executive producer Bruce Gillmer, in a press release. “Now the moonperson plants its flag to celebrate all that New Jersey has given to music fans around the globe.”
MTV also has announced that it will debut, this year, a Stan Cam, which will allow viewers to interactively control via Twitter — to some degree — what they are watching, during the broadcast.
The annual VMAs debuted in 1984; the Video of the Year nominees were The Cars’ “You Might Think” (which won), Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” The Police’s “Every Breath You Take” and Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit.” All nominees in this category won at least one award in the course of the evening, though, as did David Bowie, ZZ Top, Eurythmics and Van Halen.
Madonna had just one nomination, and didn’t win, though she made the biggest impression of the evening with her performance of “Like a Virgin.”
Over the years, the VMAs show established itself as a looser and more surprise-filled alternative to the Grammys, though no one can ever remember who won the actual awards 24 hours later.
The vast majority of the past shows have taken place in New York or Los Angeles.
Nominees and the host or hosts have not been announced yet. For information and updates, visit mtv.com/vma.
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