Glass Animals were forced to miss the 2022 Grammy Awards after frontman Dave Bayley tested positive for COVID.
The Oxford band were nominated for the Best New Artist statue at this year’s ceremony, which took place in Las Vegas, Nevada Sunday 3 April.
Shortly before the event kicked off, however, Bayley took to social media to confirm that he’d “received a positive result on a rapid PCR and my lateral flow tests are showing the same”.
“I feel fine, and am showing no symptoms so far, but nonetheless it would be truly irresponsible for me to attend the Grammy ceremony,” the singer continued.
“I am so overwhelmingly heartbroken. Not just within myself, but for everyone who has worked so insanely hard with us over the past couple of chaotic years, and for every one of you who supported and believed in this project enough to get us here through thick and thin.”
Bayley added: “I wanted to be there for all of us as this has been a colossal team effort. I wanted to do it for Joe [Seaward, drummer] who survived that horrible accident and was strong enough to recover.”
The frontman went on to praise Glass Animals’ label, management and crew, and said that he’d wanted to attend the Grammys “for my best friend who passed away”, who the record-breaking ‘Heat Waves’ was written about.“‘Heat Waves’ is a song about missing someone and loss in difficult times,” Bayley wrote. “That difficult time has bitten us tonight, and we will miss sharing the evening with you all. The meaning in the lyrics is hitting me hard right now.” (NME)
