Like so much of the entertainment world one year ago, the Detroit Music Awards faced a stark choice: Throw in the towel — or head to the Internet.
With its Fillmore Detroit event canceled because of COVID-19, the DMAs team quickly whipped together a virtual version of the annual show, an “all in this together” production beamed from a host of living rooms. Packed with home-taped segments of widely varying quality — including figures such as Sting, Alice Cooper, Chad Smith and Uncle Kracker — the program became a charmingly ragged, emblematic artifact of that surreal spring of 2020.
With a big in-person gathering still off-limits, the Detroit Music Awards will reprise the virtual concept for its 2021 show, a 30th anniversary celebration that starts at 8 p.m. Sunday. Having moved to the stable grounds of Facebook, and with a year to have streamlined the production, DMA organizers are promising a slicker version this go-round.