Everything You Need to Know About The iHeartRadio Music Festival
The iHeartRadio Music Festival has concluded its first night back after a year of absence from the festival scene due to
Dominique Angellotti
The iHeartRadio Music Festival has concluded its first night back after a year of absence from the festival scene due to Covid-19. Festival-goers and artists are more excited than ever to participate in the festival and its priceless experience. The festival has taken shape in the beautiful Las Vegas Nevada at the T-Mobile Arena. With a lineup so diverse and anticipated, the festival began Friday, September 17th, and will conclude Saturday, September 18th. A span of two days is open for music lovers to get a taste of all their favorite artists and not miss a thing. Fans can finally attend a music event in person however only with proof of negative Covid test or proof of vaccination. All other fans can equally enjoy the night via live stream on the CW app or CW.com.
Pop Music
The desert becomes dark and the lights come on at the iHeartRadio Music Festival on Friday night for a highly anticipated night of culture and music. Host and Tv personality Ryan Seacrest opens up the night by introducing Dua Lipa one of the most anticipated performances on Friday night. Taking the world by storm particularly in the year 2021, Lipa has been awarded three Grammys in this year alone and certainly showcases time and time again that she deserves her current titles of “Best Pop vocal”, “Best Dance Recording” and “Best New Artist”. It would be an understatement to say fans were ecstatic when Lipa hit the stage and man did she rock it.
Opening with “Let’s Get Physical” wearing a bright purple costume with background dancers in metallic matching costume Lipa certainly didn’t leave out her seductive side while performing her three hit songs however the singer did lose one thing during her third performance. Lipa struggles to hold together her one-piece costume as her right strap dangles while she executes an impressive dance performance to levitating. Dua Lipa also walked away from the arena “A happy girl” as she stated to Ryan Seacrest for receiving an iHeartRadio Music Festival Award.
American Rock
Up next is Classic American rock band, CheapTrick. Formed in 1973 this popular rock band features frontman Robin Zander, guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson, and drummer Bun E. Carlos. The hit song “I want you to want me” was the band’s opener and this classic favorite brought the house down.
Country Music
Country takes over in three forms and well, we are living for it. Darius Rucker, Florida Georgia Line, and special guest Walker Hayes never disappoint to bring the house down and get the country vibes flowing through your veins. FGL enters the stage at the end of the festival and does what they do best. It is an understatement to say the duo had the crowd in the palm of their hand because we all know you haven’t experienced a country concert until you’ve experienced Florida Georgia line.
Rap Music
Rap hits the stage with one of this generation’s most influential artists by none other than J. Cole. Three-time iHeartRadio award nominee, The 36-year-old from Frankfurt Germany hit the music scene in 2007 with his mixtape “The Come Up”. J. Cole shows up to this year’s festival in a tie-dye t-shirt, sweats, and infamous Crocs. J. Cole opens with his “favorite song from his 2013 Album Power Trip”, “She got me up all night” featuring his favorite 808 drums as he likes to refer to them. American Rapper Nelly kicks back to some early 2000’s vibes and of course, who can resist? Needless to say, the rap section of the festival for Friday night smacked.
Alternative
Weezer was an exciting veteran band that was among Friday night’s lineup because who doesn’t love Island in the sun? The band announced dropping two albums in the last 8 months and possibly 4 new albums in the next year on the iHeartRadio stage setting the tone nicely for their performance! “Beverly Hills” was Weezer’s opening song followed by “All my favorite songs” and of course “Africa” their biggest crowd-pleaser and one of the most iconic songs in music history. Among a classic and veteran band, a new artist has been rising to fame through many channels of the music industry. Finnneas, known for songwriting for himself, sister Billie Ellish, Justin Bieber, Kid Cudi, and many other artists. Finneas puts to work his guitar skills and soothing voice for a strong performance of personally written songs closing out his slot with fire, flames, and furry.
Day Two at The iHeartRadio Music Festival
Generation Z roars from the crowd goers as 24kGoldn hits the iHeart stage for the first time ever. He starts his set off with our personal favorite, “Coco Channel” and “City of Angels”. Just before his exit, he tells the crowd “The festival directors are trying to kick him off but he can’t depart from stage without sharing his Mood”. Of course, The first few chords of his most popular song with over 25,172,055 monthly listens alone closes his set. The crowd loved the first set of the day and seemingly cannot get enough as video footage shows fans singing along and beyond ecstatic for the surprise of one extra song from 24kGoldn.
The interviews are hot under the iHeart Tent being conduct by Tanya Rad. Russell Dickerson meets with Rad before his daytime performance and says “this is one of my favorite festivals and I’m excited to see all the artists but specifically All Time Low who I have loved for years and years”. Dickerson explains his road to fame, reminding us of his incredible success as he achieved the “longest climbing solo male debut song” with “Yours” that was written, filmed, and made a smash hit by his perseverance and belief in the song. Dickerson is a vision of humility on stage continuously thanking fans and spreading his gratitude to all for being back together after a tough year.
Tate McRae is up next and jokes with Tanya Rad about “Working”, her collaboration song with Khalid in a seemingly awkward exchange of Rad telling McRae that the song is “a great make-out song”. The 18-year-old laughed it off as she seemed surprised but happy about the effect her song has had on Rad and further states she is excited to sing for an audience again and hopes everyone enjoys her set. Starting off with “All my friends are fake” McRae is joined with backup dancers and showcases her own move and famous leg lift. Second in command on the stage is an appearance from Saweetie and Gabby Barrett the only female country singer to grace the festival stage this year. Barrett plays her most popular radio hit “I hope” rocking an outfit change of a pearl black trench coat and golden gloves.
Conan Gray hits the stage in a leather dazzled out vest as he dazzles the crowd with his heart wenching relatable set including “Heather, People Watching and Comfort Crowd”. Olivia Rodrigo, singer of Drivers License and good 4 u, plays both smash hits and make a lot of spectators, tik tok users, and 18-year-old fans excited and empowered by these two 2021 anthems. The Kid Laroi is among the younger generation who also carry one of the best anthems of 2021 in a duet with Justin Bieber. “Stay” makes it in the top 100 on the Billboard chart and gets quite the response as Kid performance it for the iHeart Festival audience.
Yungblud and All Time Low hit the ground running at Saturday’s festival bringing the rock to the stage and they sure did deliver throwing out all the hits and rock star vibes complete with leather, pink hair, and all the spikes.Yungblud certainly puts on an interesting show as he continually signals his lead guitarist to tone it down and runs around the stage as stagehands attempt to fix an issue with the sound pack attached to the singer. Nothing seems to be going right for the singer as he angrily throws his hands off to the side stage several times over the span of his four-song set. The issues seem to be related to a disconnection through his In-ears monitors.
The clock strikes 7:30 and the evening iHeartMusic Festival comes to a close with a killer night time show back inside the Area 15 Complex. Billie Eilish is in the house and the most talked-about performance to be at the iHeartMusic Festival. Another wow performance from the 5 times Grammy Award Nominee in the form of non-other than 19-year-old Eilish and the crowd cannot get enough. The youngest performances for Saturday night at The iHeartMusic Festival, Billie performs her biggest hits and we are asking ourselves, how can Billie still be shocking us with this talent?
Cold Play and Journey hit the stage representing the band culture amongst the majority of Saturday night being solo artists. The oldest and most successful band at the festival this year, Journey is the 25th best-selling band in the world selling over 80 million records globally. Naturally, our older generations relate to this veteran’s band however when “Don’t stop believing” plays under the iHeartMusic Festival lights, every attendee joins in a cadence of the iconic tune. We love to see it and to see it you have to be at the iHeartMusic Festival where Journey and Billie Eillish meet for the first time in one of the sweetest artist meet ups we have yet to see.
Lil Baby, Khalid, and Sam Hunt are Saturday nights solo artists who each bring a completely different flavor of music and meaning to the stage. Khalid’s co-collab artist Tate McRae, who made an appearance earlier in the day had fans wondering if this duet duo would potential sing their hit song “working” being in the same place at the same time. To our “surprise, McRae did end up joining Khalid for a second performance at the awards and the crowd was going wild as the two had an obvious chemistry on stage.
Lil Baby arrives to the stage in an all white snow suite? you do know we are in Vegas, right Lil Baby? None the less the 26 year old rapper shares his story yet again in an ironic situation of being paid by Young Thug to get in the recording studio to keep out of trouble. Lil Baby certainly made the most of this arrangement coming out with song after song that hit the music charts. Rocking the stage in a white beanie and “Ice” around his neck, Lil Baby had his fans chatting his songs that are not only an anthem for his life but relatable to many others.