Lynyrd Skynyrd convey the home down with “Free Bird,” Logic enlists Ryan Tedder for his show-closing set & extra.
Another iHeartRadio Music Festival is within the books, and day 2 had all of the madness we have come to anticipate from the A-list occasion. There have been collaborations (Justin Timberlake & Shawn Mendes, Logic & Ryan Tedder), there have been surprises (an off-the-lineup Lil Jon DJ set) and there was even “Free Bird.” Yes, Lynyrd Skynyrd introduced their signature music to Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena for some severe Down South rock ‘n’ roll, sandwiched ever so uniquely between Kelly Clarkson’s wailing pop and Imagine Dragons’ laser mild present.
You actually can not discover this mixture of musicians anyplace else, so go forward and relive Saturday night time minute by minute under. (All occasions in PT.)
7:47 p.m.: Justin Timberlake opens day 2 of the 2018 iHeartRadio Music Festival with the pounding beat of his Man of the Woods lead single “Filthy.”
8:17 p.m.: JT asks the group, “Can I do one thing particular for you tonight?” That particular one thing is bringing out Shawn Mendes (“He’s one of many coolest cats I’ve met”) to hitch him on the FutureSex/LoveSounds karma traditional “What Goes Around…Comes Around.”
8:40 p.m.: Carrie Underwood pulls out a half-dozen hits for her set, together with the empowering opening quantity “Church Bells,” however there’s one music she will not be doing. “I simply regarded down at my set listing, and in keeping with it, I’m singing ‘HornyBack’ subsequent,” she laughs whereas Timberlake’s left-behind rundown.
8:49 p.m.: Underwood, who’s anticipating her second youngster with husband Mike Fisher, wraps up the Vegas-appropriate observe “Last Name” by saying, “My child was kicking throughout that one!”
9:06 p.m.: Mendes returns to the stage for his full set, and the title of his first music, “There’s Nothing Holding Me Back,” might additionally seek advice from the impossibly loud screams coming from his followers throughout T-Mobile Arena.
9:18 p.m.: Shawn marvels at getting to hitch Timberlake onstage simply an hour earlier, calling him “one in all my all-time idols.”
9:23 p.m.: The 20-year-old singer wraps up by transitioning from Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody” into his personal “Treat You Better,” similar to he did at his MTV Unplugged set final 12 months.
9:32 p.m.: Following Friday night’s Ludacris surprise, this time we get an sudden two-part set from his Atlanta compatriot Lil Jon, who has the group dropping their minds over “Turn Down for What” — even Luke Bryan and Ryan Seacrest.
9:37 p.m.: Lil Jon makes his method off the stage however guarantees, “I’ll be again although! YEAH!“
9:44 p.m.: Luke Bryan arrives and instantly transforms T-Mobile right into a honky tonk, getting the occasion began with “Country Girl (Shake It for Me).”
10 p.m. “Vegas, I hope that is your music,” Bryan says earlier than launching into “Play It Again” — a wonderfully applicable quantity for the iHeartRadio crowd, given the romantic hit’s radio-centered story line.
10:21 p.m.: Kelly Clarkson made headlines earlier within the week after she called out iHeartRadio for inviting her to carry out on the competition however not enjoying her new music. Well, her opening variety of the night time, “Love So Soft,” was her most up-to-date observe to interrupt into Billboard‘s Pop Songs airplay chart, peaking at No. 21, and he or she pulled out two extra songs from her 2017 Meaning of Life album to introduce them to the business crowd: the rocking “Whole Lotta Woman” and newest single “Heat.”
10:31 p.m.: “I ain’t sang this music since American Idol,” Clarkson says earlier than performing “Respect” to pay tribute to the late Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin. “I like her, y’all,” she says after wrapping the music. “My entire life on TV began with that music.”
.@kelly_clarkson paying RESPECT to @ArethaFranklin proper now at our #iHeartFestival â¤ï¸—- pic.twitter.com/Cszqcm0ToW
— 1075 The River (@1075theriver) September 23, 2018
10:55 p.m.: Lynyrd Skynyrd begins issues off with “What’s Your Name,” and the group undoubtedly already is aware of the reply to that query. “Skynyrd’s in the home!” frontman Johnny Van Zant hollers from the stage.
11:18 p.m.: The classic-rock legends have a variety of songs to select from, however after enjoying “Simple Man” in honor of the U.S. troops and urging the group to sing each phrase of “Sweet Home Alabama,” there was just one attainable alternative for the ultimate quantity: “Free Bird.” There’s a motive somebody yells “Play ‘Free Bird!'” at nearly each live performance; it is as a result of there’s nothing like being within the room when the 10-plus-minute barn-burner is carried out. The guitars are much more epic than anticipated, and even the youthful crowd who got here via the doorways for Shawn Mendes or Logic can not help however get swept up within the chaotic finale. The entire factor is made much more poignant as video of Johnny’s brother — founding Skynyrd frontman Ronnie Van Zant, who famously died in a aircraft crash in 1977 on the top of the band’s profession — performs overhead so the brothers are almost duetting on the group’s signature music. Massive confetti bursts mark the ultimate minutes of the frenzied efficiency, and after the band makes their method offstage, a crew of workers with leaf blowers sends mountains of the confetti flying again into the group to sign that the Down South occasion has formally ended.
11:36 p.m.: Homegrown heroes Imagine Dragons have a tricky act to comply with (do you suppose Dan Reynolds & firm ever thought they might play must hit the stage after Skynyrd did “Free Bird”?), however they begin in reliably larger-than-life trend, with an enormous mild present and drum line, adopted by Reynolds sneaking as much as the entrance of the stage and launching proper into the refrain of their largest hit, “Radioactive.”
12:07 a.m.: Logic is the ultimate performer of the night time, and he brings out Ryan Tedder for his or her new collaboration “One Day.” Tedder will get behind the keys for the uplifting music to convey two days of music magic to an finish.
