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March 18, 2024

Fire it up — Usher and Motley Crue sure did — on Night 1 of iHeartRadio Music Festival

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Steve Marcus

Usher performs with dancers during the 2014 iHeartRadio Music Festival at MGM Grand Garden Arena on Friday, Sept. 19, 2014, in Las Vegas.

2014 iHeartRadio Festival: First Night

Taylor Swift performs during the 2014 iHeartRadio Music Festival at MGM Grand Garden Arena on Friday, Sept. 19, 2014, in Las Vegas. Launch slideshow »
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Motley Crue lead singer Vince Neil performs during the 2014 iHeartRadio Music Festival at MGM Grand Garden Arena on Friday, Sept. 19, 2014, in Las Vegas.

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DJ Steve Aoki and Will.I.Am perform during the 2014 iHeartRadio Music Festival at MGM Grand Garden Arena on Friday, Sept. 19, 2014, in Las Vegas.

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Ariana Grande performs during the 2014 iHeartRadio Music Festival at MGM Grand Garden Arena on Friday, Sept. 19, 2014, in Las Vegas.

The first night of the iHeartRadio Music Festival has closed, and the evening ended with an impromptu dance-off at the back of the arena floor just off the MGM Grand Garden Arena soundboard.

Don’t ask. It was nothing special. Not nearly as special as the moment Usher turned all Jimi Hendrix with his sneakers, lighting them aflame to end his performance — and the evening — with a drop-in from Chris Brown.

The variety of the acts can be reflected in the two Browns to entertain at MGM Grand. We had Chris, as a surprise, and the scheduled Zac Brown Band. Not at all alike, other than each found a niche spot at the fourth iHeart Festival at MGM Grand. Taylor Swift, Coldplay, Nicki Minaj, Bastille, Steve Aoki, Ariana Grande, Motley Crue, Alicia Keys and Jason Derulo filled out the first night’s lineup.

About 13,000 fans poured into the arena and millions more watched online during the show’s live stream at Yahoo.com. The outdoor iHeartRadio Music Festival Village concert is running throughout today at MGM Resorts Village, just across the Strip from Mandalay Bay and Luxor, with Iggy Azalea, Neon Trees, 5 Seconds of Summer, Kacey Musgraves, Childish Gambino, Magic!, The Pretty Reckless, Jake Miller, Nico & Vinz, Meghan Trainor, Lil Jon and Fences performing.

Tonight at MGM Grand for Night 2, it’s Lorde, Paramore, One Direction, Iggy Azalea, Train, Weezer, 50 Cent, Calvin Harris, Eric Church and Ed Sheeran. The festival is to showcase the online radio station-access app iHeartRadio, which connects users to Clear Channel stations of all variety across the country.

Highlights from Night 1, in the widely appreciated “Best of” format:

Best Bruno Mars revival: The shiny, shimmering Swift, who once, long ago, was a country superstar but brought the house with a nine-piece band powered by a four-man horn section (saxophones and trombones) and four backing singers. They moved and grooved in the way of Mars and his Hooligans, and so many funk/R&B acts from way back when (hashtag James Brown).

Best music industry references: Swift, who repeatedly mentioned listening to the radio, or tuning a radio, or being played on the radio. Given the spirit of the festival, it was a good idea to remind the fans — especially those who might never have touched a dial in their lives — of what a radio is.

Best sampling of the Sir Mix-A-Lot classic “Baby Got Back”: By Nicki Minaj … coincidentally.

Best explanation of the power of DJs: From Steve Aoki, in the press room (and I paraphrase), who said the club scene in Las Vegas is exploding, and the artists making it explode are the star DJs. He also said that the growing popularity of mega-club DJ shows does come at the expense of grand productions, saying production shows can take a year to conceive and stage, but a DJ can work efficiently as a single-person operation.

Best application of a white T-shirt you might buy three-to-a-pack at Target: Coldplay’s Chris Martin. At some point, a band can just dress for comfort. Coldplay is there, as Martin said, “This is the best-dressed crowd we’ve ever played for! Certainly better dressed than us!” The set was pretty straightforward, too, about the same as 2011. He even splayed across the stage during “Viva La Vida.”

Best Answer: When asked if any female vocalists also were “doing it right” by rock ’n’ roll, Taylor Momsen of The Pretty Reckless said, “I live in a bubble. I’m such a Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Pink Floyd chick. I’ll check out some of the acts at iHeartRadio and get back to you.”

Best twist of the “Romeo and Juliet” story: From Swift, who rewrote the end of that Shakespearean tragedy in her own “Love Story,” written when she was 17.

Best intro by Elvis Duran: Calling Steve Aoki “The King of EDM” seems a conversation starter, to say the least. Is he, really? Or is Tiesto? Calvin Harris? Or some 15-year-old we’ve not heard of curled over a MacBook Air somewhere?

Best fun fact about Jason Derulo that seems impossible to believe, yet I do believe it: He has amassed 1 billion (with a “B”) views on YouTube.

Best groovy collaboration: Will.I.Am joined Aoki’s illuminated set.

Best use of a one-word profanity: F marked the spot during a blaring, multi-screen message from Aoki.

Best medley: Without proper warning, Zac Brown Band played “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin and “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” back-to-back — and I mean with no pause for this radical, midstream genre navigational shift — as fiddle player Jimmy De Martini shone.

Best unexpected Queen tribute: Once more, Zac Brown with a lower-key “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Needed? Maybe not. Appreciated? Sure. Might as well throw deep on a night like this.

Best height reference: Nick Jonas informed the crowd and viewers online that Ariana Grande is 5 feet tall. Thus, not so grande. Short. To go.

Best cameo by a cast member from “Community”: Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino, aka Troy Barnes on the NBC sitcom, joined Grande for her mix of “I’m Coming Out.”

Best career encapsulation: Motley Crue. “Home Sweet Home,” “Girls, Girls, Girls” and “Kickstart My Heart” amid vast videos of beautiful women and a firestorm of stage effects worthy of a James Cameron film. The smoke hung over the arena even through the Zac Brown Band set, which followed and seemed to benefit from some free staging.

Best dancers: All other issues aside, two of the best dancers on the planet are Usher and Chris Brown.

Best requisite recitation of our city’s famous slogan: Usher said it, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” It has been said at all four iHeartRadio Music Festival performances. Like the music of Usher, and the application of flames on a stage, it will never die.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWiththeDish.

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