Viva Las Vegassssss! The nation’s music lovers were frantically calling local radio stations to win tickets for this epic concert series and anxiously waited for it to begin at the magnificent MGM Grand Resorts, specifically MGM Grand Arena. September 21st and 22nd of 2013, the weekend for the iHeartRadio Festival where music lovers gather in this growing and changing desert city to see their favorite and latest top of the charts pop singers, hip-hop stars, DJ’s, and live bands at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. This year the Village Stage was added where music lovers attended this outdoor stage at the Lot of MGM Resorts. The performers in this year’s bill were, to name a few, Katy Perry, Elton John, fun., Keith Urban, MUSE, Maroon 5, Miley Cyrus, Justin Timberlake, Sir Paul McCartney, Bruno Mars, Chris Brown, and DJ Tiësto.
A few of us were invited to attend the September 21st concert and backstage to catch the live action behind-the-scenes. Working 90-mph in top speed, at times we felt we were standing in the way of the crew who were all in a hurry to prepare for the first night’s concert. Everything from loading in the music equipment, preparing the performers dressing rooms, performers on stage for rehearsals/sound-checks, where we watched J.Cole rehearsing and raving over Nathan’s hot dogs, sound set-ups, camera set-ups, lighting set-ups, and everything else necessary for the concert.
Backstage there were 16,800 capacity studio rooms and ballrooms. The 10,000 square feet of studio rooms were sectioned off into 1,100-2,000 square feet for the media to have interviews. TV personalities Ryan Seacrest, who also hosted iHeartRadio Festival, to Mario Lopez would have their interviews in these backstage sections of the MGM Grand Arena. There is also a room for a vividly colored red carpet for photo ops with the performers, guest celebrities, and TV personalities. Going backstage, we sensed the crew were 100% dedicated to make these two nights of concert a top-notch production for the music lovers, MGM Resorts, and for the city of Las Vegas!
It is now show time!!! The moment we have all been waiting for. The moment where all the lucky winners who won tickets were dying to get in for, a night of music history, the iHeartRadio Festival! Ryan Seacrest introduced The Summer Set to open up the show. P. Diddy made a special appearance to introduce Robin Thicke for the song “Blurred Lines” who got the crowd on their feet dancing, fun. performed with much…fun, Keith Urban charmed the ladies off their feet, MUSE rocked out with superiority, Tiësto on the turntables got the crowd going, J.Cole with special guests TLC and Miguel, the nicely dressed Elton John, Chris Brown with special guests Benny Benassi, the silly Ylvis of “The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?”), Kate Hudson introduces the girl who kissed a girl Katy Perry, and Queen+Adam Lambert rocked out the classics and ending the concert with “We are the Champions”.
Are you all amazed with this line-up?!? A night with variety of music from Pop to Rock to Electronic dance, there was no shortage of variety at the iHeartRadio Festival. All the performers know how to entertain the crowd with light shows, pyrotechnics, choreographic dancers, dazzling outfits, and most importantly music talent. Tiësto surely caught my attention and of course rockstars MUSE will always remain in my personal top favorites. Chances are if you weren’t familiar with a specific iHeartRadio Festival performer, seeing them live on stage will turn you into a new fan. Thank you iHeartRadio and MGM Resorts! #iheartmgm