Recapping iHeartRadio Music Festival 2013... A Huge Success

A Look Back On A Fun Weekend

Putting on a major event like iHEARTRADIO MUSIC FESTIVAL 2013 is a huge undertaking for CLEAR CHANNEL MEDIA + ENTERTAINMENT.

And like the previous two years, CCM+E delivered another big cross-platform win at the MGM GRAND GARDEN ARENA in LAS VEGAS on FRIDAY (9/20) -- (read NET NEWS 9/21) and SATURDAY (9/21) -- (read NET NEWS 9/22), while enganging listeners in-person and across station sites and on iHEARTRADIO.COM as well as PLAYSTATION and YAHOO.

Not only were the fans having a blast, but so were many CCM+E clients, as well as some of the top programmers in the company who were on hand to party.

Here is recap of this past weekend's diverse musical fun.

Friday Night, It All Began

While full of new music, the first night had a definite "old school" flavor to it as the evening progressed with an all-star lineup.

MACY'S iHEARTRADIO "RISING STAR" winners THE SUMMER SET got things rolling in a pre-show set with "Lighting In A Bottle" and then their hit "Boomerang." And then a quick segue into ROBIN THICKE  who warmed up everyone with his record-setting #1 song "Blurred Lines," and a slice of skin during a brief, but not controversial, wardrobe malfunction -- thanks to a lost button on his shirt.

THE SUMMER SET and ROBIN THICKE was a great musical lead-in with a spectacular visual countdown to the official kickoff of iHEARTRADIO MUSIC FESTIVAL 2013 with KIIS-FM/LOS ANGELES and syndicated morning man and iHEARTRADIO MUSIC FESTIVAL 2013 host RYAN SEACREST.

Non-Stop Entertainment For Six Hours

FUN. was up next and got the crowd going with their anthemic brand of music including the hits "Carry On," "We Are Young," and an exciting rendition of THE ROLLING STONES' classic "You Can't Always Get What You Want," in which lead singer NATE REUSS encouraged audience participation, and then the set closed with "Some Nights."

KEITH URBAN performed a knockout set of songs that kept the energy level strong with fans, and of course included his recent chart-topper "Little Bit Of Everything."

ASHLEY GREENE and STEPHEN AMELL introduced MUSE who rocked the house with an aggressive and thrilling set which included "Supermassive Black Hole," "Panic Station," "Uprising," and "Madness."

TIESTO took to the far stage for a live mix set of some of the hottest EDM music out today. TIESTO is no stranger to LAS VEGAS with a residency at HAKKASAN at the MGM GRAND.

J. COLE took the stage next working up his fans and making many new fans with a strong performance and welcomed MIGUEL for their duet "Power Trip" and TLC to the stage for "Crooked Smile."

Old School Wowsers -- All Hail Elton John, Queen & Adam Lambert

One of the musical highlights was the performance of SIR ELTON JOHN who wowed the house by starting his set with "The Bitch Is Back" wailing on a big red grand piano as fans of all ages rocked out.  Next up was "Benny & The Jets" which continued the tempo and fun. ELTON then slowed it down with a big fan fave "Tiny Dancer."  He then played his new single "Diving Board," wrapping his set with "I'm Still Standing," to a standing ovation.

JASON DERULO introduced BENNY BENASSI and his driving beats and well sung vocals and lasers kept the crowd moving.

Next up CHRIS BROWN delivered a powerful set of songs filled with fan favorites like "Fine China" and an energetic set of dance moves.

Then WHTZ (Z100)/NEW YORK and syndicated morning star ELVIS DURAN introduced YLVIS from NORWAY and their viral hit "The Fox," (recently signed to WARNER BROS.), which is fast closing in on 50 million YOUTUBE views.  They performed in-costume to a big response.

KATE HUDSON came out and introduced KATY PERRY who was dressed in halter top and shorts with hair done in twin buns.  She immediately got the audience going with "I Kissed A Girl" her first hit song.  She then went into her next single "Dark Horse" featuring JUICY J.

Then, an energetic performance of "Part Of Me" followed with a nice segue into "Wide Awake."

KATY mentioned her new album "Prism" coming out on OCTOBER 22nd, but promised a lot of her hits and launched into "California Gurls" which morphed into "Teenage Dream." Then KATY dazzled the crowd with "Fireworks" and ended a terrific set with her latest #1 song "Roar."

The night ended with QUEEN and ADAM LAMBERT introduced by KBIG (1043 MY FM)/LOS ANGELES night personality and syndicated radio and TV star MARIO LOPEZ.  The first song was "Bohemian Rhapsody" and if you didn't know it was ADAM you'd swear it was FREDDY MERCURY that was singing.  The playing was amazing.

Among the other songs in this QUEEN retro set: "Another One Bites The Dust," "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," "Who Wants To Live Forever," "Somebody to Love" with FUN.," "Fat Bottomed Girls," "Dragon Attack," "Bohemian Rhapsody (reprised), ""We Will Rock You," and the show closed with "We Are The Champions."

Saturday's Daytime And Nighttime Lineups

No sooner did partiers go to sleep following FRIDAY night's (9/20) iHEARTRADIO MUSIC FESTIVAL at the MGM GRAND GARDEN ARENA, (NET NEWS 9/22) but fans were rolling out of bed fairly early to head to the first-ever iHEARTRADIO MUSIC FESTIVAL VILLAGE, set on 15-acres opposite the LUXOR HOTEL.

On the SATURDAY afternoon bill were MILEY CYRUS (yes, she twerked), JASON DERULO, THE WANTED, THE BAND PERRY, AVRIL LAVIGNE, KREWELLA, twenty one pilots, PETE TONG, CHER LLOYD, AWOLNATION and DJ OBSCENE as well as a special guest appearance by NE-YO, and well over 15,000 showed up in the midday heat to watch them perform.

Later that night at 7p (PT), RYAN SEACREST welcomed another capacity crowd at the MGM GRAND GARDEN ARENA in LAS VEGAS, and reminded everyone to tweet #iheartradio as the IHEARTRADIO MUSIC FESTIVAL 2013, as kicked off night two on SATURDAY (9/21) with one of the most anticipated artists on the lineup, SIR PAUL McCARTNEY.

Playing guitar, McCARTNEY began the set with "Magical Mystery Tour" as the audience stood and cheered and sang along. He then launched into his new single, "Save Us," and met with strong approval. Next up was the bluesy song "Let Me Roll It."

Then McCARTNEY launched into "Everybody Out There" a very BEATLE-esque tune.  And then it was another McCARTNEY classic, "Another Day."

Turning back to the present, McCARTNEY played a new song simply titled "New." And then the BEATLES classic "Lady Madonna" with PAUL on the keyboards.

"Live And Let Die" was McCARTNEY's finale and it featured tons of pyrotechnics and lasers. The crowd gave him a standing ovation, as the haze from the flames gave the atmosphere a haze which lasted a long time.

AVRIL LAVIGNE introduced ZEDD who sang his current smash "Clarity" on the alternate stage. Lots of terrific lighting effects enhanced ZEDD's performance.

Then it was back to some uptempo pop/rock with MAROON 5, who tore it up with "One More Night" and those amazing vocals from ADAM LEVINE. Then without a pause in the action and excitement, MAROON 5 launched into "Out Of Goodbyes." Additional MAROON 5 hits included "Love Somebody, and the energetic set concluded with "Moves like Jagger."

Then TIM McGRAW took the stage, and he owned the house with great songs like "Truck Yeah," "Southern Girl," "One Of Those Nights," and more -- he was crowd pleaser.

Miley Knows How To Move It

MILEY CYRUS clearly makes no apologies of who she is and how she expresses herself. Dressed in white, and accompanying by costumed players, MILEY banged out her hits including "We Can't Stop," "Look What They've Done To My Song," "Party in the U.S.A.," and her huge new hit "Wrecking Ball." One of the most talked-about stars in music, MILEY met with huge love and applause from the capacity crowd.

Rock was well-represented when THIRTY SECONDS TO MARS took the stage, with lead singer JARED LETO simply awing the crowd with a solo rendition of RIHANNA's classic, "Stay."

Then THIRTY SECONDS TO MARS jumped into "City of Angels," and "Up In The Air," among others while hundreds of large round balls were releases on the crowd as well as a confetti storm.

A shift in sound as BRUNO MARS knocked it out of the park with a lot of terrific musical support mixed with his amazing vocals and lyrics.  Among the songs he performed: "Locked Out Of Heaven," "When I Was Your Man," ending the set with tons of pyrotechnics for his current hit, "Gorilla."

Grammy winning rockers PHOENIX were working the room and reaping the applause for their unique vocals and instrumentation on such songs as "Lisztomania," "Lasso," "1901," "Trying To Be Cool" and many others.

Bring On The Beats

MIGUEL, who is featured on many songs with other artists, has hits in his own right and rolled some out, like "How Many Drinks," "Adorn," and others -- the crowd clearly wanted more.

KE$HA had her inner freak on and in full display as she gyrated and rolled around the stage and engaged her fans with lots of lusty dialogue in between songs like "Die Young," "Don't Stop," "We R Who We R," "TiK ToK" and "Blow." Lotta energy and fun from KE$HA.

DRAKE owned the crowd with a string of hits including "Versace," "Crew Love," "All Me," "The Motto," his current smash "Hold On We're Going Home," "Started From The Bottom," and others. But DRAKE gave the CLEAR CHANNEL audio staff quite a workout causing them to dump audio numerous times, winning him the award for most f- and s-bombs during iHEARTRADIO MUSIC FESTIVAL 2013.

The night and weekend of music at iHEARTRADIO MUSIC FESTIVAL 2013 ended with JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, who had a huge orchestra with him -- at least 15 players -- producing a spectacular performance with songs from 20/20 Experience and 20/20 Experience: 2 of 2.

The lead song from JT set the tone: "Sexy Back," followed by "True Blood," "Cry Me A River," "Like I Love You,"  "My Love," his new single "TKO," "Take Back The Night," "Suit & Tie," "Mirrors," and "Only When I Walk Away" -- JT brought the house down!

If You Weren't There...

The Festival will be televised as a two-night primetime special on The CW NETWORK, MONDAY, SEPT. 30th (night one) from 8-10p ET/PT and TUESDAY, OCT. 1st (night two) from 8-10p ET/PT, to launch the network's FALL season.

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