The CW Network to Broadcast an Exclusive Two-Night Television Special on October 2 and October 3 from 8 – 10 p.m. ET/PT
NEW YORK – September 19, 2021 – After two days and dozens of legendary performances, the eleventh annual iHeartRadio Music Festival hosted by Ryan Seacrest concluded on Saturday evening at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas with unforgettable performances by Billie Eilish, Cheap Trick, Coldplay, Darius Rucker, Dua Lipa, FINNEAS, J. Cole, Journey, Khalid, Lil Baby, Nelly, Sam Hunt and Weezer, with special guests Florida Georgia Line, Walker Hayes and more!
The iconic weekend-long concert event included the biggest names in music across all genres on the main stage at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on the evenings of September 17 and September 18, and at the Daytime Stage at the iHeartRadio Music Festival presented by Samsung Galaxy on Saturday afternoon at AREA15, which featured performances by Olivia Rodrigo, The Kid Laroi, Saweetie, All Time Low, 24KGoldn, Russell Dickerson, Yungblud, Gabby Barrett, Tate McRae, and Conan Gray.
Throughout a summer-long on-air and online promotion, lucky iHeartMedia radio station listeners across the country were awarded an exciting trip to Las Vegas to experience the 2021 iHeartRadio Music Festival. For fans not in attendance, iHeartRadio’s Big Boy, Bobby Bones, and Tanya Rad hosted a live backstage broadcast featuring exclusive interviews that aired across iHeartMedia radio stations throughout the country in more than 150 markets and on iHeartRadio. The CW Network exclusively livestreamed both nights of the festival via CWTV.com and The CW App, and will broadcast a two-night television special on October 2 and 3 from 8 – 10 p.m. ET/PT. Fans can stream the iHeartRadio Daytime Stage presented by Samsung Galaxy on LiveXLive.com and LiveXLive’s app.
Immediately following both nights of the iHeartRadio Music Festival, the official Post Show Presented by Expedia aired live on iHeartRadio’s Facebook and Twitter accounts. Hosted by Maxwell & Crystal Rosas, they covered the biggest moments of each night! Fans not in attendance can scroll through #iHeartFestival2021 to see tweets and retweets from fans as well as artists and Festival presenters.
Highlights of the 2021 iHeartRadio Music Festival and the Daytime Stage:
- Dua Lipa kicked off Friday night by giving everyone a dose of Future Nostalgia. She had everyone on their feet and dancing along to hits like “Physical,” “New Rules,” “Love Again,” “Levitating” and more. Later in the evening, Ryan Seacrest paused the show to award Dua an iHeartRadio Titanium Award for “Levitating.” The Titanium Award celebrates songs that hit one billion audience spins across iHeartRadio stations.
- Cheap Trick treated everyone to a trip down memory lane with performances of their biggest hits over the years, including “I Want You to Want Me,” “Dream Police” and “Surrender.”
- Walker Hayes, one of the most recent additions to the all-star iHeartRadio Music Festival lineup, had everyone singing about Applebee’s on a date night and Oreo shakes with his TikTok-famous hit song “Fancy Like.”
- FINNEAS, who is dropping his debut album, Optimist, next month, previewed the project with his iHeartRadio Music Festival set, rocking the house with his closing song “The 90s.” His slower track, “A Concert Six Months From Now,” showcased the artist’s passionate vocals,
- Darius Rucker not only performed some of his country hits like his feel-good summer anthem “Beers and Sunshine,” but he brought back Hootie and the Blowfish with “Only Wanna Be With You” and “Hold My Hand.” And what’s more iconic than closing with fan favorite “Wagon Wheel?”
- Weezer rocked the house with a career-spanning set, including timeless classics like “Beverly Hills,” “Hash Pipe,” “Holiday in the Sun,” their Toto cover of “Africa,” “Say It Ain’t So” and “Buddy Holly,” all with Rivers Cuomo in an iconic mullet and mustache.
- J. Cole, fresh off the basketball court, took over the stage to perform songs including “London<” “Power Trip” and “No Role Modelz,” and even brought out special guest Bas to perform their collaboration “The Jackie.”
- Nelly, with special guests Florida Georgia Line, ended night one of the iHeartRadio Music Festival in epic fashion by taking the audience on a journey through many hit songs. Nelly got the crowd going with tracks like “E.I.,” “Where The Party At” and “Air Force Ones,” before bringing out Florida Georgia Line for “Cruise” and “Lil Bit.”
- 24kGoldn was the first to take the Daytime Stage at the iHeartRadio Music Festival presented by Samsung Galaxy. The rapper performed his hit “Valentino,” giving fans a taste of live instruments to go with the lyrics of the chart-topping hit that blends rock, country and trap. 24kGoldn was also among this year’s recipients of the iHeartRadio Titanium Award.
- Russell Dickerson immediately brought high energy to the Daytime Stage, kicking off his upbeat set with his 2017 hit song “Every Little Thing.” In addition, at the Main Stage on Friday night, Russell Dickerson introduced Darius Rucker.
- Tate McRae opened her set with “All My Friends Are Fake,” the second single from her debut EP All The Things I Never Said. She joined her dancers to show off some moves while treating the crowd to a performance of “Bad Ones,” from her EP Too Young to be Sad, which dropped earlier this year.
- Conan Gray got self-reflective on the Daytime Stage, asking the crowd if they are in love before admitting he never has been. His set included the post-breakup track “Maniac,” “Astronomy,” “People Watching” and his mega-viral hit “Heather.”
- Gabby Barrett kicked off her set with “The Good Ones,” serenading her husband, fellow musician and American Idol alum Cade Foehner, on guitar. The day before her performance on the Daytime Stage, she released the music video for “Footprints on the Moon,” the latest single from her highly anticipated debut album Goldmine.
- Yungblud rocked the stage in a sheer black shirt, crop top and leather skirt, standing on the speakers while the crowd jumped along to his set, which included “Strawberry Lipstick,” “parents” and “fleabag.”
- All Time Low’s set was the perfect mix of their latest hits, like “Once in a Lifetime,” and nostalgic throwbacks, including their 2007 hit “Dear Maria, Count Me In,” an iconic track that turned into a viral TikTok trend earlier this year.
- Saweetie brought much-needed Icy Queen energy to the Daytime Stage, where temps soared to 95 degrees. After revealing she battled some wardrobe issues behind the scenes, she hit all her choreo while performing tracks like “Back Seat,” “Tap In” and “Best Friend.”
- The Kid LAROI got the whole crowd jumping with his high-energy tracks “GO,” “STILL CHOSE YOU” and “Without You.” His whole band captivated the crowd, with his guitarist delivering an epic solo. The Kid LAROI even pulled double duty at the iHeartRadio Music Festival, later performing on the Main Stage at T-Mobile Arena.
- Olivia Rodrigo closed out the Daytime Stage at the iHeartRadio Music Festival presented by Samsung Galaxy. Walking out to the biggest cheer of the day, she launched into “Brutal,” followed by hits “Driver’s License,” “Good For U,” and more. She revealed to the crowd that this was her first ever show, a moment celebrated with a nod to her family, tears from her fans, and a blast of confetti.
- Billie Eilish opened the second and final night of the iHeartRadio Music Festival alongside her brother and collaborator FINNEAS on backup vocals. Her performance, one of her first since dropping her sophomore album Happier Than Ever, got the crowd dancing to tracks like “Bad Guy,” “Oxytocin” and “Everything I Wanted.”
- Sam Hunt started a massive arena-sized “House Party” before opening up to the audience about feelings of nostalgia over the last year and a half with his latest single “23.” His set included a mashup of two of his hit singles, “Breakup in a Small Town” and “Drinkin’ Too Much.”
- Coldplay performed a dreamy set that mixed classic favorites like “Vida La Vida” and “Fix You” with newer tracks like “Human Heart” and “Higher Power.” The band ended their larger-than-life set with confetti falling from the ceiling.
- Lil Baby transformed the Main Stage into an icy white wonderland, performing his infamous verse from Drake’s “Wants and Needs,” as well as the fan-favorite tracks “Drip Too Hard” and “On Me,” Lil Baby then brought out a squad of TikTok dancers to accompany his 2020 anthem “Woah.”
- Khalid, celebrating his first show since 2019, gave nothing less than his usual “Free Spirit” energy. He got sentimental while performing “Location,” acknowledging how much the song changed his life. He then brought out Daytime Stage performer Tate McRae to perform their hit summer anthem, “working.”
- Journey closed out the 2021 iHeartRadio Music Festival with an epic performance. The legendary band kicked off their setlist with “Separate Ways” and “Anyway You Want It,” and saved “Don’t Stop Believin’” for the big finale. The crowd was showered with confetti as the final notes played.
- The 2021 iHeartRadio Music Festival also featured celebrity appearances from 98 Degrees, Debbie Gibson, Teddi Mellencamp, Derek Hough, Chrissy Metz, Olivia Jade, Maddie and Kenzie Ziegler, Joey McIntyre, Donny Osmond, Jana Kramer, Tayshia Adams, Asher Angel, AREA21, CL, Olivia Holt, MAX and more, plus host Ryan Seacrest and iHeartRadio’s presenters Elvis Duran, Bobby Bones, Woody, Mario Lopez, Big Boy, DJ Envy, and more!
Proud partners of this year’s event include: Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water, Capital One, The CW, Emsculpt Neo, Expedia®, Mattress Firm, OneOf Green NFT Platform, Rohto® Cooling Eye Drops, Sprouts Farmers Market, Samsung Galaxy, T-Mobile, Wendy’s®, Advil, Excedrin and Voltaren.
The iHeartRadio Music Festival, which debuted eleven years ago in celebration of the launch of the iHeartRadio digital service, has quickly become one of the most talked about music events of the year. The Festival is a live representation of the diverse music experience that fans find and enjoy through the iHeartRadio app, iHeartMedia’s free all-in-one digital music, podcasting and live streaming radio service – with more than 3 billion app downloads and more than 150 million registered users.
The iHeartRadio Music Festival is co-produced by John Sykes, President of Entertainment Enterprises and Tom Poleman, Chief Programming Officer for iHeartMedia. For more details about the iHeartRadio Music Festival visit iHeartRadio.com/festival.
