iHeartRadio Festival 2011 ~ Review & Pictures

[undrwood9098]

K, I'll give a short summary of everyone else except for Carrie.

First off, this was an amazing, amazing experience!

Top acts by setlist, performances, audience reaction, etc.
1. Lady Gaga
2. Jay-Z
3. Carrie Underwood
4. Kelly Clarkson
5. Bruno Mars

DAY ONE
--The Black Eyed Peas: LMAO, next.
--Kelly Clarkson: YESSSSS. She's freaking incredible live, point blank. I hated "Mr. Know It All", but after hearing it live, I'm starting to dig it. Idol is, like, the only way the music industry can get artists that will sound the same live as they do on recording. Kelly & Carrie are perfect examples of that.
--Bruno Mars: Can you say "cliché"? His set was fun, sure, but I could go the rest of my entire life without EVER having to listen to any of those songs ever again. He kept the crowd going after Kelly got them started, though.

CARRIE UNDERWOOD: I say it time after time after time again, but this girl truly can do no wrong. First off, when Joe Jonas was introducing her, people (mainly me...okay, it was, like, 75% me) were going nuts. Once Joe said "I'm staring a Carrie Underwood playlist--" the crowd started screaming. It was so cool to see a crowd that was into so many different forms of music completely freak over Carrie. She came storming out with Cowboy Casanova, and after that performance alone my throat was feeling it. My friend just stared at me the whole first song and called me "obsessive." So, anyways, apparently there was something wrong with the live feed because on Twitter everyone was complaining that the crowd was dead. Well, I can assure you all that the crowd was completely bonkers the entire night. There must've been a bad audio connection with the live stream and the audience mics because I've never been in such a crazy show in my life. The IKYW performance was the best I've ever heard from her live. It was seriously FLAWLESS. That girl sat down on the bench and saaaaaang. The audience erupted after the super-duper-big note before the final chorus kicked in. It was such a chilling moment to experience in person to see such a diversely-interested audience flip out over a girl who was milking cows less than 7 years ago. The biggest highlight of the night for me was the BHC singalong. When the opening to the song kicked in, the entire floor of the arena JUMPED up. It was the funniest thing in the world, too. They were just clapping along to LN before, and then all of a sudden they hear the opening notes, and they lost their pants, lol. The singalong was the second biggest crowd reaction of the night (behind Jay-Z, which was something I expected ). And yes, I was the star of the sing-along. Thank you, thank you! Overall, her set was easily the BEST in terms of quality and performance for the night.

--Jane's Addiction: Wasn't too impressed, but they had a decent set. I was basically cooling down during their set after sweating my butt off from Carrie's performances.
--Alicia Keys: Boring, yawnfest, disappointment.
--Coldplay: Fun, interesting, but they lacked a LOOOOT of energy.
--Jay-Z: He pretty much ruled the crowd. Once he came out, every single person was on their feet. That's why I went to the concession stands THEN. No lines = happy me.

DAY TWO
--Steven Tyler: Energetic, got the crowd going. I loved seeing a rock legend like that live. It wasn't as good as seeing the ACM 2011 performance live, but it was still pretty freaking cool! Jeff Beck's appearance made it even better.
--Nicki Minaj: Funny, cute, bubbly, catchy songs... That's all I've got.
--Rascal Flatts: They definitely didn't sound their best last night, but they were still a good representation of Country-Pop for the night at the festival. Lots of people sang along with WHTM. I wish they had another crossover hit like that!
--Jennifer Lopez: There is no way she's in her forties. NO WAY.
--Sublime w/ Rome: skipped 'em, went to get some food & drinks.
--David Guetta: passed his set, but I listened to it while I was eating. I loooooooove his new material! I wish I would've seen him. His collaboration with Usher is currently a favorite of mine on the radio right now.
--Kenny Chesney: I've never really gotten the appeal for him, but he was certainly a great Country fix for me in a night of Pop and R&B.
--Lady Gaga: This woman is amazing live. The show she puts on is unlike one I've ever seen! She had the most energetic, active, and fun set of the entire two days (I know, I know -- Carrie's was amazing, but Gaga took everything up 5 notches). Her dedication to Jamey was so classy and moving, and I was so happy to be in the audience for that because she proved herself to be more than a lyricist of causes; she's an activist of them, too. I really don't know how to describe her other than fantastic. Her entire set was put together flawlessly. She got the crowd moving like nobody else within the past 2 days. They definitely picked the right person to close out the festival. I couldn't have imagined anyone else doing it other than her.

That's the basics of everything! Nothing too "behind the scenes" because the stars weren't sitting in the audience like they do at awards shows, so I couldn't provide too much "unseen insight." I'm glad I went, though! Can't wait to go to the ACAs in December and the CMA Fest in 2012!

I'll add pictures later. They're all from the jumbo-tron and off of my iPhone, so they're a little blurry and pixelated, so I'll only upload the ones you can make out pretty clearly.

[Jade_kt]

Thanks for the review. I'll take your review as true representation of the show over EW's anyday and I agree Lady Gaga's set was the best of the two days. She really impressed me alot.

[teesharky]

Awesome review! I stayed up to 4 am EST watching Lady gaga, and I have to agree with everything you said. She was outstanding! I agree that she kind of stole the show, even over Carrie-- but Carrie did fantastic and was definitely one of the best.

I am glad you said that the crowd was louder then we could hear.

In the LA Times review, the blogger said the crowd was so damn drunk and loud that he never saw anything like it. lol So that is good to hear. lol

I am so glad they loved Carrie and gave her a good reaction! YAY!

[undrwood9098]

Thanks, jade.

And yes, the crowd was EXTREMELY friendly to Carrie, which was very good to see!

[Carrieflattsfan]

Very, very nice review!

Thanks for posting, glad you had a great time.
I'm really happy to hear the crowd loved Carrie, because they did seem pretty dead on the live feed.

I think it was a great idea to bring all these artists together for this; hopefully they'll continue next year as well.

[judes]

Thank you for the great review - very thorough - glad to hear the crowd was rockin and that Carrie heard the love!

[scoutfisher]

thanks, good summary.

i agree about bruno mars - his set was entertaining to watch but nowadays when i hear his music on the radio, i switch the channel - overplayed.

[robinannhunt]

I am glad that Carrie was on the night before and not in competition to Lady GaGa. Great review.

[DizzyDollyDee]

Loved your review - loved hearing Carrie got the love = she needs to know the crowd loves her!!!

[rainbow1]

Great detailed review, thank you!!!

[Claire2004]

Thanks for the review! I'll take your review over the snarky EW one like Jade said lol.

[teesharky]

LA Times said people were really trashed there... lol Did you notice alot of drunk people? Just curious. If so-- good for them as it must have been a perfect night to let loose and have a good time.

[robinannhunt]

My niece wasn't drunk, lol. She went on Saturday.

[Carrieflattsfan]

LA Times said people were really trashed there... lol Did you notice alot of drunk people? Just curious. If so-- good for them as it must have been a perfect night to let loose and have a good time.

I would think you'd find a lot of drunk people at any kind of huge event like that. Thousands people at huge event + alchol= lots of drunk people no matter where you are.

[undrwood9098]

LA Times said people were really trashed there... lol Did you notice alot of drunk people? Just curious. If so-- good for them as it must have been a perfect night to let loose and have a good time.

Noticed them, sat near them, got water spilled on my shoes by them.

On Day 2, however, I may or may not have been a part of that drunk crowd.

[robinannhunt]

^^lol

[conorlovescarrie:)]

Thanks for the review, it sounds like you had a great time! And that's so great the love carrie was getting from the crowd!

[rosie08]

Thank you! I am jealous!!!!!!

[bree]

Thanks for sharing. Cool that you got to see so many artists that weekend!