Friday, September 27, 2019

At the star-studded
iHeartRadio Music Festival in Vegas, the following people assembled for an extremely heavy photo op shortly before
Warner Records'
Mike Chester asked super chef
Mario Carbone for a quick omelet: (l-r) Carbone, Warner Co-Chair/COO
Tom Corson, Chester,
CAA music boss
Rob Light and iHeart supremo
Bob Pittman.
Green Day kicked off the the ninth annual iHeartRadio Music Festival at T-Mobile Arena Friday, rocking through hits such as "Holiday," "Basket Case" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams” as well as their new single "Father of All."
Among the highlights:
Camila Cabello delivered her first live performances of “Liar” and “Shameless”;
Lil Nas X made a surprise appearance;
Halsey debuted "Graveyard” in a set that included "Gasoline" and "Bad At Love"; and
Tim McGraw paid tribute to
The Cars’
Ric Ocasek. Steve Aoki closed out Friday night with special guests
Monsta X, Backstreet Boys and
Darren Criss.
Miley Cyrus opened Saturday night with a set of hits plus covers of
Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” and
Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb.”
Mumford & Sons opened their set with "Guiding Light,"
Chance The Rapper included his new "Do You Remember," and
H.E.R. covered
Ed Sheeran’s “Make It Rain.”
Zac Brown Band,
Def Leppard and
Alicia Keys rolled through their catalogs of hits.

Surprise guest and
Columbia chart-melter
Lil Nas X wrangles a new remix featuring (l-r)
Matt Stevens,
James White, himself,
John Strazza and
Jim Burruss. The latter, it's believed, is still rapping as we post this.
Brad Gerstner, Team iHeart's
Rich Bressler,
John Sykes,
Tom Poleman and Pittman join
RCA superstar
Miley Cyrus and the label's
Jessie Maldonado shortly before putting everything on red.

Pittman, Sykes,
Chance the Rapper,
Ryan Seacrest,
Marissa Morris,
Doc Wynter and manager
Newal Dehan debrief the whistleblower's complaint and ponder the Emoluments Clause.
Seen just before an unforgettable trip to the buffet table are (l-r) Epic's
Scott Dimig, iHeart's
Rob Miller, Epic's
Sandra Afloarei, superstar
Camila Cabello, iHeart's
Dylan Sprague and
Taylor Jukes and Epic EVP
Rick Sackheim.
Green Day's
Billie Joe enjoys a serene moment with his team shortly before Warner Records'
Rob Goldklang, overcome by the sheer rock majesty, smashed a guitar over a nearby deli platter. Seen wondering if they have the time to listen to us whine are (l-r)
Crush's
Scott Nagelberg, Mike Chester, Tom Corson, Billie Joe, John Sykes, iHeart's
Brad Hardin, Goldklang and Crush's
Erik Olesen and
Jonathan Daniel.

Shortly before launching into some mad choreography are RCA's
Mike Boccuzzi,
Backstreet Boys'
Howie Dorough, RCA's
Wendy Goodman and Jessie Maldonado, iHeart's Rob Miller, BSB's
Kevin Richardson,
Patriot Management's
Jen Sousa, RCA's
Jeff Rizzo, the group's
Nick Carter, iHeart's Taylor Jukes, BSB's
AJ McLean, iHeart's
Alissa Pollack, BSB's
Brian Littrell,
Robert Kennedy, RCA's
Lori Giamela and Patriot's
Karly Brecher.
The Backstreet Boys and
Steve Aoki, who performed "Let It Be Me" together at the fest—and are now informally known as BackSteve Boys—get airborne with an "Aoki jump." We experienced something similar at
Coachella, but it may have been the gummis. (Photo credit:
Sam Neill)
Lisa Worden, Poleman and
Glassnote's
Nick Petropoulos and
Marlee Ehrlich prepare to celebrate
Mumford & Sons' performance by dancing a few timeless jigs and reels, as soon as this app finishes downloading.

The members of Epic K-Pop ensemble
Monsta X teach Poleman 17 ways to say "Hey Buddy" in Korean.

TV icon
Tori Spelling pitches a series to Warner's Corson and Chester in which she works records at radio while battling the supernatural.