The 2016 iHeartRadio Music Festival at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas came to a big end last night with Britney Spears opening the night and Usher closing it down. In between, the crowd heard short sets from Sting, Tears For Fears, Backstreet Boys, Pitbull, Ariana Grande, Florida Georgia Line, Zedd and Cage the Elephant.
Sting’s somewhat eclectic set concentrated on his music from the Police along with two new songs from his upcoming album.
Opening with Message in a Bottle, he moved quickly into unfamiliar territory, something that is a bit risky for these short “radio party” sets, with two tracks from his 57th & 9th. It was then back to the Police with their best-known hit followed by another lesser known track, Next to You from the band’s debut album.
Sting setlist
Message in a Bottle (from Reggatta de Blanc, 1979)
I Can’t Stop Thinking About You (from 57th & 9th, 2016)
50,000 (from 57th & 9th, 2016)
Every Breath You Take (from Synchronicity, 1983)
Next to You (from the Police Outlandos d’Amour, 1978)
Tears For Fears went in the opposite direction, rolling out their five biggest hits:
Everybody Wants to Rule the World (from Songs From the Big Chair, 1985)
Tears For Fears setlist
Sowing the Seeds of Love (from The Seeds of Love, 1989)
Mad World (from The Hurting, 1983)
Head Over Heels (from Songs From the Big Chair, 1985)
Shout (from Songs From the Big Chair, 1985)
The Backstreet Boys actually took the stage earlier in the evening, joining Florida Georgia Line for Everybody (Backstreet’s Back). They later surprised the crowd by coming back out with a three song set:
Backstreet Boys setlist
I Want It That Way (from Millenium, 1999)
As Long As You Love Me (from Backstreet’s Back, 1997)
Larger Than Life (from Millenium, 1999)
Usher closed the night with a seven song set that included five from his just released Hard II Love album along with bringing on Lil Jon for their hit Lovers and Friends and his huge hit Yeah!.
Usher setlist
Crash (from Hard II Love, 2016)
Missin U (from Hard II Love, 2016)
Bump (from Hard II Love, 2016)
Rivals (from Hard II Love, 2016)
Lovers and Friends (from Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz Crunk Juice, 2004)
Yeah! (from Confessions, 2004)
No Limit / New Level (from Hard II Love, 2016)
