Kanye West lives in the spotlight, but on Friday the acclaimed rapper was instead a backlit silhouette barely visible behind smoke for his first few songs on stage at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas.
The headline-maker, who recently announced at MTV’s Video Music Awards that he has designs to run for president eventually, made the slightest of references to his possible run, singing the lyrics from “Only One” that “You’ll be the man I always knew you’d be,” adding the year “2020” at the end.
The iHeartRadio Music Festival is normally a time warp of a variety show of rock, pop, country, dance and rap, and this year’s show proved no different. West’s closing set followed performances from Duran Duran, Coldplay and The Killers as well as rapper Lil Wayne, soulful singer Sam Smith and country music’s Kenny Chesney at the MGM Grand Garden Arena for the festival’s fifth year.
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Flashbacks to the 1990s and early 2000s proved popular with a cameo by Third Eye Blind’s Stephan Jenkins performing the band’s 1998 single “Jumper” with pop singer Demi Lovato and short set by reggae artist Shaggy, who sang his 2000 hit “Wasn’t Me.”
The two-day show continues Saturday with performances from Jennifer Lopez, The Weeknd and Blake Shelton. A scheduled performance by Janet Jackson was canceled after an ear injury prevented the singer from flying. The Who also canceled its Friday appearance after Roger Daltrey had come down with a “mystery illness” later determined to be viral Meningitis.
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