BTS, Coldplay, Kane Brown, Keith Urban, Migos, Miley Cyrus, Thomas Rhett, Usher and more are on the bill for the 10th anniversary iHeartRadio Music Festival, which announced its lineup this week. The event will air on The CW app and CWTV.com on September 18 and 19, filmed on stages in Los Angeles and Nashville. Organizers also promised intimate moments backstage with performers, who will share how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted their lives and families.
“This year’s iHeartRadio Music Festival will pay tribute to the connection between fans and artists,” a release announcing the lineup of performers says. “Music fans will have the opportunity to introduce artists, as well as enjoy virtual meet and greets. Finally, fans watching live will also have the chance to appear in a special fan video wall and be serenaded by their favorite artists.”
Hosted by Ryan Seacrest, the live taping will feature many performers playing together for the first time since the start of the pandemic earlier this year. It will run live from 9PM ET on the 18-19th, with a Festival highlights special planned for September 27-28. The iHeartRadio Music Festival will also be broadcast on stations nationwide as well as the iHeartRadio app.
Despite no fans planned for the affair, organizers had to work around a multi-faceted approach to gathering artists to produce the event safely.
“We’ll give each of the 10 artists the theater, we’ve got one in L.A. and also have a soundstage in Nashville, record all the performances, put them together and air them on the two-day period (September 18 and 19), five artists a night, just like we would do on the festival on a live radio broadcast and video stream on CWTV.com,” iHeartMedia president of entertainment enterprises John Sykes told Variety. “Then we’ll take the best moments from those performances, just like we’ve done the last nine years, and put them on a two-part special on the CW the following week. So to the fan, it will almost feel the same as it has over the past nine years, except we won’t be at T-Mobile Arena, there won’t be an audience. But the artists will be performing plugged in on a stage.”
The proximity of so many performers to both Los Angeles and Nashville made the two locations logical for the twin-stage setup. Filming will take place in the two locations, with only band members and their staff on-hand, with cleaning between each performer to ensure the safety of all.
Beyond the announced performers, special surprise guests are expected, but have yet to be announced.
