The iHeartRadio Music Festival has been on every music lover’s heart and calendar, since the past nine years. Heave a sigh of relief as this year, the music fest will still happen as scheduled amid coronavirus hotchpotch in the entertainment scenario.
This much-acclaimed music concert will also have stars like BTS, Migos, Coldplay, Miley Cyrus, among others playing heart-touching beats. As per a new report from Variety, the two-night fest will be recorded from stages in Los Angeles and Nashville and will go on air on CW on September 27 and 28. To name a few, artists include singers like BTS, Miley Cyrus, Kane Brown with Khalid, Coldplay, Keith Urban, Migos, Thomas Rhett, and Usher.
John Sykes, president of entertainment enterprises for iHeartMedia spoke to Variety as he highlighted this news. “The ongoing pandemic has caused the narrative to change literally daily. So it’s challenging the entire radio and television community to reinvent how we connect artists with their audience,” he said.
Even though it will be a live concert, there will be no compromise on safety measures as assured. The artists will perform on actual stages in the two cities, without any live audiences. The recorded shows will be streaming on broadcast and video platforms, including certain glimpses that will air on the CW network. “We figured out a strategy to put safety first and still deliver a live music experience,” Sykes said to Variety. “We’ll put a Zoom suite of fans in there so the artists can look out and see, but they won’t really be there. And we’ll have a production team outside the facility remotely in a parking lot and the artists will have the venue to themselves for an entire day. They’ll be able to rehearse, plugin and play live, we’ll have video effects and sound.”
There has been no detailed mention on how BTS will proceed, given that they’re based in South Korea. The most suitable option to fit the bill at this hour might be for the septet to perform on a stage there since the footage will all be clubbed together for the audience to watch. BTS, having a huge fandom to their credit has already mastered the art of performing at virtual concerts and attracting a massive audience.
As far as the iHeart Music Festival goes, host Ryan Seacrest will conduct virtual interviews by placing cameras in different rooms, creating great opportunities for fan engagement. “There will be fans who will be connected talking one-on-one in the dressing room with artists,” Sykes told the outlet. “We could never put a regular fan in an artist’s dressing room, but we can do it on a video screen. We have some virtual ideas too where fans will be able to perform with one of the artists on stage. So we’re using the challenges to reinvent and come up with creative things that have maybe never been done before,” John added.