The best part of living in Los Angeles is being lucky enough to see your favorite stars in concert. Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, The Chainsmokers, Sam Smith, Demi Lovato, Logic, Kesha, Niall Horan, Halsey, Charlie Puth, Liam Payne, and more surprise guests were all in Los Angeles as part of iHeartRadio’s Jingle Ball tour. They’re also headed to Dallas, San Francisco/San Jose, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Washington DC, Chicago, Atlanta, Tampa and Miami.
We were super excited to attend 102.7 KIIS FM’s Jingle Ball Concert on Friday at the Forum in Los Angeles, getting in the holiday spirit and watching all these performers take the stage.
Ed Sheeran opened the show and played an acoustic set of all of our favorites including “Castle on the Hill,” “Shape of You” and his newest single “Perfect.” Ed had the audience singing (and dancing) along. The redhead really got the audience pumped for an amazing night of performances to follow. Ed came out on stage again for the last set of the night–none other than his bestie Taylor Swift, who headlined the show.
Taylor started off with “…Ready For It?” (what else) and yes were absolutely ready for her to kill it. She even revived Old Taylor and performed her 1989 songs “Blank Space” and “Shake it Off.” Taylor debuted her first live performance of “End Game” with Ed, which had us practically in tears. The set was full of all sorts of snakey references as she danced in a glitter snakeskin hoodie.
Former One Direction bandmates Niall Horan and Liam Payne reunited before each taking the stage separately. At KIIS FM’s Wango Tango in May 2017, Niall performed while Liam attended to support him, so we were really happy to be able to see both artists perform their very different music at Jingle Ball this year. Niall had the audience singing along to his hits such as “Slow Hands” and “Too Much to Ask,” while Liam had the audience dancing along to his new songs.
James Corden introduced his longtime friend Liam who performed “Strip that Down,” “Get Low” and his newest hit single “Bedroom Floor.” The sexy single was written by Charlie Puth (who also performed at Jingle Ball) and has a music video staring Bella Thorne. Bella was also in attendance and actually introduced Charlie before he blessed us with his angelic voice, which was somewhat awkward as Charlie invited Bella to Jingle Ball last year and later accused her of cheating on Tyler Posey.
#Kesha says the last couple of years have been “a bit of a bitch” and sings for the nasty women in the audience. #JingleBall pic.twitter.com/o9ip0iB9hz
— Lindsay Weinberg (@WeinbergLindsay) December 2, 2017
Other fan favorite performances include Kesha, who put the audience through an emotional rollercoaster. From “Praying” to “Tik Tok,” Kesha’s fans went from crying to dancing real quick. She sang about nasty women and dedicated her performance to all the “badass” women in the room. We were right there with her and so happy to see her rise above many battles she’s faced this year. Kesha also brought out a surprise guest—rapper Macklemore—to perform their duet “Good Old Days,” though the “Tik Tok” throwback was definitely a highlight as she screamed and belted into the mic with such force.
As for other memorable performances, Halsey gave it her all in her knee-high boots with Lauren Jauregui singing “Strangers.” Demi Lovato rocked the crowd in a gold shimmery pantsuit with “Sorry Not Sorry.” The humble Sam Smith brought a somber tone by singing many of his classic hits, including “I’m Not the Only One.” My heart was melting, okay?!
As introduced by Ryan Seacrest, Sam Smith has the voice of an angel. #iHeartJingleBall pic.twitter.com/fjDQEAOQhg
— Lindsay Weinberg (@WeinbergLindsay) December 2, 2017
If that wasn’t enough to wow you, Jingle Ball topped it all off with Logic, Charlie Puth and The Chainsmokers. It’s truly like listening to the radio in person with all the best Top 40 hits on stage—and Charlie and Logic even covered the classic Christmas songs “This is Christmas” and “Deck the Halls,” respectively.
The concert will air on the CW later this month if you want to relive it or see it for the first time. Check out the rest of our Jingle Ball coverage including red carpet interviews with Big Time Rush’s James Maslow and Bachelor Nation’s Becca and Dean.
Photos Courtesy of Getty Images for iHeartRadio and Sara Zaghi