"To all of you who don't know me, I'm awkward!", Jessie J screamed, making funny faces while thanking the crowd for joining her last night on Rock in Rio's secondary stage. The Brit showed up blonde for her first ever Las Vegas concert and clearly won the crowd by the minute during an hour long concert that was clearly one of the best on Friday, if not the best.
She was highly energetic, dancing around and eventually stripping to a bikini-like black ensemble, but what really impressed was her vocal ability: a strong performance that had viewers cheering in awe during "Nobody's perfect." She included an improvised song, using the name of an audience member and joking about not being the biggest name on the lineup, "it's ok if you don't know who I am or think I'm Katy Perry," she sang.
Her first single, "Do it like a dude," granted big applause and some serious head banging. The crowd danced to "Domino," lit up their phones to her new single "Flashlight," (soundtrack to Pitch Perfect 2) and sang along to one of her biggest hits yet, "Pricetag." The show ended with the massive hit "Bang Bang," that she performed without Niki Minaj or Ariana Grande joining her on stage, and people were still talking about how good it was afterwards.
Earlier on Friday, the first performer of the day was Hertfordshire native James Bay, who played in front of scattered crowds at 3:30pm. More people gathered around Mercedes-Benz Evolution, the secondary stage, as his powerful vocals and emotional lyrics echoed through the huge venue.
"Can we give the UK a round of applause," he asked, and people complied. Behind him, psychedelic flowers where swirling like a screen saver from the nineties. "You look so beautiful in the sunshine," he gushed, while more people sang along to "If you ever want to be in love," "Let it go" and "Hold back the river," the last song of the concert.
The evening closed with headliner Taylor Swift, but before she got up on stage, it was Ed Sheeran's time. He drew the biggest crowd by far to the main stage, and as night had fell lots of neon lights made the scenery more appealing. Sporting a beard, Sheeran gave a solid performance that began with "I'm a mess" and continued into "Photograph," "Thinking out loud" and "All of the stars." The 1h15m gig finished with "Sing."
But he wasn't done; later on, hen made a special appearance at his BFF Taylor Swift's show, for the duet "Tenerife Sea," past midnight. Over 42,000 people showed up in Las Vegas to see the pop darlings, more than the 37,000 that went to see No Doubt on the Rock Weekend, last week. The festival will close with mega star Bruno Mars.
