Performances at holiday radio concerts, like the annual KIIS-FM 102.7 Jingle Ball at the Kia Forum on Friday, are like presents under the tree on Christmas morning.
Some are absolute thrills, the No. 1 wishes on your Santa letter. Others? Eh, they’re like new socks, appreciated but not exactly essential.
Jingle Ball 2022 delivered a few gifts that fans will be talking about for a long time, a handful that were pleasant surprises, and some that will be forgotten by Monday morning.
The lineup for the iHeartRadio concert series varies from city to city. In Inglewood, we got big names like dance-pop diva Dua Lipa, Miami rapper Pitbull, and singer-songwriters Khalid and Bebe Rexha, rising stars such as rapper Jack Harlow, Lewis Capaldi, and Dove Cameron, and emerging artists including Ava Max, Nicky Youre, JVKE, and Jax.
The weather outside was frightful, at least by Southern California standards, rainy and cold. But inside, um, Jingle Ball was delightful if more subdued than the 2021 edition which featured bigger stars such as Ed Sheeran and BTS.
Here’s what caught our eyes and ears most on Friday night.
Dua Lipa (finally) arrives
Dua Lipa was booked to play Jingle Ball 2021 before illness took her off the bill. A year later, the dance-pop queen is an even bigger star, and her show-closing set was one of the best of the night.
Lipa’s 30-minute run opened with “Let’s Get Physical,” the singer and her 10 backing dancers gyrating behind a stage-wide railing before Lipa strolled to the front of the stage. The look was refreshingly clean and uncluttered, Lipa in a short red dress, the backing dancers all in black.
Songs such as “New Rules,” “One Kiss” and Hallucinate” followed with the low rumbling bass and an burbling electronic beats serving dance club vibes.
“Cold Heart,” her collaboration with Elton John followed, with Lipa and her dancers sitting on the stage, singing the “Rocket Man” interpolation that she contributes to the No. 1 dance music single. (This might be sacrilege, but I might have liked her live version better than Elton’s at Dodger Stadium a few weeks back).
“Levitating” and “Don’t Start Now,” the latter delivering a strong ’70s disco groove, closed out the set strongly, sending the remaining crowd home on a high.
Lipa was one of three performers of Albanian descent on the bill on Friday, with Rexha and Max the others. No idea what this means, but it felt like it should be noted for posterity.
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The Pitbull party
After a night of performances that by intention or not seemed subdued the Miami rapper Pitbull’s penultimate set was a welcome jolt of (much) higher energy. His songs jump genres in sometimes unexpected ways — “Timber,” originally recorded with Kesha, is rap-country for the dance club after all — but it’s all feel-good get-up-and-dance stuff and very much welcome by the time he arrived shortly before 11 p.m.
“Don’t Stop the Party” got the party started as Pitbull, backed by a tight band and six dancers in skimpy red outfits complete with knee-high red patent leather boots, shook their booties like Santa’s naughtiest elves.
Other hits, including “Hotel Room Service” and “Roof On Fire” revved up the crowd even more before “Time of Our Lives” and “Give Me Everything” ended Pitbull’s set with a dose of positive vibes and good will.
Here for Harlow
Jack Harlow, a 24-year-old rapper, was a fan favorite on Friday. His shaggy good looks and persona that mixes self-effacing young dude with rap braggadocio clearly appealed to the Jingle Ball crowd.
He’s almost certainly the only Jingle Ball artist in history to perform a song named after another performer on the bill, something Harlow said he was nervous to do, but felt he kinda had to include.
“Dua Lipa” is basically a mash note for the singer, opening with the lines, “Dua Lipa, I’m tryna do more with her than do a feature,” and going on to reference others he admires including Ariana Grande and Dallas Mavericks basketball player Luka Dončić. (Alas, Luka’s Slovenian, not Albanian, we checked.)
Other highlights of Harlow’s set included the songs “Tyler Herro,” “Industry Baby,” which originally was a collaboration with Lil Nas X, and “First Class,” which closed out his night.
Lewis Capaldi had to go
Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi was one of the brightest surprises of the night. His voice is beautifully soulful and his songs tend toward sad-eyed balladry.
He’s also disarmingly down-to-earth as we discovered when after his second song he announced that he really had to go and he wasn’t sure he could hold it. “At any moment I may pee my unders,” Capaldi announced in his Scottish brogue. “If such an event takes place we are going to keep on rollin’. Just be aware of that.”
Then he sang another big, sad ballad, “Before You Go,” which definitely was not about going to the loo, and he wrapped up his set with his No. 1 hit “Someone You Loved,” one of the best single performances of the night, before scampering off stage to you-know-where.
The speed round
Singer-songwriter Khalid has another gorgeous voice and the crowd connected strongly to songs such as “Young, Dumb & Broke,” “Numb,” and “Better.”
Bebe Rexha demonstrated her facility with different genres in a short set that included songs on which she originally collaborated with DJ-producer David Guetta (“I’m Good (Blue)”), rapper G-Eazy (“Me, Myself & I”), and country stars Florida George Line (“Meant To Be”).
Dove Cameron and Ava Max both showed promise — a decent part of the crowd seemed excited to see them — on songs such such as “Breakfast” and “Boyfriends” for Cameron, and “Million Dollar Baby” and “The Motto” for Max.
KIIS-FM Jingle Ball
When: Friday, Dec. 2
Where: Kia Forum, Inglewood