LAS VEGAS (AP) – Kanye West lives in the spotlight, but on Friday the acclaimed rapper was instead a backlit silhouette barely visible behind smoke for his first few songs on stage at the iHeart Radio Music Festival in Las Vegas.
The headline-maker, who recently announced at MTV’s Video Music Awards that he has designs to run for president eventually, made the slightest of references to his possible run, singing the lyrics from “Only One” that “You’ll be the man I always knew you’d be,” adding the year “2020” at the end.
The iHeart Radio Music Festival is normally a time warp of a variety show of rock, pop, country and rap, and this year’s show proved no different.
West’s closing set followed performances from Duran Duran, Coldplay and The Killers as well as rapper Lil Wayne, soulful singer Sam Smith and country music’s Kenny Chesney at the MGM Grand Garden Arena for the festival’s fifth year.
Flashbacks to the 1990s and early 2000s proved popular with a cameo by Third Eye Blind’s Stephan Jenkins performing the band’s 1998 single “Jumper” with pop singer Demi Lovato and short set by reggae artist Shaggy, who sang his 2000 hit “Wasn’t Me.”