The 11 other acts performing at Friday night’s Z100’s Jingle Ball never had a chance. Headliner Miley Cyrus underlined her pop dominance throughout 2013 with a performance that saw her steal everyone else’s thunder and create plenty of her own too.
The teenage crowd inside Madison Square Garden greeted her with screams that were probably heard in Hoboken. Cyrus made it a spectacle from the start, opening with a rocked up version of “Party In The USA” while flanked by a sketchy-looking Santa, a small person in a silvery suit with cone-shaped boobs and a human Christmas tree. It doesn’t get much more festive than that.
Her penchant for the surreal is a big reason for Miley’s recent rise to fame but smartly, she’s balancing that with her musical ability. The acoustic acoustic cover of Lana Del Rey’s “Summertime Sadness” and epic new single “Adore You” may have pricked the cheery atmosphere, but Cyrus knows that she can’t live off that one twerk forever. She’s a singer, not a novelty and if these moments didn’t make that emphatically clear, then hearing her belt out the finale of “Wrecking Ball” certainly did. Get used to her, because Miley’s party will last well in to 2014.
Elsewhere on the bill, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis showed their success this year was no fluke by turning in a thrilling performance that peaked with riotous version of “Can’t Hold Us” and a moving take on “Same Love” featuring guest vocals from Mary Lambert and Tegan & Sara.
Paramore marked their mainstream crossover with a brilliant set of pop punk songs including “Misery Business” which singer Hayley Williams performed with a delighted fan plucked from the front row.
And Robin Thicke turned up to play “Blurred Lines” as well as some other songs that pretty much no one cared about- just like every other concert he played this year.
But it was Pitbull who really rocked the arena hardest early on. His dumb dance tracks don’t do much to engage the brain but the Floridian can start dance parties at will- something that was again apparent when he reappeared to work the crowd during Enrique Iglesias’ appearance.
Further down the bill, things were much less fun. Ariana Grande’s breakthrough has been based on the power of her voice but her songs still leave little impression and her decision to give “Last Christmas” (originally by Wham!) a hip-hop makeover was unforgivable. The tuneless noise that resulted was a pop atrocity so grave that the United Nations should intervene.
Selena Gomez continued to transition from doe-eyed Disney starlet to sexy, chart-vixen, but it was an unconvincing sell. Aside from the alluring groove of “Come And Get It,” her set was filled identikit dance pop numbers delivered with the all the personality of a wet washcloth. Humbug!