Music festival saw uneven efforts, compelling performances

It was a celebration of something that others might bemoan, voiced by a dude with his back pressed to the wall at all times.

“They’re the in-crowd,” Eric Church sang, eyes hidden behind shades, recalcitrance in plain sight. “We’re the other ones.”

Clearly, he preferred it this way.

The song was “The Outsiders,” the opening salvo in Church’s fierce, fantastic set of flared-nostril honky tonk at the iHeartRadio Music Festival Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden, and those were its first words, which hung in the air like storm clouds, darkening Church’s features instead of the horizon.

Church’s backing band, all tattoos, denim and biker-worthy facial hair, looked like the kind of guys you’d hire to provide security at a particularly rough-and-tumble roadhouse. And they played like it, too, roughing up their songs the way a dive bar bouncer would an unruly drunk, employing snarls of guitar and hard rock bombast in place of fists and cue sticks.

In both appearance and sound, they fancied themselves outlaws of country orthodoxy, a designation that only half applies. Church might favor torque and ‘tude more than some of his peers, but he doesn’t sound out of place on country radio, where he has notched his share of hits.

Still, Church and his band’s performance was telling on this night, the second of the festival’s fourth year, which was given to artists who don’t fit in — some willfully, others less so.

A few hours after Church played, another outsider, Iggy Azalea, performed. She’s a 24-year old Australian rapper who minces her words as if chewing on a rubbery steak.

She’s also white, which has earned her accusations of cultural appropriation, a weak argument that fails to acknowledge the open-ended nature of culture to begin with.

Nevertheless, unlike Church, Azalea wants to fit in — and to an extent, she has, at least commercially. Her hit “Fancy” was arguably the most ubiquitous song of this past summer.

Azalea performed “Fancy” at the end of her set, and it was like that which came before it — stiff, labored, something that felt more like an exercise in physical exertion than artistic expression.

Another misfit from the same part of the world as Azalea, New Zealand singer Lorde, prove to be far more comfortable in her own skin and, as such, a much more compelling performer. Over pinging, minimalist beats, she sang of being OK with being different, whipping her long hair in dramatic arcs all the while.

And then there were the ultimate outcasts: geek rock guitar heroes Weezer

“I just don’t belong,” acknowledged singer-guitarist Rivers Cuomo, a man who seems hermetically sealed in awkwardness, even on stage in front of thousands of appreciative fans.

Cuomo and his bandmates not belonged only here, though, their set was an early highlight, helping balance a leaden, energy-sapping performance by 50 Cent later on.

It’s wasn’t all oddball and underdogs, though.

Superstar DJ-producer Calvin Harris became the first electronic dance music artist to headline iHeart Radio, performing inside a massive illuminated DJ booth that looked like the hull of a battleship.

He justified his elevated status with hits like “Sweet Nothing” and “So Close to You,” songs that feature dramatic vocals set against cresting synth lines suggestive of a jetliner at takeoff, bringing out singer John Newman for his current single, “Blame.”

Harris’ performance was bookended by the night’s biggest act, U.K. boy band One Direction, which had legions of teenage fans climbing over seats to get closer to the objects of shrieking, breathless affection.

It looked kind of like a jailbreak at a home for wayward ’tweens.

Their passions were inflamed not only by One Direction’s Tiger Beat-worthy looks but the manner in which they distinguish themselves from other acts of their ilk, both of the past and present.

Their songs, like a set-opening “Midnight Memories,” had a lived-in quality to them and a bit more edge than might be expected from this kind of crush-worthy pop act, and they banged ’em out with guitar grit adding some heft to their multi-part harmonies.

Their time on stage was highlighted by a maniacally received “Best Song Ever.”

The song referenced in its title wasn’t a One Direction tune, but, you know, try telling that to the 14-year-old next to you.

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476. Follow @JasonBracelin on Twitter.