Pink, Styles, Guetta mark colorful opener at iHeartRadio

The Kats! Bureau at this writing is Section 14, Row J, Seat 3 at T-Mobile Arena. Yes, a KB first. Never filed from here. I’ve been asked three times if I am working.

“Define ‘working,’ ” I say, before owning up to the fact that this is what I do for a living.

It’s iHeartRadio Music Festival Night 1 in VegasVille. A healthy scraping of the scene:

Pink’s arrival

Donning a menacing black-leather ensemble, she blasted through the general entrance of T-Mobile Arena and was led to the stage by security. Let’s get the party started, for real, though she actually opened with “Raise Your Glass.”

You can always count on Pink for something uncommon. She also flew around the arena in a harness for “So What,” a move she has performed so frequently in VegasVille she could guest-star in “MJ One” at Mandalay Bay.

Pink’s earrings, a pair of wolf designs, were also a hit. At least from the ladies in my row.

In Styles

The Best Use of Gucci goes to Harry Styles, who wore that designer brands suit, a black-and-red-diamond number that hinted to a joker in a deck of cards.

Styles performed a convincing take of “Sign of the Times,” and repeatedly asked the crowd how it was doing. “This is my last song, OK? This is where you go crazy,” he said as the crowd of devotees shrieked back. “I was going to fly around, but Pink stole my act.”

Styles finished with “Kiwi” in a solid, and seasoned performance. He seems more than a teen heartthrob, this one.

Across party lines

Spotted at the show at MGM Resorts’ T-Mobile Arena: Caesars Entertainment exec David Hoenemayer, who runs Planet Hollywood, Paris Las Vegas and Bally’s.

Great use of giant balloons

Coldplay, the quintessential arena rock band, dumped a few dozen colored balloons on the crowd, reminding those of us who remember the finer days of Blue Man Group at Monte Carlo. Front man Chris Martin ducked and kicked several of theses oversized props while waving his way through the aptly placed, “Adventure of a Lifetime.”

What works in Vegas?

Coldplay, one of the earliest sellouts at T-Mobile, packing the place on Sept. 1, 2016.

Serious visual and cultural adjustment

Pink, then Styles, then Coldplay, then Chris Stapleton. Say this for iHeartRadio Music Festival, it does have it all …

Best song about drankin’

Easy call here, from Stapleton, with “Tennessee Whiskey,” which could well be that state’s song. Huge response from this Vegas crowd.

Great opener

Jared Leto and Thirty Seconds to Mars led with a peace-lovin’ medley featuring “Purple Rain,” Imagine” and”Heroes.” Leto also crept into the crowd, and didn’t refine himself in the aisle. He led a singalong of “Kings and Queens” in the lower level of Section 6, just across the way from where I am now.

Facial hair action

“You guys like Chris Stapleton?” Leto said. “He made me feel really insecure about my beard.” That would be true of most rockers, save Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, Zakk Wylde and a few others …

30 seconds, 30 fans

A couple dozen audience members, at least, joined Thirty Seconds for their set-closing “Up In The Air.” Leto handpicked all of them.

Maybe we know this one ... @theweeknd #iHeartfestival pic.twitter.com/u8IxWy7U5g

— John Katsilometes (@johnnykats) September 23, 2017

Something about The Weeknd

He was heavily influenced by Michael Jackson, with “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” an early favorite. He covered “Dirty Diana” at his London debut at Wilton’s Music Hall in 2015.

Guetta the icon

Host Ryan Seacrest referred to David Guetta as “the trailblazer of EDM, doing mixtapes when nobody knew what they were,” and he’s right. Guetta turns 50 on Nov. 7, but was as electrifying as a teenager in his LED-blazing booth in the middle of the stage. He was joined by Bebe Rexha in the middle of the set for “Hey Mama,” a song that certainly sent many in this crowd to the clubs.

Very cool. @davidguetta w/ #titanium action ... #Iheartfestival pic.twitter.com/vcwOAG29W4

— John Katsilometes (@johnnykats) September 23, 2017

Pace yourselves, folks, we have a daytime festival Saturday afternoon and another swing through T-Mobile at night. Lorde, Kings of Leon and Miley Cyrus are in the mix. Dress accordingly.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.