Saturday, May 9 marked the 17th KIIS FM Wango Tango music event that took place at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif. The day-long music festival celebrated Top 40 artists and brought many of the largest artists of today’s music industry onto one stage.
Wango Tango 2015 featured a variety of popular music artists ranging from Jason Derulo, Ne-Yo, Fifth Harmony, Nick Jonas and Kanye West to famed DJs Calvin Harris and David Guetta. With a crowd of over 21,000 people and a setlist, the stadium began to shake with the pulse of the music and the crowd’s excitement.
The music festival kicked off bright and early outside the StubHub Center with food trucks, photo booths, and a Ferris wheel. Though the weather was slightly chillier than what most preferred, festival-goers quickly found themselves warming up as they ran around the festival and jumped up and down in their seats while screaming the lyrics to their favorite songs.
However, with over thirteen artists performing, there were restrictions on the length of some artists’ performances. As the headliners, Justin Bieber and Kanye West were granted thirty and forty minutes respectively, other performers were granted no more than twenty minutes, if that.
New artists like R&B singer Natalie La Rose, known for her hit single “Somebody,” and rapper Lunchbox Lewis, known for his single “Bills,” were given more than enough time with under ten-minute performances. On the other hand, “Chandelier” and “Elastic Heart” singer Sia was tragically given only seven minutes to share her raw and beautiful voice.
Despite the short set times for some artists, the Wango Tango performances were huge successes and crowd pleasers. David Guetta and Calvin Harris were met with energetic chants to every lyric from the crowd as they waved their glow sticks in the air. Nick Jonas and Justin Bieber took the stage to the deafening shrieks of hundreds of teens in the crowd. In addition, Kanye West delivered a highly anticipated and tight set, with all or part of sixteen different songs, ranging from his newest single “All Day” to old hits “Gold Digger,” “Heartless,” and “Power.”
In the end, Wango Tango is different from other music festivals not because of its Top 40 lineup, but because of the crowd’s energy. There are few things that make you feel more alive than a crowd of people screaming lyrics to songs you have listened to countless times and memorized. The thunder when the crowd’s feet pounds on the bleachers in anticipation of the next act and the endless screams, cheers, and dances from the audience unified thousands of people, all in celebration of the music that we all know and love.