Photo: Brandon Todd for iHeartRadio
OneRepublic took the stage with career-spanning fan-favorites during the star-studded iHeartRadio Z100 Jingle Ball presented by Capital One on Friday night (December 8). The band kicked off their set with a throwback released more than a decade ago: “Secrets.”
Frontman Ryan Tedder (who dished about a new Christmas song in an interview backstage) hinted at the next song in the band’s setlist as he took a poll among the audience, gauging how many had seen the highly-anticipated film, Top Gun: Maverick, which premiered last year. OneRepublic launched into their smash-hit anthem from the long-awaited sequel, “I Ain’t Worried.” Next, the Madison Square Garden audience could be heard loudly singing to OneRepublic’s soulful 2007 ballad with Timbaland, “Apologize”: “It's too late to apologize, it's too late/ I said it's too late to apologize, it's too late.”
Tedder spotlighted many other powerhouse singer-songwriters as he paid tribute to his roles as a songwriter and producer on genre-spanning hits. He noted, everyone “from Paul McCartney to Ed Sheeran… Taylor Swift to Miley Cyrus… 21 Savage to Tate McRae,” and others. Tedder nodded to Swift’s “Welcome To New York,” “THATS WHAT I WANT” by Lil Nas X, “Sucker” by the Jonas Brothers, and, recently, McRae’s “greedy.” Though OneRepublic didn’t have enough time during the Jingle Ball show to cover all of then, he treated the crowd to a snippet of Beyoncé’s 2008hit, “Halo.”
Tedder and the rest of the band transitioned back to OneRepublic hits with “I Lived,” and engaged the entire audience once again with the band’s 2013 smash-hit single, “Counting Stars”: “Lately, I've been, I've been losing sleep/ Dreaming about the things that we could be/ But baby, I've been, I've been praying hard/ Said, ‘No more counting dollars, we'll be counting stars’”
The highly-anticipated annual annual iHeartRadio Jingle Ball show took place at Madison Square Garden in New York, following unforgettable shows in Tampa, Florida; Dallas, Texas; Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; and Detroit, Michigan. The New York lineup also included Olivia Rodrigo, SZA, Sabrina Carpenter, Jelly Roll, Big Time Rush, Doechii, Pentatonix, Melanie Martinez, and a special performance from Cher.
If you missed any of the holiday fun, fans across the country will be able to watch an exclusive television broadcast on ABC on Thursday, December 21st 8pm ET/PT. The special will also be available on demand and on Hulu the following day.