Current:Home > ScamsBurley Garcia|At Formula One’s inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix, music takes a front seat -Trailblazer Capital Learning
Burley Garcia|At Formula One’s inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix, music takes a front seat
TradeEdge Exchange View
Date:2025-04-08 07:49:57
LAS VEGAS (AP) — At the inaugural Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix,Burley Garcia music and entertainment have taken a dominant role. As the elite motorsport experiments with the new race, A-list events are ubiquitous in Sin City, an unignorable part of the celebration.
Here are some of the highlights.
DAY TWO: TRACK DAMAGED BUT THE BEAT GOES ON
On Thursday, at a Sinatra-themed restaurant in the lobby of the Encore casino, Colombian reggaetonero J Balvin emerged in all black leather.
He’d performed the day before at the Las Vegas Grand Prix opening ceremony — the only artist to perform a song not in English, his Usher-sampling “Dientes.” On Saturday, he’ll close the race weekend with a longer performance, making him the only musician to take the stage at this inaugural Formula One race twice. In many ways, it is fitting: F1 is a global sport, Balvin is a global artist, and music has become increasingly integrated with the sport.
“No matter where you’re from, your language, people just love it, you know?” he told The Associated Press about his connection to the motorsport. “It’s really cohesive — my vision and Formula One.”
“On the business side, it’s good exposure,” he says of why artists are motivated to perform at F1 events. “Other things relate to it, but personally, I love fast cars.”
The sentiment echos something will.i.am told AP in advance of the opening ceremony: “Every producer, every DJ wants to play F1. Why? Because it’s a (expletive) of money they make,” he said. “Every band that’s any band wants to play the mainstage at F1.”
U.S. hip hop music group The Black Eyed Peas members, Fergie, from left, will.i.am and apl.de.ap, perform at the F1 Rocks concert on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009, in Singapore. As the sport grows in popularity, race weekends are transforming into mini music festivals with A-list talent performing after the day’s event. (AP Photo/Joan Leong, File)
Las Vegas is the most expensive F1 race of the 2023 season — and the money is felt.
At night, countless concerts overlapped with what was supposed to be the first two Formula One practice sessions — a loose water valve cover canceled the first, and the second was delayed two-and-a-half hours for track repairs. Dedicated spectators were removed from viewing areas ahead of the 90-minute session that ended at 4 a.m. local time — the deadline for F1 to return the roads to Las Vegas commuters.
But for a large population of Vegas tourists, it was as if nothing was amiss. Jack Harlow played an abridged and charming set at a private SiriusXM + Pandora Concert at The Cosmopolitan. (Liberty Media, which owns Formula One, is also the majority owner of SiriusXM.) The Chainsmokers hit the stage at the Wynn. (The luxury club and casino is a founding partner in the Las Vegas Grand Prix.) Travis Scott performed at Zouk Nightclub located in Resorts World Las Vegas, another partner of this particular race.
For the music fan, it was a remarkable night of all-star performances. For the racing fan — not so much.
DAY ONE: A MICRO ‘OLYMPICS’-INSPIRED OPENING CEREMONY
It was raining in the Las Vegas desert on Wednesday night when Thirty Seconds to Mars emerged atop a giant, custom-built LED platform on the Formula One racetrack that, in just over 24 hours, will host the first ever F1 practice session.
For the inaugural Vegas race weekend, the Grand Prix hosted an Opening Ceremony — not too dissimilar from the star-studded event that launch the Miami race in 2022. Jared Leto and his brother Shannon Leto wore matching race suits, launching into a medley of 2005’s “The Kill,” their biggest hit,” and 2023’s “Stuck,” their most recent one.
Performers wave flags during an opening ceremony for the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix auto race, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
Then, in less than half an hour, there were abridged performances from Keith Urban, Andra Day (with a rich cover of the Beatles’ “Come Together”), Kylie Minogue’s summertime smash “Padam Padam,” Bishop Briggs, Journey, Steve Aoki, J Balvin, and will.i.am, each musician appearing atop their own LED platform.
Tiësto and John Legend performed together from the roof of the exclusive Paddock Club, where top-tier tickets could set attendees back $40,000. For the audience in the grandstands, tickets ranged from $100-$200.
The event reflects Formula One’s accelerating influence on the music world — and vice versa.
“Anyone who hasn’t been to an event like this can’t conceive of the level everything is at,” Keith Urban told AP the morning of the performance.
“It’s much closer to an Olympics opening ceremony than anything I’ve ever seen,” he added.
For his set, the country star performed “Somewhere in My Car,” a clever gesture to the automotive theme — and promotion for his continued Las Vegas residency.
Keith Urban performs during an opening ceremony for the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix auto race, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
The eclectic lineup reflects a shift in the F1 audience, which has grown in popularity among young Americans over the last half decade. The inclusion of Grammy- and Oscar-winning actor Day, for example, is a welcomed surprise in a bill stacked with dedicated artists who frequently perform at these events: Tiësto, Steve Aoki, and F1 Global Artist in Residence will.i.am among them.
“The Formula One world is new to me,” she said, adding that the global reach of the sport was the “biggest draw” for her to join the event. “There’s such a variety of people from all over.”
“At the same time, it is nostalgic for me. It reminds me of being a young girl, and how cars can bring people together. Just like music.”
For the EDM DJ and Las Vegas resident Steve Aoki, the F1 Opening Ceremony is indicative of Vegas’ growing appeal. “I think of Las Vegas as the entertainment capital of the world,” he says. “And to be the entertainment capital of the world, you have to have it all.”
He also believes that there is a shared energy to F1 and live music.
“People love F1 because of the sound and the energy. People want that adrenaline and excitement — there is that synergy. And I think a lot of drivers are really big music fans as well,” he says. “I connected with (Mercedes Driver) Lewis Hamilton almost ten years back. We went to Michael Jackson’s studio in Bahrain and hung out there. There’s a lot of synergies between the drivers and music.”
Just don’t except a musical collaboration between the two anytime soon. It was more of a hang.
And later this week? Between the musical performances from elite talent, there will be a race.
veryGood! (1)
Related
- 2 killed, 3 injured in shooting at makeshift club in Houston
- Our 2023 valentines
- Nordstrom Rack Currently Has Limited-Time Under $50 Deals on Hundreds of Bestselling Dresses
- Kim Kardashian and Hailey Bieber Reveal If They’ve Joined Mile High Club
- The White House is cracking down on overdraft fees
- Global Warming Cauldron Boils Over in the Northwest in One of the Most Intense Heat Waves on Record Worldwide
- The social cost of carbon: a powerful tool and ethics nightmare
- Warming Trends: New Rules for California Waste, Declining Koala Bears and Designs Meant to Help the Planet
- Rams vs. 49ers highlights: LA wins rainy defensive struggle in key divisional game
- One-third of Americans under heat alerts as extreme temperatures spread from Southwest to California
Ranking
- Realtor group picks top 10 housing hot spots for 2025: Did your city make the list?
- WHO declares aspartame possibly carcinogenic. Here's what to know about the artificial sweetener.
- Looking for a New Everyday Tote? Save 58% On This Bag From Reese Witherspoon’s Draper James
- A U.S. Virgin Islands Oil Refinery Had Yet Another Accident. Residents Are Demanding Answers
- California DMV apologizes for license plate that some say mocks Oct. 7 attack on Israel
- Billy Baldwin says Gilgo Beach murders suspect was his high school classmate: Mind-boggling
- Tens of millions across U.S. continue to endure scorching temperatures: Everyone needs to take this heat seriously
- An energy crunch forces a Hungarian ballet company to move to a car factory
Recommendation
The city of Chicago is ordered to pay nearly $80M for a police chase that killed a 10
Warming Trends: Elon Musk Haggles Over Hunger, How Warming Makes Birds Smaller and Wings Longer, and Better Glitter From Nanoparticles
In Corpus Christi’s Hillcrest Neighborhood, Black Residents Feel Like They Are Living in a ‘Sacrifice Zone’
Soft Corals Are Dying Around Jeju Island, a Biosphere Reserve That’s Home to a South Korean Navy Base
DoorDash steps up driver ID checks after traffic safety complaints
After courtroom outburst, Florida music teacher sentenced to 6 years in prison for Jan. 6 felonies
California’s Strict New Law Preventing Cruelty to Farm Animals Triggers Protests From Big U.S. Meat Producers
To be a happier worker, exercise your social muscle