Exes Puff Daddy, J.Lo Rule Cameo-Filled iHeartRadio Festival Night 2

(photo: Reuters)

With Jennifer Lopez and Puff Daddy both on the bill for the iHeartRadio Music Festival’s second night, fans were hoping that the two exes might reunite onstage at Las Vegas’s MGM Grand Arena this Saturday. Well, that didn’t happen. But that’s OK. The Artist Formerly Known as Diddy reunited with just about everyone else. And in many ways, sweet nostalgia still totally ruled the night.

“I want to give you your money’s worth. You paid a lot for these tickets,” Puffy declared Saturday, and then he made good on his promise, putting on all-star revue that was well worth the price of iHeart admission alone. First, he brought out his fellow Bad Boy for life, Ma$e, for “Feels So Good”:

Then he upped the cameo ante with Busta Rhymes, who came out for “Pass the Courvoisier Pt. 2” and “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See”:

Then it was cool enough that Puffy had his Bad Boy Records protég�� Machine Gun Kelly rap on “It’s All About the Benjamins"… but soon it was all about the Queen Bee, when the one and only Lil’ Kim took the stage. Kim’s cameo was frustratingly brief, but it was definitely the most memorable and unexpected of the night.

Machine Gun Kelly wasn’t the only new, young act who joined forces with Puffy at iHeart. Songstress Tori Kelly, who’d slayed her own solo set at the iHeartRadio Daytime Village earlier that afternoon, took on the Skylar Grey vocals for the Diddy - Dirty Money song “Coming Home,” and her performance was so powerful, it literally knocked Puff Daddy off his feet.

As for J.Lo, she didn’t exactly showcase a set of Tori Kelly-esque pipes. But what she lacked in vocal power she more than made up for with her phenomenal dancing (seriously, Fox should have hired her to judge So You Think You Can Dance instead of American Idol), giving spectators a taste of her upcoming Las Vegas residency at Planet Hollywood, which she announced will start Jan. 20 and be called “All I Have.” And Lopez definitely gave her preview performance all she had for “On the Floor” and “Jenny From the Block.” (We suggest she retitle that latter song “Jenny From the Strip.” Just a thought.)

Other nostalgic highlights of the night included the Weeknd (who bizarrely opened the show despite the fact that all 14 tracks on his album Beauty Behind the Madness have made Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart) channeling Thriller-era Michael Jackson on a truly thrilling performance of his summer smash “Can’t Feel My Face”; and Nick Jonas covering Bell Biv Devoe’s “Poison” in front of a backdrop of garishly neon, Lisa Frank-ish ‘80s graphics. (Nick’s older brother Joe was at the festival, too, but alas, there’d be no Jonas Brothers reunion this weekend; Joe was there with his brand-new band, DNCE, to merely introduce Fall Out Boy’s set.)

As for other iHeart collaborations this Saturday, the above-mentioned Jennifer Lopez teamed with Spanish singer Alvaro Soler for her new single “El Mismo Sol,” and Fall Out Boy brought out their pal Fetty Wap for “Trap Queen,” which they first famously performed as part of a mashup on the MTV Movie Awards back in April.

One collaboration that didn’t happen was Diplo with Justin Bieber; many audience members expected that Diplo, one-half of the Jack Ü duo with Skrillex, would be joined by the Biebs for Jack Ü’s recent smash hit “Where Are Ü Now.” But Diplo still brought the jams, and nostalgia, with his own new single “Be Right There,” which samples Jade’s 1992 club classic “Don’t Walk Away.”

Other big performers of the second night of the fifth annual iHeartRadio Music Festival included Blake Shelton, Hozier, Tove Lov, Prince Royce, and Trey Songz, while Friday night featured Kanye West, Sam Smith with Disclosure, Duran Duran, Coldplay, Jason Derulo, the Killers, and Demi Lovato.

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