Image: Miley Cyrus Instagram.
Music superstar Miley Cyrus took to the stage in Tampa, performing an exclusive pre-game Super Bowl set at TikTok's Tailgate event
Entering the stage to the raucous cheers of “Hey Miley you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind, Hey Miley!”, Cyrus kicked off her set with a cover of Toni Basil’s Hey Mickey, reminiscent to the introduction to her set during her debut tour, The Best of Both Worlds Tour in 2008 (?). Dressed in pink and black bejewelled cheerleader uniform, Cyrus was bringing the rockstar vibes to the Super Bowl, launching into her latest single Prisoner on a colourful, glitzy and punk rock set.
Her first live performance to a crowd in almost two years, Cyrus savoured every moment, thanking the crowd full of healthcare workers and applauding their continued hard work in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. “We are so appreciative of you and all your diligence. And for that, we’re going to rock hard!”. Cyrus performed a bevy of tracks from her seventh studio album, Plastic Hearts, including the title track, High and Angels Like You. The latter saw the singer reemerge with a chair in hand, covered in photos of Cyrus. She went on to tell the crowd “If someone doesn’t leave a seat for you at their table, just bring one of your own, And it’s even better when you put pictures of yourself all over it, and then you say ‘I didn’t really wanna sit with you anyway’, and you go. And you go sit with people that are gonna celebrate you and remind you that you are who you are for a reason, that you’ve been given a purpose and that all of us have a purpose.”
Over the last year, Cyrus’ covers of rock’n’roll classics have gone viral, with her rendition of Heart Of Glass being released as a single after unprecedented fan demand. The musician also performed Nine Inch Nail’s Head Like A Hole, which she famously performed as her character Ashley O on the hit show Black Mirror, as well as a performance of her godmother Dolly Parton’s hit track, Jolene, telling the crowd "If you can't tell that we're related, rhinestones run in the family,”. The fiery flow of covers came to an end with phenomenal gritty performance of Bikini Kill’s Rebel Girl. Cyrus performed the remix of her 2020 smash hit Midnight Sky, fused together with Stevie Nicks’ Edge of Seventeen to create Edge of Midnight.
The performance saw a bevy of special guests, the first being punk rock icon, Billy Idol. The duo performed their song Night Crawling, a standout track from Cyrus’ latest record, Plastic Hearts, before launching into a stellar rendition of Idol’s hit White Wedding. Elsewhere during the set, Cyrus had a quick change into a black and pink football jersey, with matching football pants and was joined by rock pioneer Joan Jett. After performing their collaboration Bad Karma, the two legendary artists performed a handful of Jett’s songs, including Bad Reputation and I Hate Myself For Loving You.
The set was complete with some of Cyrus’ career highlights, including Nothing Breaks Like A Heart, We Can’t Stop, Party In The U.S.A., ending the set with emotional moments soundtracked by Wrecking Ball and The Climb. Throughout the performance, Cyrus didn’t miss a beat. Her compelling and commanding vocals captivated and stirred a variety of emotions throughout the stellar set.
Plastic Hearts is out now! Read our five star review of the record here
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