Ed Sheeran, Jonas Brothers, Lil Nas X, Dixie D’Amelio & More Take Over the Big Apple for Z100’s Jingle Ball

The 2021 iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour made its way to the Big Apple for New York’s turn to celebrate the holiday season with Z100’s Jingle Ball at Madison Square Garden on Friday (December 10).

The annual radio show featured performances from nine of 2021’s top hitmakers — including Ed Sheeran, Jonas Brothers, Lil Nas X, Saweetie, AJR, Kane Brown, Tate McRae, Bazzi and Dixie D’Amelio — and Celeb Secrets was there to catch the star-studded lineup and soak in all of the exciting moments both onstage and backstage.

Despite Dua Lipa and Doja Cat dropping out of the lineup due to laryngitis and a COVID-19 diagnosis, respectively, the fans came out in droves to the world’s most famous arena to see Ed Sheeran kick off the festivities by singing songs like his latest single “Shivers,” along with classics like “Shape of You,” “Perfect” and “Bad Habits.” Showcasing his true talent by bringing only a loop pedal, the 30-year-old got concertgoers in the holiday spirit by performing a stripped down version of his latest tune “Merry Christmas,” which features Elton John.

Other standout moments from the show included a sweet sister moment from Dixie and Charli D’Amelio, as Dixie brought out her younger sibling to dance alongside her while singing her Christmas single “Naughty List.” Boyfriend Noah Beck was seen in the audience singing along while cheering his special lady on during the biggest performance of her career to date.

The Jonas Brothers — who are New Jersey natives — gave the hometown crowd a fiery performance that had them roaring for more after the took their final bows. Nick, Joe, and Kevin Jonas kicked off their set with their Mashmello collaboration “Leave Before You Love Me,” followed by their latest releases including “Who’s In Your Head,” “What A Man Gotta Do” and their 2019 bop “Only Human.” It wouldn’t be a Jonas Brothers set if they didn’t play throwbacks, and the guys made sure to deliver the right ones by bringing the heat with “Burnin’ Up” and “Lovebug.” They closed with their comeback single, “Sucker,” but not before spreading holiday cheer with their original Christmas song “Like It’s Christmas.”

Performing at Madison Square Garden was a full circle moment for almost all of the artists on the lineup, however, it was extra special for New York natives AJR. Growing up just a few blocks south of the famed venue, Adam, Jack and Ryan Met gave it their all while hyping up the crowd with songs like “Bang!,” “Way Less Sad,”“Sober Up,”“Burn The House Down,” and “Weak.”

“This is a dream come true. We’re excited that [iHeartRadio] is having us on this tour,” AJR’s Jack Met told Celeb Secrets host Juliet Schroder backstage moments after their performance. “We’ve been doing this for a really long time now and I don’t think we’ve ever had a song that broke through big enough to get us to this point where we can be on a bill with all these big people on the radio, and ‘Bang!’ did that for us. It finally happened. So the fact that we’re here among people that have been doing this for a long time… we’re very excited.”

Other celebrity guests in attendance included Jimmy Fallon, Drew Barrymore, Bethenny Frankel, Martha Stewart, Laverne Cox, Nicky Hilton Rothschild, Tayshia Adams, Noah Beck, Chloe Bailey and more.

Z100’s iHeartRadio Jingle Ball 2021 is the fourth stop of the national iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour, the season’s biggest annual music event that captures the holiday spirit of the iHeartRadio app, with performances by this year’s biggest artists in Dallas/Ft. Worth; Los Angeles; Minneapolis/St.Paul; Chicago; New York; Boston; Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta and Miami/Ft. Lauderdale. You can click here for a full list of dates, performers, and ticket links to see when the tour will be hitting your city.

Don’t forget: you can relive some of the best moments from Z100’s Jingle Ball again on Wednesday, December 15th @ 8PM ET/PT on The CW, as the entire concert was taped for an exclusive nationwide television special.

Want more Jingle Ball coverage? Click through the playlist below for interviews with celebs from the red carpet: