Mumford & Sons, Beck, The National and More Create a Memorable Night at iHeartRadio’s Inaugural Alter Ego Event

Sandra Miska

For their first-ever Alter Ego, a concert showcasing some of the best alternative acts today, iHeartRadio went all out, with a bash at the Forum featuring Mumford & Sons, The National, Beck, Cage the Elephant, Spoon, Walk the Moon, and Dashboard Confessional. In a span of about four hours, each performer cranked out their best songs, with a rotating stage allowing for minimal down time between sets, making for an almost non-stop rock fest.

The evening kicked off with folksy British rockers Mumford & Sons, who started off with the heartfelt “Believe,” a track from their most recent LP “Wilder Mind.” They followed that up with earlier hits “Little Lion Man” and “I Will Wait.” Joining them on stage were not one, but two special guests. Singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers sang alongside Marcus Mumford for a stirring rendition of “Awake My Soul,” while Aaron Dessner of The National joined them for their final two numbers, “Ditmas” and “The Wolf.”

Spoon, a band from Austin, TX that has been going strong for 25 years, played next. They were introduced by none other than Darren Criss, star of FX’s “The Assassination of Gianni Versace,” who proclaimed the band as being a personal source of inspiration. They kicked off their upbeat set with a new track, “Do I Have to Talk You Into It.” Highlights of their set also included the trippy “Inside Out” and feel-good “The Underdog.”

Walk the Moon kept the party going when they took the stage, starting off with “One Foot,” their first single off of their latest album “What If Nothing,” an uplifting track about moving forward. Their short and sweet set, which they played before immediately leaving The Forum to hop a plane to Canada, also included audience favorites “Shut Up and Dance” and “Anna Sun.”

Alter Ego was just one stop for Walk the Moon on their current North American tour that recently kicked off. Before the show, guitarist Eli Maiman checked in with Entertainment Voice.

“It feels really good to be back and be connecting with fans in a live situation,” he said. “We definitely upped our entire game on this tour. The production is bigger, the set is longer, and we are just super excited to bringing new songs from the new record to people.”

“It always feels good to throw your own party, to be able to stretch out and have a really long set. You can do more emotional dips and dives,” Maiman revealed when asked how a show like Alter Ego compared with their headlining concerts. “Music isn’t a competition, but it is a little intimidating to be playing with Mumford & Sons and Beck and these people who we admire so much, and who are kind of legacy acts who have had such incredible careers. It’s an honor and a little intimidating.”

Next up was seminal emo rock band Dashboard Confessional. Before the show, frontman Chris Carrabba talked to us about “Crooked Shadows,” their first album in eight years that is set to be released on February 9.

“I think the new record is emblematic of where we started as a band and who we are now, which is different than when we started,” he said. “I think it has the same purity of intention there. It will move people.”

“It’s weird, it’s like a summer camp reunion,” the singer/guitarist said of Alter Ego. “We’ve toured with Beck and did shows with Spoon. You go on tour, and then you don’t get to see them for three years. All the bands are in one room again. It’s great.”

Dashboard Confessional’s short set of four songs included “Vindicated,” the powerful love song from “Spider-Man 2” (2004) and another classic about the torments of romance, “Hands Down.” They also performed new single “We Fight” and closed things out with a first-time performance of soulful “Heart Beat Here.” Carrabba, who performed this final number solo, brought down the house as he invited the crowd to sing along with the just-learned lyrics.

Indie rockers The National performed next, and the band’s more moody sound offered something a little different. They opened with “The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness,” the first single off their 2017 album “Sleep Well Beast.” They also played favorite “I Need My Girl,” as well as more off the new album, including “Guilty Party” and “Day I Die.” Towards the end of their set, frontman Matt Berninger moved through the crowd, much to the delight of the band’s enthusiastic fans.

The MVP of the show was known other than Beck, who kicked things off with his alt-rock classic “Loser.” Himself and his bandmates being native Los Angelenos, Alter Ego was a homecoming show of sorts, and Beck and co. did not disappoint as they played hits both old and new. After 13 studio albums, many artist would be at a point in their career where fans mostly came for the “old stuff,” but this is not the case for Beck, who is eternally youthful and baby-faced at age 47. Fans were just as enthusiastic for his newer songs “Up All Night” and “Colors” as they were for “Devil’s Haircut” and “Where It’s At.” The multi-Grammy winner took time out to speak to the crowd about his hopefulness for 2018 and his gratitude for their coming out. At one point, he even broke out the harmonica, proving that he can make any instrument rock.

Cage the Elephant closed out the evening, and despite sound issues that made songs like “Ain’t No Rest For the Wicked” sound someone distorted, the band powered through with a super-energized set complete with pyrotechnics. Decked out in yellow pants and a metallic shirt, frontman Matt Shultz proved himself a true showman as he pranced about on stage, jumping off amps and showing off his flexibility. But it didn’t stop there, as he ended a set that included “Too Late to Say Goodbye,” “Cold Cold Cold,” “It’s Just Forever,” “Come a Little Closer,” “Teeth,” and “Shake Me Down” with mingling with the fans in the crowd, even dancing with some of them, a fitting end to an evening that brought alt-rock fans from all different backgrounds and ages together.

iHeartRadio’s Alter Ego 2018 took place Jan. 19 at The Forum in Inglewood, CA.