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Jelly Roll said “it was so weird” to see Pope Leo XIV in person when he performed at Vatican City earlier this month.
The Beautifully Broken superstar caught up with Bobby Bones at the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Festival presented by Capital One. Jelly Roll is one of several artists kicking off the two-night festival on Friday night (September 19) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Other artists — including country icon Tim McGraw — will take the stage on Saturday (September 20).
“It was so weird to see him in person. It’s like — it’s the Pope! And listen, he comes in mighty Pope-ish. Like, when he comes in…the room feels it,” Jelly Roll beamed. The reigning iHeartRadio Music Awards Country Artist of the Year explained, when Bobby asked how the performance happened, that “they just said ‘hey, we have this idea to try to bring grace to the world. We think it’s a time where music could bring people together. We want to bring a lot of different kind of stuff together and bring a little glory.’ So, I said ‘I’m in.’
“I get nervous before very performance, so before that one, I had diarrhea,” Jelly Roll said with a laugh.
The star-studded, genre-spanning event returns on Friday night (September 19) and Saturday night (September 20) to T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The lineup of the 2025 show includes Jelly Roll, plus Bailey Zimmerman, BigXthaPlug, Bryan Adams, Ed Sheeran, Diplo, GloRilla, John Fogerty, Justice, LL COOL J, Mariah Carey, Maroon 5, Sammy Hagar, Tate McRae, The Offspring, and Tim McGraw.
Fans can tune in to the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Festival as the music mega event will be broadcast live each night at 7:30pm PT/10:30pm PT via iHeartMedia radio stations throughout the country across more than 150 markets. Hulu will be the Official Streaming Destination of the festival, with performances livestreamed each night exclusively to all Hulu subscribers. Find more info here.
In case you miss it, or just want to relive it all again, fans can tune in to an iHeartRadio Music Festival special, including highlights from the music mega weekend, on Hulu on Thursday, October 2nd.