PITTSBURGH — The NFL Draft opened in Pittsburgh on Wednesday night with a party at The Plaza at North Shore, and Nelly turned it into a half-hour sprint through the hits that made him a star. He took the stage at about 9:45 p.m., opened with “Where the Party At?” and kept the crowd moving with a run that hit most of the Top 10 songs he sent to the Billboard Hot 100 between 2000 and 2012.
Doors opened at 6 p.m., and the room filled steadily as spectators poured into the city for a draft that had been years in preparation. Herky Pollock came on a little after 9:30 p.m. to welcome the crowd, then Mayor Corey O’Connor stepped up and told them, “Welcome to Pittsburgh’s NFL draft!” before adding, “Let’s have a great time, let’s have a great week.”
Nelly answered a few minutes later with a set that moved fast and landed hard. “E.I.” came second, his DJ shifted the arrangement during “Shake Ya Tailfeather,” and “Batter Up” came before “Air Force Ones.” He played “Country Grammar” for the “day ones,” brought City Spud out for “Ride Wit Me,” and got the loudest reaction of the night when the opening chords of “Hot in Herre” hit and the crowd screamed. He also told the audience, “Pittsburgh, what’s happening?” and later thanked them, saying, “I want to thank each and every one of you who’s been holding down your boy for 25, 26, 27 years.”
The scene mixed more than football anticipation. The Plaza at North Shore is a recently opened venue owned by Legacy Hospitality Partners, and the crowd included Steelers fans as well as people in Vikings, Jets, Chiefs and Dolphins jerseys. That is the point of an opening-night party: the draft may belong to the league, but the city gets the first word. On Wednesday, Pittsburgh used Nelly to say it out loud.
The question now is not whether the city knows how to host. It is whether the rest of the week can match the pace set on night one.
