Scenes from Madden Bowl XXI at Livewire, Scottsdale

It's a weird experience, seeing the members of Florida Georgia Line sing the praise of building "a ten-percent-down white-picket-fence house on this dirt" between a DJ set by Lil Jon that may have peaked with Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back" and a live performance by Nelly that climaxed with the "Country Grammar" rapper bringing women from the audience on stage to dance for him.

There was one glorious moment where it all made perfect sense, though – when Nelly emerged from the shadows to dust off the rap he laid down on the multi-platinum remix of the country duo's best-known single, "Cruise" at the end of their set.

It was what Kevin Bacon's character in "Diner" would have called a smile. His name was Fenwick, by the way, but that's not what concerns us here. Or ever herre, as Nelly would prefer we say it.

What concerns us is Madden Bowl XXII, which went down Thursday night in Scottsdale at a hot new club called Livewire, where comedian Kevin Hart made a brief appearance on a rainy outdoor stage to introduce the players taking part in this year's Super Bowl of American football videogames – LeSean McCoy, Alfred Morris, Colin Kaepernick (who scored no points in the single elimination playoff round but would have beaten me regardless) and this year's winner, Patrick Peterson.

Yes, an Arizona Cardinal won the Madden Bowl in Scottsdale, giving local sports fans bragging rights this weekend regardless of what happens Sunday. Take that, Carolina Panthers fans.

It was an entertaining spectacle, watching four NFL players compete in high-backed leather chairs and watching the reactions of McCoy and Peterson in the championship round when a play that could have kept McCoy in the game was overturned by the videogame officials.

There were plenty of NFL players hanging at Livewire, some of them mingling with fans, including Antonio Brown of the Pittsburgh Steelers, rocking the night's most Pharrell-worthy hat, and the Broncos' Brandon Marshall.

Norwegian EDM duo Nico & Vinz, who scored a double-platinum US breakthrough with the single "Am I Wrong," performed a brief set between the Madden Bowl playoff round and the championship.

But the musical side of the party really started when Lil Jon took the stage, by which point the venue was packed. "Ladies and gentlemen, the game is over," he shouted. "I am Lil Jon, your DJ for the evening." And he makes an entertaining DJ, in part because his clear enthusiasm for the task at hand is so contagious and in part because he knows what songs to play, from old-school hip-hop to Iggy Azalea's "Fancy" and even a couple of left-field choices from the alternative-rock world – the Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Heads Will Roll" and the White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army."

Florida Georgia Line, of course, brought a completely different energy to proceedings, treating the country fans in attendance to a number of their biggest hits, including "Get Your Shine On," "Round Here," "This Is How We Rol" and "Dirt," and turning over the chorus of Garth Brooks' "Friends in Low Places" to the audience, who sang it loud and clear enough to let you know there were more country fans at Livewire than you would have thought while watching every dance to "Started from the Bottom" and "Killing Me Softly" during Lil Jon's set.

And Florida Georgia Line did what they could to meet the rap fans halfway. After dropping a snippet of Meghan Trainor's "All About That Bass" into the set, the one singer talked about how back in sixth or seventh grade, everyone carried a CD case with "all your favorites, all the way from Alabama to Eminem" and then they proceed to rap. No, really. "Forgot About Dre" and Wiz Khalifa's "We Dem Boyz," after which they asked, "Are we gettin' silly enough for you yet?" And then they covered Bruno Mars' "Treasure" before getting back to country with "Friends in Low Place."

They wisely ended their performance with "Cruise" because there's really nowhere else to go after bringing out Nelly in a venue where your country fans are rubbing shoulders with a bunch of Nelly fans. And Nelly just stayed and kept the show rolling, rapping in front of a drum set with Florida Georgia Line across the kick drum.