Madonna's Super Bowl Halftime Show
Where does the the Madonna Super Bowl half time show rank with the competition? I'd put it above the Black Eyed Peas and The Who, below Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, and not even close to Prince, the clear gold standard of recent years.
Madonna's Super Bowl Halftime Show
Dan DeLuca, Inquirer Music Critic
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Where does the the Madonna Super Bowl half time show rank with the competition? I'd put it above the Black Eyed Peas and The Who, below Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, and not even close to Prince, the clear gold standard of recent years.
The Material Mum started out pretending she was Cleopatra with a phalanx of faux-Roman dancers on "Vogue," then moved into her fabulous electro-pop hit "Music," with those two hairy dudes from LMFAO acting as helpmates.
Next was the new single "Give Me All Your Luvin'," with Nicki Minaj and M.I.A. chanting their role model / employer's name. Minaj's rapid-fire rap gave the ultra-choreographed performance a welcome burst of energy, and agit-popstress M.I.A. was clearly prepared for the criticism that participating in such a mainstream extravaganza might gain her grief with her indie fanbase. Her strategy: Flipping the entire world the bird on television, with NBC techies failing in their attempt to scramble her one raised digit.
Was that the most interesting thing that happened during the entire performance, during which it never appeared that Madonna was doing her own singing? Probably. Next, Cee-Lo Green came on for snippets of "Open Your Heart" and "Express Yourself," followed by the de rigeur "Like A Prayer" singalong, with the gospel gowns worn by both Madonna and Cee Lo as much of a staging cliche as the marching band that accompanied "Vogue."
Above, that's Madge with her Cleopatra head gear in place.
Previously: Madonna's "Give Me All Your Luvin'" Follow In The Mix on Twitter here
Comments (62)
Pathetic.— DennisAtwell- Lip Synched.— Craigger
- How was it lip synched? When she feel she stopped singing. If she was lip synching, then the track would have kept playing. — azdwendy
- Right. She was singing for real. And she didn't have wires holding her up as she did cartwheels, either.
I enjoyed it. Sensory overload!— CCRichards - Absolutely right. You're going to tell me she runs all over the stage like that and her voice never wavers or sounds slighty gassed? As usual the Material Girl had them all fooled.
- Mixed the more mature Madonna with stars of today. I think it worked well, even though I question just how much Madonna actually sang in this set rather than lip-synced the tracks. Overall a thumbs up, much better than some recent performers of the Bowl.— phillywebcast
- She totally rocked it! I loved every second of it! This was the best halftime show EVER!!!— azdwendy
- i like madonna. the performance was absolutely terrible.— The Boston Strangler
- Outstanding show— rugbyjt
- Boring. Much of it lip-synced.— Unstable1
- Gawd awful. and I'm a fan.
— phillyabe - better then last years— bones208
- Good Entertainment for the masses...Nice job Madonna!— jmg7738
- as much as i cant stand madonna, it was better than i thought it would be..she didnt grab her crotch at all....— jjjimjjj
- I loved it!!!— truthfirst
- some of you people including the writer are just complete idiots. madonna has been a perfectionist in her work her entire career and would never even think of lip synching, but aside from that you have to be an idiot if you couldn't tell she was singing for real since all of the songs were changed around. people just love to hate.— deatheater
- Perfectionist? Like "Shanghai Surprise"? "Body of Evidence"? "The Next Best Thing"? Yeah, they were truly robbed at the Oscars... — J H
- Always been a fan. I think she did a wonderful job, not that pathetic MIA is another story!!— WPhillyguy
- I admire Madonna for gaining the most wealth and ego from the least talent and intellect.— ganjoka
- Definitedly in the top 3, if not at the top. The stage production, lighting, media, choreography, and costumes all were at the top. My only complaint: the song selection - but that too was what made it unique.
Truly the definition of AWESOME@! Look it up.— 24sDad - I wanted that to be good but it was not. The best parts were when the other performers were on stage. A 53 year old lady trying to dance like she is 25 years old was hard to watch and not sexy at all. The sound quality, dancing and song choices were horrible. The one that flipped the finger should be shot, that was disrespectful to Madonna.— zippy1346
- Tired, Madonnas so old she farts dust. But still better than The Who.— Jimmy CrackHead
- Worst halftime I've ever seen; everything she did was in slow motion, poor guys thought they were spinning their grandmother. Was glad she didn't fall the three times she almost did. I like Madonna's music but her performance bordered on pathetic.— JBinPA
- i thought she was amazing although i really could have done without all the crotch shots. just because you are physically able to lift your leg that high doesn't mean you should do it.— poorcarole
- She made the game look bad...— paulfromtheoblongtable
- Everybody loves to criticize. It was awesome!! 53 years old and fantasy material.— joeibt
- Saw it all before. Americans make the best entertainment in the world. Tired of the same old Super Bowl Half Time show. Take a fading, aging star. Set up a fake concert. Have fake fans with fake lighters wave listlessly back and forth. We need some creativity. Seen this again, and again, and again. Let me guess. We need the creative class to re-envision super bowl halftime shows and figure out how to showcase American creativity. You can see live concerts on TV every night on HDTV.
— keepemhonest - KARAOKE!— guitarman
- FOO FIGHTERS!!!— Astro Jones
- Best half time show ever— SMOOTH
- Lip-Sync'd... Cant these idiots find someone with the 'talent' to actually sing at the super bowl. Dont these people feel embarrassed that they cant find someone that can actually perform live. I know mainstream music has been laughable for basically the last 20 years buy if you have to lip-sync you should be performing live anywhere.— Apollo Creed
- I'm sure it wasn't lip-sync'd.
just like I'm sure they must have developed microphones that only pick up her voice and not the rustling of cheerleader pom-poms and the rushing air of the ending fog-blast.
or maybe all her vocal tracks were pre-recorded.
just like the music.— ekw555 - As Homer would say, "Boring......"— athousandgods
The show was glitzy, but it lacked raw energy. It seemed antiseptic. And flipping the bird was merely a publicity stunt for a relative nobody to get some press at the expense of the producers and audience. Classless. Nothing to see here, move along.- Great show. Madonna is still the queen of pop. The game was a bore. The only other thing that was at the level of the halftime show was the Doritos commericals. Madonna looked as gorgious as ever.— MikeP
- Fan here. I liked the graphics they did on the field but the show quickly dissolved into a confusing mess, too much going on. And keep Madonna off the top step before she breaks her hip.— gilligan
- I wish they'd just play football. I truly think the commercial overload and the extended halftime damage the actual game.
— Owatagoofiam - Dan, I respect your work, but you should be ashamed for giving Magran-momma props. SHE LIP-SYNCED! she never sang. it was a disgrace. how much did she get paid not to sing?— Tyrone Biggums
- I like Madonna, but was not crazy about the halftime show. It seemed... robotic. And most of it was lip-synced.— TerryW
- Barf.— jphilly77
- absolute garbage. they'd have done better pulling some rock band out of a little dive bar in indianapolis somewhere. she has no talent. and she's not very pretty either.— Ryan
- wow. reading these comments and I am absolutely astounded that anybody could possibly be defending madonna's "performance". how dumb can you possibly be? nobody could like that "music". I refuse to believe it. people can't be this dumb— Ryan
- I've always liked Madonna, but her performance was so-so. I think they really need to stop the overblown halftime shows, shorten the break to 20 minutes and get on with the game...And why can't they play on Saturday nights? The games always go to 10PM or later...I'm sure there are lots of kids who can't even see the 4th quarter b/c of school the next day— Polecat_39
- It was a great show. In a large stadium, lip syncing is much better. It is a show not a concert. Artist who sing live at the half-time shows always sound horrible because the acoustics suck. Madonna has one of the best and strongest voices out there. MIA is a disgrace and should be fined— Jimbo123
- The technical spectacle was a distraction to her performance.. That light show and stage show was unbelievable!— USAFirst1
Comment removed.- NBC's camera's totally ignored Miss Deaf America signing the national anthem, but they showed MIA signing the F-bomb. EPIC FAIL.— Drolz
- It's all over the web, she lip-synced. By the way Dan, the Black Eyed Peas and The Who did not.— PhilsPhan74
- Horrible, absolutely horrible. She tries to disguise her feeble singing with pageantry, it didn't work. Give it up, it's over. We need Lady Gaga or Adele, someone who gets by just fine on their vocal ans musical talent. Madonna Ciccone has none.— blarney1
- Dear Commissioner Goodell: If you continue to sleep with lowlife, no-talent, pop culture idiots like Nicki Minaj and M.I.A., please do not be surprised when you end up with bed bugs. Real football fans are attracted to the Super Bowl because of the game itself, not the halftime show. Someday, I hope you'll come to that realization.— fightins4ever
- In tribute to MIA we give the middle finger to the Queen of England. What garbage can come from England should stay in England.— denjamr
- Comment removed.
- I thought the point of a LIVE performance was to have LIVE music/singing? If she wants to lip sync, next year just show a video or a clip from her movie.— Tar Heel 1
- Will we ever know how much talent she really has? Honestly, if she wasn't a side show (read: Lady Gaga), her music would have struggled to get on the air. Videos ruined music. It's not about how it sounds anymore, just how it looks.
- What A JOKE! She didn't sing a single note! She Lip Synched the entire time! What a Phoney. She's been doing this for years ripping off her fans claiming it's a "live" performance.
This was more of an acting job than a musical performance.
Why does she need to have 100 people on stage with her all dressed up in costumes jumping around and wiggling if she is such a great entertainer? I guess it's make up for her lack of stage presence.The thing looked like the Mummurs Parade in Philly on New Years Day.
Other artists who have performed at the Super Bowl (McCartney, The Stone, The Who,Tom Petty, etc) were able to entertain the audience with just themselves and a few other musicians on stage. They didn't need an overblown burlesque production behind them.
This was not a musical event is was more like Costume Party with a DJ playing CD's.— Grapost - Comment removed.
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- There was no band and she was lyp syncing. In other words, she was dancing to her CDs. That's an F.— bobbyd24
- could have benefited from a wardrobe malfunction, and cee-lo looked like a black uncle fester in that robe!!!— footlooseman
- could have benefited from a wardrobe malfunction, and cee-lo looked like a black uncle fester in that robe!!!— footlooseman
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