Joe Henderson
We know a lot of people watch the Super Bowl for the commercials or the halftime show. Twitter and other social media sites explode when the performers take the stage.
Everyone, it seems, has an opinion of the good, the bad, and the great wardrobe malfunction with Janet Jackson at the 2004 Super Bowl in Houston. Thank goodness that didn’t happen in Tampa. Imagine the Mons Venus references.
All that aside, for the best halftime of Tampa’s four previous Super Bowl games, well, that’s easy. It’s when Bruuuuuce Springsteen and the E Street Band took over the house.
It was a must-see.
“I want you to step back from the guacamole dip! I want you to put those chicken fingers down! And turn your television all the way up!” the Boss ordered.
Then, he launched into a rocking 14-minute set and he brought the thunder. Tenth Avenue Freezeout, Born to Run, a snippet of Working on a Dream, and Glory Days.
Oh, and the crotch slide Bruce did across the stage toward a camera. It looked like he was sliding right into your living room. He admitted later he got a little carried away.
Well, it was the Super Bowl. You’re supposed to get carried away.
How good was Bruce that night? Compare and contrast the sad spectacle a year later when The Who tried to rock the SB in Miami. I still wince thinking how Roger Daltry couldn’t hit the high note on Won’t Get Fooled Again.
Sad.
The Washington Post, by the way, has an excellent graphic-driven review of the halftime show evolution.
Just setting up for Bruce’s show was a feat of technical wizardry. The NFL is all about precision, so logistic planning for the halftime show usually begins in June. The crew has six minutes to assemble a stage after the first half ends. And Bruce only agreed to do the gig if the stage was surrounded by fans.
Yeah, that was pretty cool, and not to mention the perfect evolution (to that point) of the halftime spectacle.
Halftime entertainment for Tampa’s Really Big Games began in 1984 when the marching bands from Florida and Florida State offered – well, see if you can pick up on the Disney theme. Hooray for Hollywood, You Oughta Be in Pictures, Steppin’ Out With My Baby, Puttin on the Ritz, 42nd Street, and When You Wish Upon A Star.
I remember absolutely nothing about that performance. I probably was in the snack area talking to other crusty sportswriters while that was happening. I’m sure it was great, though.
It was still a Disney World After All when the game came back to Tampa in 1991. The New Kids On The Block worked around the theme Small World and included 2,000 local children waving cards and singing We Are The World.
Halftime trivia: It was the only SB halftime show pre-empted by the televising network. ABC carried coverage instead of the Gulf War but did present a taped version of the show after the game.
For the 2001 game in Tampa, someone thought it would be a great idea to combine Aerosmith, NSYNC, Britney Spears, Mary J. Blige, and Nelly.
It seemed to make sense at the time.
Britney wore an arm sock, which seemed to fascinate people. As E-online noted about the show, “You get to the point in time where human civilization peaks. Trust us, it has only been downhill since then.”
Well, until The Boss came along in 2009, anyway.
This year, fans will be serenaded at halftime by The Weeknd – his real name is Abel Tesfaye. The dude spent $7 million out of his pocket to enhance the halftime show. I also won’t insult your intelligence by pretending I know any more about this person than what I just reported.
Put it this way: My go-to stations on SiriusXM are Deep Tracks and Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville. They don’t play a lot of Weeknd on there.
