By now you should know that I'm a big music critic. While I enjoyed the Super Bowl yesterday, I do have a few comments about the music I'd like to share.
Stevie Wonder led the pre-game performance. It was a montage centered around him at the keyboard while other famous-ish artists sang mo-town songs (his). This was kind of cute because they were in Detroit. Stevie had a pre-pre-grame interview and mentioned that his whole family would be involved and we would see one of the youngest drummers ever to perform. Well, yeah, he was young, but Stevie's youngest kid was just sitting at a drum set tapping and banging. I doubt he was even mic'd. I'm not good at recognizing today's pop singers by face since I never watch music television anymore, so please forgive me if I don't refer to them all by name. The first singer struggled. She had pitch control problems and had no spice in her performance. Joss Stone really surprised me. She did little singing and more grunting and groaning to the music. She has such a LOVELY voice...you wouldn't know it from this performance. I did, however, love the fact that Stevie Wonder sang along and got the spotlight now and again. India Arie did a fine job as well. My other main disappointment in this performance was the production. As the singers rotated on and off stage, the mics weren't keyed up and the first few words of each singer were lost. The singers themselves looked as if they weren't sure how to exit the stage and it all looked clunky. With as much money as they had, you think they could have done a bit better. Overall, though, it was enjoyable considering it was live and at a sporting event.
Halftime came just about halfway through the game and Mick Jagger and his guys took the field. I decided last night that I am neither a Mick Jagger fan or a Rolling Stones fan. Their music is ok, but has never really done anything for me. Mick really showed his age last night, too. Early on in the first song, he sounded like he was missing words and slurring others. Later in the song, he was only singing a few of the words and seemed to imply he wanted the crowd to sing the rest. When their show was done, just like in pre-game, the band looked lost. Mick looked like he wanted a full-band bow on stage while the drummer and other guitarist (Not Keith) looked like they wanted back to their cozy sky box with the beer.
I'm a big fan of live music and a big fan of collaboration for special events (like Grammy's, etc), but I also really don't like them ruining sporting events with stuff like this. They drastically affect the flow of the game and mess up the player's pre-game and half-time routines.
The game, by the way, was one of the best ones I've seen in a while. There were some awful calls by the refs and some questionable calls, but all-in-all it was a tight game and I enjoyed the football part of the Super Bowl for the first time in years. The only down side is that we'll have to see pictures of Ben Rothlesburger's gay-ass, redneck,
dumb-ass-looking shaggy hair and beard.
