In the past few years we’ve seen some, to put it nicely, poor superbowl halftime shows. First, the Chili Peppers played to a track. Which isn’t the worst thing because of the time limits, particularly for a band. Then there was the embarrassing Maroon 5 performance. Followed by last years strip show. Although, gotta give mad creds to Sharkira for playing some real drums (albeit not that well) and picking up the guitar and rocking out briefly. But this year is a different story. The Weeknd, brought his authenticity and musicality to the superbowl halftime show.
First off, I’m not a huge fan of The Weeknd. It’s just not my cup ‘o tea. His music is basically updated 80’s pop. Which isn’t bad by any means really. It’s quality, cathy, top 40 music that most people would gravitate to. And there’s nothing wrong with that as long as it’s from the heart and real. And that’s something The Weeknd truly brings to the table. The guy sank seven million of his own monies into the production of the show. He actually sang live, which seems less and less common, even in some rock acts. And he had real live musicians playing actual live music with actual instruments. A concept that seems more and more foreign as time goes on. That, coupled with decent choreography, massive stage sets, getting stuck in a giant toaster oven and bandage face masks calling out police bruality, and you’ve got a decent superbowl halftime show.
Don’t get wrong, I’d much prefer someone like AC/DC, KISS or Metallica do the halftime show. But if the NFL is going to shove vanilla pop music at us, it might as well be good Vanilla pop music. It wasn’t bad at all. The fact that I didn’t hate this halftime show really impressed me. So, props to The Weeknd on putting on a quality show. It was frankly the best part of what was otherwise a really boring and overhyped superbowl.
