Ranking the Super Bowl halftime shows of the 2000s
The Super Bowl has once again come and gone, and I have once again not cared about anything but the halftime show. Actually, as I have grown older, I have began to appreciate football much more, but that still does not change the fact that the halftime show is the best part for me. A lot of Americans would agree with my statement and a good halftime show is what people like myself look forward to every year.
While it is a known American fact that Michael Jackson’s 1993 Super Bowl halftime show was and will always be the best, there have been many incredible ones in the 2000s. None of the shows I have listed below are the worst shows I have ever seen; quite frankly, I believe all of the shows listed below are very good, but these are just the best ten of the eighteen that have been performed.
Now before I begin, this was not a terrible show by any means, but for the purposes of this article, the show is definitely at the bottom of the ten that I am reviewing. Everyone put on a great performance, but I felt like Madonna just kind of lacked. Her dancing felt awkward and forced and there were multiple times where she almost fell off the stage completely. I am not saying that she no longer has her “Like a Virgin” magic, but clearly with age, she has lost some of it. Personally, I think there were better candidates that could have headlined.
This was one of the first Super Bowl halftime shows I had seen that used the dancers as light props. It really added to the show. When the show began, I thought all was lost because the vocals were just not there and it was mainly just yelling into microphones. Then, Slash began playing the chords for “Sweet Child O Mine” and I was immediately intrigued. The song was performed beautifully and it is what saved the show from being number ten on my list.
This line up sounded absolutely amazing and I had very high hopes for this halftime show. It just was not what I was hoping for and I think that was because of Coldplay. They focused far too much on delivering a message than delivering a well performed show, and even Beyoncé and Bruno Mars could not fix it. Beyoncé did debut her song “Formation” for the first time though, and it was revolutionary.
This was a solid halftime show, but received a lot of hate afterwards because of the dancing sharks during her performance of “Teenage Dream.” While the hate was well deserved because the sharks were absolutely awful, the show she put on as a whole was fantastic. She began her show by riding in on a huge animatronic lion and kept the energy of that going the entire show. Missy Elliott then came onto the stage, “flipped it and reversed it,” and blew everyone way, finishing the Super Bowl XLIX halftime show with a bang.
Beyoncé totally killed it with this one. She began her show with a song that empowerd women all over the world. Her dancing was amazing and the amount of confidence she has on stage makes her show that much better. One thing Beyonce has that some performers do not is her vocals while singing live. Her voice never sounds strained and she is dancing around the stage effortlessly as she does it. Her sisters then shot up from the bottom on the stage where they performed the iconic song, “Single Ladies,” and killed it.
Bottom line: Prince is amazing. I know some people may feel like he should be number one since he is Prince, but being that I never grew up with him, I do not feel obligated on giving him the number one spot. Anytime I have watched any of Prince’s performances, my breath has been taken away. This performance was no different. It just so happened to be pouring down rain during the halftime show, which was to Prince’s favor. Him performing “Purple Rain” while rain poured on him was chilling to watch, and I think those in the stadium would agree.
Gaga is an icon and did not disappoint at all with this show. She began singing “God Bless America” and that song, or any song about America, pulls at my heartstrings. She then leapt off of her platform and began flying through the air singing and flipping. Her dance moves were great, her singing was great, and her stage presence made the show.
3. Super Bowl XLVIII: Bruno Mars, Red Hot Chili Peppers
To begin, Bruno Mars always has such amazing stage presence, so anything he is in, especially anything he headlines, is automatically great. His gold outfit along with his matching back up dancers and singers gave the performance a vintage, barber shop quartet kind of feel. I was completely sold on this performance already and then Red Hot Chili Peppers came out and completely rocked it. The combination of the two, while odd, worked very well together and killed the halftime show.
I am not sure how I have never heard about this collaboration, but my life will never be the same now that I have. This performance was iconic. I feel like it sat well with both millenials and gen-xers because of the diversity of the performers. The whole show was one surprise after another and kept the crowd engaged the whole time. I mean, how could someone not like a performance that began with “Bye Bye Bye?”
This show was simply breathtaking. There was no extravagant lights, theatrics, or dancers, but the magnitude of Petty’s voice and performance was enough on its own. I really wish I was old enough to consciously appreciate this performance because watching it now gave me chills. I have always loved Tom Petty and I think knowing that I will never be able to appreciate his music live made the performance that much more amazing for me. For his third song, he sang “Free Fallin” and when the chorus hit, his voice was barely audible over the stadium crowd singing along with him and that is what made the performance for me.
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Morgan Harris is a senior and this is her first year as a writer for the Trojan Messenger. Morgan enjoys going to the occasional boxing class, heavily...
