Super Bowl Half-Time 2012

[boojum]

OK, I am not a great big Madonna fan, but what a spectacular show. Who did last year; Black Eyed Who? Great show, well done, spectacular visual effects. Even grumpy old me enjoyed it. Now, the the Giants can just win this damned game.

[hbphotoav]

Originally Posted by boojum

OK, I am not a great big Madonna fan, but what a spectacular show. Who did last year; Black Eyed Who? Great show, well done, spectacular visual effects. Even grumpy old me enjoyed it. Now, the the Giants can just win this damned game.

Agree. Fabulous spectacle... no wardrobe malfunctions... lots of eye candy, electronic and otherwise. The only acoustic instruments in evidence were the drum corps, and I suspect a world-class lip-synch.

But, my toes were tapping, and my wife and 80-something neighbor all had smiles on our faces. 'Twas a great show.

But I still liked Bruce and Sir Paul and Prince and the Stones... better. Them were some musicians.

HB

[king2070lplaya]

It was great. Very easy to talk over.

[boojum]

Originally Posted by king2070lplaya

it was great. Very easy to talk over.

rotflmaoapmp!


GO GIANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jlsgear]

Good ? really ??

To each his/her own .. so I'll add my humble opinion .. and it's only that.

I thought it was a typical lip-sync disaster on every level .. the dancing was even silly ... bad songs .. goofy synth beats .. and wacky themes !

Now the visuals were Ok I guess ..

So my question is , has the bar been lowered that far ?

J.

[SynthLine09]

The drums were also pre-recorded. The live drummers were playing along but had pads on their drums

[Razik]

I saw Madonna almost fall on her…..and M.I.A flipped the bird.


Razik Mastering

[tomlee]

surely there was lip synching involved.


great show

[Rev. Robb]

Sorry to rain on anyone's parade but Madonna's show was boring.

A few years back Prince did the show. Despite all of the sound problems, that was great performance! And to the best of my knowledge this was a LIVE performance.

Prince - Live Superbowl 2007 - YouTube

[hbphotoav]

Originally Posted by Rev. Robb

Sorry to rain on anyone's parade but Madonna's show was boring.

A few years back Prince did the show. Despite all of the sound problems, that was great performance! And to the best of my knowledge this was a LIVE performance.

Prince - Live Superbowl 2007 - YouTube

I agree (as I stated earlier) that Prince was dang good, with several others, but as an entertainment that took 7 minutes to stage and strike on each end on an enclosed football field, by a 53-year-old diva (who looks far better than Mick did at that age) singing her "hits" with massive and quite impressive visuals and a cast of hundreds... well, it was just far better than a number of them over the past decades of "Super" extravaganzas. Innocuous fluff, for the most part, and pretty flawless from a production standpoint... again, unlike a number of previous attempts. And, besides... the production was designed by LMG Design Studio... from right here in NashVegas...

I wouldn't pay to be in the bowl, much less go to a Madonna concert... and I got every bit of my money's worth tonight (worth the HD package on the Comcast box). I actually left the room last year.

[Greg Curtis]

A depressingly bad display of an
old hack stumbling around awkwardly while lipsync'ing badly to songs that sucked when they were new three decades ago. While not as insulting as last years's debacle, it was an irrelevant and lazy production.

[Thomas W. Bethe]

I thought the visuals were AMAZING. At least on my setup Madonna's voice was mixed too low at the start. Good review here Madonna at the Super Bowl: Pop music review - latimes.com

FWIW and YMMV

[climber]

frankly I was impressed. great show...

[Happy Musicfan]

I always peek in here to see what the experts have to say about the *audio production quality details* of big, hyped live events.

But I guess most are concerned with the MUCH more crucial theatrical displays and distractions (AKA 'visuals'), eh ?

[brew]

I thought it was a fun show. Madonna "brought it" as much as any star half her age. The set looked great. It was nice to hear those classics.

To the vehement naysayers, you're coming across as old farts. This kinda thing was engaging when I was a punk rocking 15 year old, but now I find there are better uses of my emotional energy than worrying about the artistic validity of pop stars.

[Legacy]

Regardless of our feelings for the music / performers...

MUCH respect to the organizers / crew who managed to turn a football field into a very high-tech performance space in what seemed like a few minutes...

Only to then turn it back into a football field a few minutes after that...

Pretty amazing transformation of the actual 'floor' into a large video projection surface.

Very impressive technically / logistically!!

-Silas

[Jake]

Yeah, I don't understand the fussing about lip-syncing and pre-recorded music at a half-time show. It's the Super Bowl, the halftime show is supposed to be a spectacle and for that I thought it was pretty brilliant.

My personal preference is live music played live, my favorite 2011 concert was Wilco w/ Nick Lowe for example. But expecting an exceptional music performance at a halftime "show" makes about as much sense as expecting an acrobatic touchdown in the middle of a jazz concert.

[Benmrx]

It seemed like the usual halftime show to me. Which translates to 'bad'. I've always been confused by it. It usually seems like its either an act/show that 12 year old girls would go crazy for, or middle aged housewives reliving their days at the sorority.

[tourtelot]

Originally Posted by tomlee

surely there was lip synching involved.


great show

I suspect that the vox were live and EVERYTHING else was played back. The reason I think the vox were live is that M seemed to get a little more out of breath as the routine went on.

D.

[dcrigger]

Originally Posted by Jake

Yeah, I don't understand the fussing about lip-syncing and pre-recorded music at a half-time show. It's the Super Bowl, the halftime show is supposed to be a spectacle and for that I thought it was pretty brilliant.

My personal preference is live music played live, my favorite 2011 concert was Wilco w/ Nick Lowe for example. But expecting an exceptional music performance at a halftime "show" makes about as much sense as expecting an acrobatic touchdown in the middle of a jazz concert.

Can't agree. Live musical performance has been a part of what makes a spectacle a spectacle since the time of the Roman arena. And all the justifications for not doing it (especially it "too difficult to do technically" really falls flat in light of being able to fire 6000 video screens and lights with a seven minute setup - yet be unable to mic up a band?!??!?!???), there's no getting around that the end result of this "safety".... is always, at best, a lackluster performance.

I mean the single most entertaining thing of the whole performance for me, was the tightrope - because he was actually doing something... something that in front of millions of people he just might fail at. How sad that our superstar performers so rarely insist on demonstrating their ability to do the same.

Of course, they'll have to fight the TV people to make it happen. Because for decades - the TV folks only rarely seem to get how much they'll be killing their "spectacle" by choosing to remove so much of the performance from it. I mean look at YouTube... years later, how many folks clamor to see the countless hours of TV's past lip sync performance clips compared to the actual live ones? Give me those old Sullivan clips over the American Bandstand ones any day of the week. :-)

Same with the Superbowl shows - years from now, I might look up the Prince show to watch again... but last night's?? Why?

David

[dcrigger]

And what happen at 3:31???

Did she lip-sync wrong? Or if singing, was the mic not on?

[sleepwalker]

I'll eat my hat if Madonna was actually singing.

[jlsgear]

And what about that lame new song !!!!!

... If my 12 yr old liked that new 'LUV madonna' tune .. I'd dis-own her. All my kids just laughed through much of this 'show'.

And imagine being paid a $500,000 bucks and then give the finger to the crowd .. wow .. what low life's inhabit the music 'biz' these days )-:

ps - Did anyone else notice all the parade drummers all had rubber pads in their drum heads ?? (so as not to interfere with the recorded drumming tracks)

pss - I thought the country duo (Lambert & ??) did a decent job at pre-game. Just so you know I'm not "negative everything" (-;

[jlsgear]

I was reading a newspaper article this morning - an 'associated press' piece - the writer goes on about how her 'singing' wasn't very strong .. and this piece went out nation wide I'd think !! What an embarrassment to the profession.

You'd think journalists wouldn't be so easy to fool .. goes to show you how little you can trust 'journalists' these days )-:

Originally Posted by sleepwalker

I'll eat my hat if Madonna was actually singing.

[Benmrx]

I do have to give props to the technical dept. as noted in one of the previous posts. It was a pretty amazing transformation. Too bad they don't hold the same kind of expectations for the artists.

[Ozpeter]

It's just musical theatre, and imho a good example of that. Fun to listen to and watch. No need for it to be 'live' any more than a studio CD.

MUCH respect to the organizers / crew who managed to turn a football field into a very high-tech performance space in what seemed like a few minutes...
Only to then turn it back into a football field a few minutes after that...

Amen to that! I'm disappointed nobody is coming forward with the technical details of how it was rigged and struck in the required timescale, which would be more relevant to this forum than discussion of the content of the event (ok, I'm being boring). Anyone know?

[Howie J]

I think the beginning was lip-synched, but as her dancing slowed and she was doing more walking around on stage or stationary points, I think she went live. When Cee Lo Green was on stage with her, I think they were both live. Just my guess.


Howie J

[king2070lplaya]

Originally Posted by Ozpeter

It's just musical theatre, and imho a good example of that.

The greats of the genre are rolling in their respective graves. and Stephen Sondheim is rolling his eyes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYWcwsczcm8

THAT is an F'ing Halftime SHOW.

[Lazerface]

I don't watch the superbowl halftime show anymore for the musical content. Its all about the visuals and staging. The first thing I did was start looking for who manufactured the video stage tiles...

[ritelec]

Originally Posted by hbphotoav

But I still liked Bruce

Yeah, Prince The Who etc..

I think Bruce ( and I don't particularly like Bruce) did the best.

I remember actually enjoying it and it seamed that the people in the stadium where having a great time being at a Bruce show ( rather than just half time entertainment ) and would have rather continued with the show rather than resuming with the super bowl.

Madonna's on the list of unimpressed.
(as if she cares.....ha ha)