You don't get a pass because you're an icon. You don't go from awful to awesome simply because you're supposed to, because the fans want you to. Between the lip synching, the missed guitar cues and the general sense of geriatrics overall, The Who's Superbowl Halftime performance put an ugly sheen on our memories of classic rock.
Every year, the chosen Super Bowl halftime act gets a dozen minutes to strut their stuff on live TV, in front of the biggest audience of their lives. The Who, who were dusted off and expected to deliver a riveting, explosive performance, turned out a listless set of touch-and-go samples of their hits and looked like rapidly aging old men in the process.
See for yourself:
After opening with a blink-and-miss-it verse of "Pinball Wizard," there was a very awkward transition into fan favorite "Baba O'Riley," which gave way to an anemic rendition of "Who Are You" while using selected lines from Tommy tracks as a buffer between song clips.
I love The Who. They're my heroes' heroes, and I'd love to say that they can do no wrong. But long before the obviously pre-taped scream in "Won't Get Fooled Again" hit the airwaves (no Daltrey closeup in that moment! Wonder why...), it became clear that these Rock Gods are on musical crutches. The raw, pure passion and energy that drew us in in the first place has been replaced by technological condiments. It's not appealing. It gives that same kind of weird creepy feeling one might've gotten when Grandpa would put on his old Army uniform and march around the house.
We need younger Super Bowl stars. It doesn't sit right to watch a 65 year-old Pete Townshend sing "it's only teenage wasteland," and it didn't help in the least that he personally leaked the setlist two weeks before the game itself. There was no fire, barely even a spark. The performance wasn't surprising, it wasn't rocking, it was just sad. The giant circular stage, the lasers and images on the big screens and the tens of thousands of screaming football fans in-house weren't enough of a distraction to make it interesting. It was a show for old people, and did no justice to the passing of the Classic Rock torch to the younger generation.
Every since Janet got her tit out in 2004, organizers have been apparently pandering to the same group that all those erectile dysfunction ads do, with the Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney doing halftime shows instead of younger, more relatable acts.
It was no picnic prior to Nipplegate, either. Chaka Khan, TLC, Diana Ross, Tony Bennett and Phil Collins are only a few of the names that took the stage in the half-decade prior to Jackson's wardrobe malfunction. Are the only people who watch the Super Bor
What about Green Day? That's family entertainment for you, without bordering on geriatric celebration. There's still an essence of youth there. Hell, even the blandness of a rap/R&B diva collaboration like Jay-Z & Alicia Keys is a damn sight better than this. Guess we'll just have to see what dead relic they'll dig up next year.
