Here is my take on that. If there was horrible weather then of course you want to be protected because you are giving a show to the people at home. The people in the stadium are more concerned with getting something to eat or going to the bathroom. You want it to be perfect for television. So, you pre-record everything and if something goes wrong you can use that track but if everything is going well then just let the people play. Let there be some spontaneity. I feel like the Super Bowl halftime show is turning into an episode of Solid Gold. Google it sometime but it was a show that featured "performances" from bands and singers that sounded remarkably like their records without any of the instruments or singers being plugged in. In the background a bunch of dancers who were castoffs from Flashdance shimmied in the background.
I have seen the Red Hot Chili Peppers play in arenas, clubs and huge stadiums. They never had an issue bringing it. They are not Britney Spears. They really don't need help. They know what they are doing and sometimes the NFL should just let the people who know what they are doing let them do it.
I hate when people fake stuff.
ReplyDeleteIt's so tacky. Keep it real.
ReplyDeleteBetter than "Solid Gold" OR "American Bandstand", imo, was the "Midnight Special" show. MANY amazing YouTube videos from the 70's. All pure, all live.
ReplyDeleteSeriously go to YouTube and search Midnight Special if you want some good live performing.
This is not news, it's information. The halftime show is always partially, if not wholly, canned. Who cares?
ReplyDeleteOK, that's funny. Keeping It Real with the Kardashians sounds like an SNL skit. Ooops, I'm supposed to say sketch, right?
ReplyDeleteAt least Flea admitted to it - how many other synchers do that? He said they didn't want to but they didn't have a choice (and the guy who called him was kind of a jacka* about it, implying "well then, you shouldn't have played"). Love RHCP.
Shame on them.. smh
ReplyDeleteFlea actually wrote a great open letter to their fans about why they performed unplugged and why they decided to do it. I was surprised at how well-spoken he was and I can forgive them. It's a once in a lifetime chance and they took it, I don't blame them.
DeleteIf you want to give it a read, here it is
DeleteMy baby never lip syncs
ReplyDeleteThat's true, 7.. still, fan for decades, all respect evaporated
ReplyDeleteSolid Gold was THE BEST. We used to watch with my grandma. I always watched to see the host, Dionne Warwick, have her teeth float around in her mouth when she introduced some random band, like Player or the Little River Band.
ReplyDeleteThat's not weird, right?
Betsy, Little River Band was anything but random.
DeleteFunny, I don't recall seeing Ent bitch about the lip synchs of the Grammys
ReplyDeleteIs anybody really surprised? Really? LOL
ReplyDeleteI am just old enough to remember seeing U2 lip sync on "Solid Gold."
ReplyDeleteFuck yeah! Friday nights were sleepovers at my Mommom Sacco's. So you know the lineup was: Wheel of Fortune, Solid Gold and Dallas. Plus homemade pizza, natch.
ReplyDeleteSeriously. The halftime show was the one shining moment in the whole Super Bowl, and you're killing my illusion with the cold hard truth: Pre-recorded music. Yuck!
Do you remember the Solid Gold dancer with the Crystal Gale hair? Mesmerizing.
Speaking as someone who works with sound equipment - I do a lot of voiceovers - it's a bitch to set up, particularly set up in a hurry. That's why every musician does a sound check, whether they're playing a small club or a big stadium. This is a situation in which techs had to set up the sound equipment on a football field in what, 5 minutes? The chances of something going wrong - feedback, monitor problems, no mike on the singer - are enormous. I'm also a huge fan of authenticity and love hearing a great live show with all the real-life bumps and missteps, but I think I would have done the same thing the NFL did. This is not a punk club where mistakes are a part of the action. This is a polished, televised, national show. One bad connect and the whole thing is f*cked.
ReplyDeleteI thought everyone knew by now that the Super Bowl is prerecorded ever since Nipplegate. I'm actually shocked that they let Anthony Kiedis sing live (if he really did). They don't let people sing live anymore. Even Paul McCartney.
ReplyDelete+1. Also, it's been 10 years since nipplegate! Holy crap.
DeleteDid you read the article at all? They do it because there isn't enough time to set up. Jeez.
ReplyDeleteThat's right, Kimmy. It doesn't get much better than Gold Digger. God I love that song.
ReplyDeleteFlea can afford to admit it, seeing as how he's among the best bass players to ever pick up an instrument.
ReplyDeleteRHCP probably hated having to fake it as much as we hate finding out about it.
@Susan, do you mean Darcel? She was *the* star of the Solid Gold dancers!
ReplyDelete@VIP, even before that incident, acts were recorded. Whitney's National Anthem was famously pre-recorded and lip sync'd.
ReplyDeleteI'd rather the NFL cut to intermission for as long as it takes to get set up, practice makes perfect, and see a real performance than a fake one. It just feels all cheesy now, like the fireworks at the Beijing Olympics..
ReplyDeleteI'd rather the NFL just do away with the halftime show altogether.
DeleteWho the hell cares...at least I don't care.
ReplyDeleteWhat I care about is what I'm having for lunch today? I'm hungry.
I loved when Andy Gibb was the host of Solid Gold. He was the first in a long line of my celebrity crushes.
ReplyDeleteThey sucked it up and acted like professionals, and have their fans the performance they were expecting. No one watched the Super Bowl to see the peppers throw a tantrum, that's what Richard Sherman was there for. What about Bruno's dumb drum solo that was pre recorded? Where is the outrage for that?
ReplyDeleteAny artist that plays the Superbowl gets a pass even Britney. It is a 12 minute show that is set up to entertain over 100 million people. It's not about being authentic for 12 minutes it is about putting on a show for the audience and at home.
ReplyDeleteLike the poster said above any AV person knows it would be too dificult to get everybody live at once with a commercial break for set up time.
The stadium is set up for a football game, not a 2 hour set for a band.
I could care less. Sill love my RHCP!!
ReplyDeleteHell, Whitney Houston didn't even sing the American Anthem live
ReplyDeleteThe drum solo was live, as was the singing. Geez people, the Superbowl really isn't about the halftime show, it's about the commercials and the game. I can't see the NFL extending halftime to satisfy your idea of live music.
ReplyDeleteSorry, thought the RHCP portion was just noise anyway, live or not. And my teenage daughter just kept saying "put a shirt on buddy" to Kiedis.
ReplyDeleteMan I lurved Solid Gold! Darcel was my favorite dancer.
ReplyDeleteI understand the reasons behind the pre-recorded stuff. I thought the half-time show was great. It was my favorite one in recent memory. Completely blew away Madonna and Beyonce, imo.
ReplyDelete@Anothergrayhare Ha! You're lucky then that you never saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers when they only wore socks for their encores. By the end of the song, usually only the drummer had his still on. Ah, yeah. The good old days: http://rockinstockings.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/rhcp.jpg
ReplyDeleteWish I knew how to post a link but I don't. Do go to Billboard's website and read the Axl Rose article about RHCP. You will LOVE it--I almost choked to death on my dinner last night when I was reading Axl's theories as he "defended" Flea. :-)
ReplyDeleteThat makes the drummers performance even more impressive
ReplyDeleteI'd rather talk about Solid Gold. My favorite host was Marilyn McCoo. I thought she was sooooo glamorous. My husband has a friend of the family who was a Solid Gold dancer. We like to try to spot him when we watch clips on youtube.
ReplyDeleteMy 13 year old son enjoyed Bruno Mars, but when the Chili Peppers came out he said, "Who are these dudes?" I know nothing about Bruno Mars except the songs I hear on the radio in the car with my kids, but it seemed like he was trying to channel Jackie Wilson and coming up short.
ReplyDeleteLooooved Solid Gold. I knew the opening dance by heart and I ran to the TV to shake my boo-tay as soon as I heard the theme music. I had those moves down.
ReplyDeleteThen you didn't see them at Music Midtown last year. They were the WORST set of the weekend. They had midi boards go bad in first few seconds. They said exactly 8 words to the huge crowd (they were the SSaturday night headliner) and they locked down the artist compound to everyone but their team - usually the artists are in there together. Jerks and 99% of their music sucks anyway.
ReplyDeletewhat a farce
ReplyDeleteI used to love Solid Gold! Midnight Special was another good one, thanks for the memories Libby. RIP Wolfman.
ReplyDelete