Bruno Mars's Super Bowl Halftime Show—We've Seen Worse
By Casey Moffitt in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 3, 2014 8:00PM
It's been exactly 10 years since Justin Timberlake showed the world what Janet Jackson's nipple looks like during the Super Bowl halftime show and ever since the show's producers have tried desperately to make sure it stays clean and relatively inoffensive. They've trotted out safe acts to appease old rock fans, including Tom Petty and Heartbreakers, The Who and Bruce Springsteen. They've found newer acts to appease younger audiences like the Black Eyed Peas and Beyonce. The closest thing to racy we've seen is when Prince stroked the neck of his guitar from behind a curtain during his stellar performance at Super Bowl LVI. [Ed. - Well, and Springsteen's crotch cam.]
This year's show stayed the course as Bruno Mars headlined a mild show. It's difficult to get too worked up positively or negatively over 14 minutes of music, but overall the show was good. It might not be one we remember for a long time, but it was good. It did get overall positive reviews from patrons at the bar where this writer was seated during the game. As one woman put it, "I'm sick of seeing half-naked women on the stage during the halftime show."
So, okay, Bruno Mars 1, half-naked women 0.
For a bloated, over-hyped spectacle like the Super Bowl, Mars's set wasn't too over the top and kept things focused on his band and the music rather than breaking the bank on extravagant extras. Starting the set with some speed drills he's mastered on the trap kit was an unexpected and rather welcome twist. Here we thought he was just another pretty face who can sing a little.
His Motown revivalist gag was just fine. We're not sure if matching gold lame suit jackets would work on most acts, but Mars and company pulled it off.
Mars also showed off a couple of sweet dance moves during "Runaway Baby" which told us he's been watching a few James Brown videos in his spare time. Again, he pulled it off with ease and aplomb.
We're not sure why the Red Hot Chili Peppers were crammed into the show for a song. It's not like they did anything to have Molotov cocktails hurled in their direction in this space, but the show wouldn't have lost anything with their absence.
One guy at the bar I was at for the game was really excited to see not one, but two Chili Peppers hit the stage without a shirt. During the entire first half, he would repeat how thrilled he'd be if just one had left their shirt off stage. It was kind of odd. Perhaps he had a prop bet riding on it, as he was regretting the $50 he laid on the Broncos. We're not sure on what number the over/under on "Shirtless Red Hot Chili Peppers" landed in Vegas.
One thing we will say is that Anthony Kiedis must be hitting the gym pretty hard. He looked good without his shirt! He might even be less doughy now than when we saw him in that "Under the Bridge" video so many years ago.
Fox Sports has a tendency to find a way to honor military veterans during its game presentations—both in football and baseball coverage. They've made sure we see who is singing "God Bless America" during the seventh inning stretch at each game of the World Series. It was a little unnerving to see a tribute to veterans during Mars's set last night as he sang "Just The Way You Are." To be fair, we never heard Mars himself say anything about veterans or their service to this country. Rather we saw a montage of servicemen and women on duty dedicating the song to loved ones back home. We don't know if this was a move by Mars himself or rather the producers at Fox Sports or the producers of the halftime show itself.
Still, it makes us question whether shallow displays of nationalism are at all necessary during sporting events. Sure, every game of every major sport begins with the "Star Spangled Banner," so these displays are synonymous with sporting events, but how much is too much is the question.
This is in no way meant to disparage the work these servicemen and women do or the military in general, just asking the question as to whether we need to be reminded of this work during an event like the Super Bowl.
Perhaps even the Super Bowl itself is a shallow display of nationalism. As one German fellow at the bar said when Joe Buck introduced the Seattle Seahawks as world champions, "World Champions?!? No one else plays your stupid game!"