Flea:I'm glad that's finally outta the way. Now everyone calm down. This is why I don't understand why people get their undies in a wad everytime someone lip-synchs the Nat'l Anthem or mimes a performance. Flea explained it pretty well, and I don't have a problem with it. I really don't care anyway, that's why I don't have a problem with these groups miming their performances during a SB halftime show. I usually skip the damn halftime show anyway.I understand the NFL's stance on this, given they only have a few minutes to set up the stage, there a zillion things that could go wrong and ruin the sound for the folks watching in the stadium and the t.v. viewers. There was not any room for argument on this, the NFL does not want to risk their show being botched by bad sound, period.
Don't tell me what I can or can't get worked up about...
but yeah, people need to let go and its only a halftime show. I do feel bad for RHCP though - a band that deserved a shot at their own SB appearence, not a supporting role. Hopefully this won't tarnish their rep any.
Compact Disk brought high fidelity to the masses and audiophiles will never forgive it for that
this is why:
As a professional musician, I not only understand this, but I sympathize....
However, as a professional entertainer, I think its half-assed apathy. Its one thing when a label or management is forcing mime upon them, especially in situations that do not warrant it. This is what they did before and was their way of protesting the situation. I totally get that: Not miming is part of the band's mission statement as a business...
But this is different: this was not forced upon them - playing the Superbowl was a choice that they made. Like any other choice in business - or life - if they are well-aware of the geography of the situation that they agreed to do, don't do something half-assed or apathetic.
I was dissappointed in the RHCP superbowl show but it was my fault . I thought they Were the halftime show, not add ons. I didnt watch live as I was involved in something else and really dont care about football. Was a little bummed as I like the Chili Peppers that I didnt see it live but next morning I youtubed it. Was wondering what was wrong and who the Bruno guy was. I actually checked another link as I thought there was some youtube screwup. Never heard of Bruno, he's OK but not what I was expecting so I skipped through alot of his act. The Peppers were so short that I almost accidently skipped them. As for the pre recorded instruments, who cares. They were twice as good as Lotoya Jackson a few years ago, they showed 2 boobies.....
Did the Stones lip-synch? I don't think that's even possible for Jagger.
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
Springsteen said the halftime show is timed down to the second. When he rehearsed the NFL had people there with stopwatches. He said he wanted to do a slide on his knees across the stage and was told he could but only had like ten seconds to do it.
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
The problem many of us are having is with reconciling the artform of music with the product of Musical Entertainment, which includes theatre.
Any musical act includes these two factors, frankly, to a greater or lesser degree. I mean, Roger Dean album covers are not "musical" per se. Nor are capes, light shows, slipperman costumes, etc.
Pop music is musical theatre. Music should be the main factor. But theatre has been a factor since Elvis twitched a hip, if not before.
The Super Bowl half-time show is not primarily about music as an artform, it's about theatre. Flea understands this, and has provided a cogent reason why things were done the way they were done. This doesn't really devalue the musical content, for me. I like the RHCP, though stopped paying attention post-BSSM. But they were always at least partially about theatre, for sure. Bruno Mars, obviously, also understands visual impact, and the "show."
These days, even Broadway musicals in smaller theatres contain a fair amount of canned music, if you've seen one recently.
My personal feeling was that Pop Music, in general, has tended more and more toward Musical Theatre, and Musical Product--the packaging is as important as the musical content, and occasionally more so, in Pop Music. But both Bruno, and The RHCP (who Bruno specifically asked to perform with him, if I understand it correctly), do seem to focus on musical content to a greater degree than most pop acts these days.....IMO, of course. Yeah, Bruno mines the retro bag, and the RHCP haven't done anything significant in almost two decades....
Great answer by Flea, so at this point I don't think any criticism should be directed at them. Still really stupid to not even allow performers to play live, but I guess the vast majority watching don't really care about such things. Sad to think that, but it's pretty clearly true.
The last halftime show I saw was, uhhhh......... Shit. After checking, I just discovered I've never watched one. My feeling is I couldn't care less. Sure, I've seen parts of a few of them, but I usually go do something else after a minute... like rearrange my sock drawer. As wideopenears points out, it's all about the performance not the music. It's why I never watch nearly any musical act on TV, regardless of the act (did watch King Crimson on Conan O'Brien, tho). If I had any interest in a halftime show, I would have watched McCartney. Hell, I'm not even sure I watched that year's SB.
“From thirty feet away she looked like a lot of class. From ten feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from thirty feet away.” – Philip Marlowe
I got the chance to work a half time show at the Pontiac Silverdome for the annual Detroit Lions Thanksgiving Day game once. I was part of the crew that pushed the stage out to the middle of the field (we were all under the stage during the performance), and then push it back off the field afterwards. The entertainer was Enrique Iglesias. As you mentioned everything was timed right down to the second. As soon as the last player left the field at the end of the first half we were given a “go” signal to push everything into place. We basically had from that moment until the TV commercials were over to get everything set up. When the TV came back on there was an exact time that the lights went down and the performers had a precise number of minutes in which to do their thing. As soon as the lights went back up everything had to be pushed back to the sidelines before the commercials ended again. Many of the players were already back on the field so we were trying to dodge around them while pushing things off. The coolest thing about it was we got to stay on the sidelines for the whole 2nd half which is an experience I will never forget the rest of my life. Anyway…….as you mention, everything was timed right down to the second. All of the music was canned although Iglesias was given the option of singing live or lip syncing and he chose to lip sync.
Back in my marching band days we also did a game at the Silverdome and I remember it being timed right down to the second that time around as well.
Unfortunately we were nowhere near where the cheerleaders were. Our sideline passes were just for one specific area of the field and we could not move around anywhere other than there. We were right around the 10 to 20 yard line on the Lions side of the field, but not really near the players or cheerleaders. The coolest thing that I remember was Packers receiver Antonio Freeman caught a pass in between two Lions defenders right on the sidelines in front of us. They all crashed out of bounds basically landing right at my feet. If they had landed a few inches further out they would have knocked me right over. Up close those guys are huge.
More lip-synching; from an article with regards to tonight's opening Sochi Winter Olympics ceremony-
**In addition, a tiny, pigtailed 9-year-old girl in a red dress who sang "Ode to the Motherland" was lip-synching. The real voice belonged to a 7-year-old girl who was replaced because she was deemed not cute enough by a member of China's Politburo. At the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Luciano Pavarotti's performance was prerecorded. The maestro who conducted the aria, Leone Magiera, said the bitter cold made a live performance impossible.**
Guess sometimes there is no choice, but a big thumbs down to the decision not to show the real little girl.
"Henry Cow always wanted to push itself, so sometimes we would write music that we couldn't actually play – I found that very encouraging." - Lindsay Cooper, 1998
"I have nothing to do with Endless River. Phew! This is not rocket science people, get a grip." - Roger Waters, 2014
"I'm a collector. And I've always just seemed to collect personalities." - David Bowie, 1973
FWIW: I saw on a news show that though Bruno's drum solo and vocals were live at the SB halftime show, his band was finger-syncing to pre-recorded tracks. I imagine it wasn't what they would've preferred. Still, great singing... and he don't need no stinking auto-tune!
yeah, as always, the lack of autotune was refreshing. apparently, everyone mimes their performances at the Super Bowl. oh well...
they DID record the music live that they mimed to, though. i suppose that counts for something.
in any case, the halftime show rocked pretty nicely, i thought
And the code is a play, a play is a song, a song is a film, a film is a dance...
Who the **** is Bruno Mars?
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