8 Acts We'd Love To See Play The Super Bowl 50 Halftime Show
The Super Bowl isn't a football game, it's a spectacle. It's an American pastime; a national day where friends, fans, and family all hang out together, inhale fried carbs and light beer, and bet on which team will run away with one of the biggest sports events of the year.
The game itself usually proves to be engaging. As a showcase of what happens when brute force and intuitive strategy are successfully balanced, football is truly a game for the masses. However, many Americans, perhaps not intently hooked by the athletes, look forward to other elements of the Super Bowl. Some may enjoy the social aspect, and others the commercials. Music fans, though, tend to have just one thing in mind: the Super Bowl Halftime Show.
Getting tapped to play the Super Bowl Halftime show is an honor quite unlike any other. As an artist, being selected means the event's producers believe that your work transcends the popularity boundaries for fans of a certain genre, and that you can put on an eye-popping performance worthy of a broadcast reaching 111.3 million people. Every year the performance one-ups itself with more and more light shows, pyrotechnics, guest stars, and thus, every year it becomes more memorable than the years that preceded it.
That means that the choosing of the talent to play the show is all-important.
So far, we don't know who is up for consideration, but we do have suggestions as to who should play. You know, if we had our way. Read on to see our dream acts.
Justin Timberlake featuring Timbaland, Rihanna, *NSYNC??
(Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
We miss Justin. It seems like it has been forever since we got new music from the former boy bander (thought it has only been roughly two years), and we're already itching for a new album of bangers. Rumor has it the singer is returning to the studio, so we can hope we'll have at least a couple timely new chart-toppers on our hands by the time he'd take the Super Bowl stage again post #WardrobeMalfunction, but with "SexyBack", "Mirrors", "Suit & Tie" and more in his repertoire, Timberlake has plenty of hits to choose from. Also along for the set? Timbaland and Rihanna, who are reportedly working on an album together and could put together some killer duets with Timberlake, and (maybe?) *NSYNC. We can't help but hope for a headline-grabbing very 90s reunion right here on our home Bay Area turf.
Pharrell featuring Adele and De La Soul
In case you've been asleep for the last 12 months or so, we'll fill you in: Pharrell has basically ruled the airwaves. Between "Happy", "Come Get It Bae" and the major acts he's producing when he's not cranking out his own chart-toppers, just about everyone in the United States has nodded along to at least one of his newer tracks. His older songs, like those with N.E.R.D. are just as catchy. "She Wants To Move" for example, was a huge international hit, and at 11 years old, is has proven itself a hit to outlast the years. It's also one of Pharrell's songs with a remix just as killer as the original. Featuring De La Soul (along with Common, Mos Def, and Q-Tip), the remix, "She Wants To Move" would make for a huge dance break on the Super Bowl stage.
Pharrell is also poised to produce Adele's new album. Hopefully that means we'll hear some Pharrell-touched upbeat tracks from the multi-award winning vocalist?
Taylor Swift featuring Calvin Harris and Kendrick Lamar
This year has been Taylor's, and we've all just been watching her show. The 1989 singer has cranked out an obscene number of earworms in her career so far, and along with fellow hit-maker (and boyfriend) Calvin Harris, she's got an arsenal of big tracks ready to entertain the masses at this year's Super Bowl. Rapper Kendrick Lamar, whom Swift also famously featured on her "Bad Blood" track, has picked up a few crowd-pleasers of his own, including the politically-charged (and timely) "Alright". Together, the combo makes for a great show.
AC/DC featuring Pink and Dave Grohl
The Super Bowl Halftime Show is all about uniting acts you'd never see play together. AC/DC is by far a huge favorite with everlasting tracks like "Back in Black" and "Highway to Hell", and for some reason, they've never played the event. This year is high time for the Australians to take the stage, and they might as well do it with a little extra star power. A band playing the big game could always use a little extra percussive power, so why not recruit the most famous drummer in America for the gig? Dave Grohl is masterful, and a huge crowd favorite. Lastly, the event could use a little female force; and there is at least one singer with the vocal muscle and a edginess to match Angus Young's that would make for a nice addition: Pink.
Queen (fronted by Adam Lambert) featuring Jessie J and the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus
There aren't many rock (or pop) fans who don't love at least one Queen number. The group formerly fronted by the campy Freddie Mercury is inscribed in rock history, and their songs are truly best-suited for stadiums just like Levi's in Santa Clara. The band also recently toured with Adam Lambert stepping into Mercury's shoes, and by the looks (and sound) of it, it seems it was a killer combo. One pop singer who could go toe-to-toe with Lambert is Brit Jessie J, and the voices together on Queen's "Somebody to Love" would be incredible. We just have one more request for this: can we please get the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus on the choir vocals for "Bohemian Rhapsody"?
Journey featuring Carrie Underwood
Wow, how has Journey not played the Super Bowl yet? Maybe now that the big game is finally set in the Bay Area, we'll get a chance to see the classic rockers in an arena that will truly appreciate them. After all, rock anthems like "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Faithfully" have become intertwined with sports in San Francisco, so what better instance is there to truly humor ourselves with the dream soundtrack of local sports come to life? Pair the act with select power songs from Carrie Underwood, a favorite with the NFL, and you've got a mass-appealing Halftime Show.
Garth Brooks with The Dixie Chicks
(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images for dcp)
Is there another country singer more loved right now than Garth Brooks? His shows sell out instantly and even folks who don't dabble in country at least tend to know the words to "Friends in Low Places". The man is a superstar, way overdue for an appearance on the Super Bowl stage. But then again, this is the Super Bowl, and there should always be some surprise guests— how about The Dixie Chicks? The band is hinting at a U.S. tour following an announcement that they'll be heading to Europe for a string of shows, so why not pencil in February 7 for Santa Clara, California?
An All-Bay Area Show: Metallica, Green Day, Santana, and The Grateful Dead
A list about selecting the next Halftime Show here in Santa Clara would not be complete without a local roundup of some of the most iconic bands to ever come out of the Bay. Somehow, none of the above bands have ever played the show, despite being considered rock royalty by pop culture history. Can you imagine a more epic rock session that the guitar battle between Billie Joe Armstrong, James Hetfield, Bob Weir, and Carlos Santana??
Who do you hope to see play the Halftime show?
Alyssa Pereira is a music writer, web producer, and pop culture blogger for CBS stations in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Find her on Twitter at Alyssa Pereira
