OT - No more geezer rock

Submitted by m83econ on

Can the NFL please put this kind of "entertainment" out of it's misery? C'mon, put on acts who can perform and not old dudes who can no longer sing and just scream into the microphone. Halftime needs to be more than a Jurassic park rerun.

Frank Drebin

February 8th, 2010 at 4:27 PM ^

The funny thing about that is The Dead had the 5th highest grossing tour last year, and that was only with spring shows and 1 summer concert at Rothbury. The only artists who made more in concerts were Bruce Springsteen, The Eagles, Britney Spears, and Elton John/Billy Joel. Do you see a theme? These older acts sell, and they have a wide appeal. The only young performer is Spears, and she has done the Super Bowl. Even if she hadn't, I am sure no one would care to see her perform at the Super Bowl in the future.

HartAttack20

February 7th, 2010 at 9:23 PM ^

That was pretty bad. They are way to old to be doing this. Their songs are worthy of a halftime show, but they should never have to be heard that way. I think the whole Janet Jackson boob thing has scared them away from that. They know that these old farts aren't going to flash the audience.

switch26

February 7th, 2010 at 9:30 PM ^

yea this is pretty good. I hope to hell our D can at least be competent and not give up so many huge gains, or 3rd down big plays and the no fly zone really does come into effect. It is gonna be funny as hell when Dorsey does do well and people are afraid to take him on in the future.

JDM

February 7th, 2010 at 9:42 PM ^

I wouldn't have minded it so much if I could have understood one word they sang. But I couldn't, so yeah it needs to go.

And I'm sick of another commercial break after only one play.

CoachW

February 7th, 2010 at 9:59 PM ^

It's a good thing the game is exciting because that halftime show and the lack of decent commercials has been very disappointing. Springsteen was ok, but that was awful.

Don

February 7th, 2010 at 10:12 PM ^

Enough with the 50+yr-old halftime entertainers already. The vast majority of the best popular music always has been and always will be done by people 30 and under.

Tater

February 7th, 2010 at 11:05 PM ^

...only the quality of the performance. For example, Clapton can still bring it, and the Cream reunion of a couple of years ago was very HQ. Neil Young is still one of the finest performers out there, and the ex-Dead people can still play well, too, as can the Allman Brothers. Also, because they never make millions, most blues and jazz musicians play until they drop dead, and some get better as they age.

As a 57 year-old musician, I have known for years that neither age nor genre has anything to do with quality. It's as ignorant to criticize "geezer rock" as it is to judge and blow off rap or any modern genre just because he doesn't resonate with it. Blanket statements (except, of course, this one) and stereotypes are almost always ignorant, and those about music are no exception.

As for the Who, I thought the beginning was terrible, they saved it in the middle, and phoned it in at the end. There has always been a backing track on Won't get Fooled Again because they didn't used to have a keyboard player, but most of it was played live. You could definitely hear Pete's guitar, and he appeared to hit a few random notes on purpose to demonstrate just that.

I would rather have seen someone else, but the main reason the Who were there was because the game was on CBS and their music is used as de facto theme songs for the CSI series.

C'est la merde.

PurpleStuff

February 7th, 2010 at 11:36 PM ^

You are completely correct. Age is nothing, but performance is everything. I thought Prince brought it very strong when he did halftime a few years ago, but The Who were just terrible today. Didn't help that the guy replacing Keith Fucking Moon looked like he was younger than me. Get a heavy hitter to sit in if you are replacing a legend during the biggest TV event of the year.

M Fanfare

February 8th, 2010 at 12:48 AM ^

The drummer is Zak Starkey, who's been drumming with The Who since the mid-1990s. You might have heard of his father, Richard Starkey--better known by his stage name Ringo Starr. When Zak wanted to learn drums, Ringo sent his son to learn from his good friend and the boy's godfather Keith Moon, hence his current affiliation with The Who. He also drummed with Oasis for a few years.

While he does look quite young, he's actually in his mid-40s.

A Case of Blue

February 7th, 2010 at 10:18 PM ^

There haven't been any women, period, in the Super Bowl halftime show since the Janet and Justin incident.

I'd love to see something like Jay-Z/Rihanna, but there's no way that will ever happen.

Edit: Whoever negged me, I'm not asking for Lilith Fair or anything, but it would expand the pool of potential acts. Just sayin'.

jmblue

February 7th, 2010 at 10:15 PM ^

This raises an interesting question: what is the median age of a Super Bowl viewer? 40? It may be that the old rockers have the most mass appeal among viewers. I don't know.

CWoodson

February 7th, 2010 at 10:53 PM ^

Tom Petty was nice, Springsteen was decent (I've seen him better live recently). Keep in mind, we got The Who instead of LADY GAGA or something. We should be deeply thankful.

CWoodson

February 8th, 2010 at 1:13 AM ^

I'm not hating on anyone, but the mass-appeal (let alone basic knowledge) of Linkin Park and especially Three Days Grace is extremely low among your standard Super Bowl audience, and neither are so popular today they could possibly headline.

DMB isn't exactly an act in its prime either, though certainly they could put on an excellent show. Their long popularity makes them a very plausible (I'd say likely within 5 years) choice.

I'd love a Jay-Z/Rihanna, Kanye/Alicia Keys type of thing - you get huge current popularity, something a little more musical for the geezers that is a little more relevant for everyone else.

But keep in mind, when you're wishing for that, you're 50 times more likely to get Lady Gaga, Coldplay, or (god forbid) NICKELBACK than bands like Three Days Grace.

Noahdb

February 7th, 2010 at 10:53 PM ^

Petty was great a couple of years ago. Enjoyed Bruuuuce last year.

I'm 37 and from the suburbs, so more rock and less rap is good for me.

And none of those mash-ups where you have Britney Spears singing with Aerosmith.

If he's recovered from his heart attack, David Bowie should perform next year.

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

February 7th, 2010 at 10:58 PM ^

Yeah, instead of world-famous rock bands, let's bring back Justin fucking Timberlake. N Sync and Janet Jackson's skeleton, that was a great show. And Britney Spears! Bubblegum pop and football go together great. Shania Twain. Wooo.

I like geezer rock, dammit.

Noahdb

February 7th, 2010 at 11:07 PM ^

I think the poster above had it right. The people actually actively WATCHING the super bowl are probably mostly a bunch of middle-aged men.

Trust me, if you dragged the corpse of Steve Perry and the rest of Journey out there and they did "Don't Stop Believing," there would be a couple of hundred million people singing at the top of their lungs along with them.

Was it the Orange Bowl a few years ago where Ashley Simpson actually got booed offstage for singing so badly?