Prince Reigns at Super Bowl
8 Feb
It just doesn’t get better than this. Prince performed at this past Sunday’s Super Bowl No.???, where two teams-I guess who are really good- beat everybody else to play each other. But whatever.
Who cares? Even for people who really love football, Prince became the highlight of the night, giving, in my never-ever humble opinion, the best Super Bowl performance I have ever seen. Period. I dare you to show me one that was better. Say something?
It rained, and I mean poured that night, but Prince looked completely unbothered. The only indication that he might be in slightest bit moved by the downpour, was the scarf on his head, covering his freshly-fried doo. He eventually even tossed that to the side.
Besides the two dancers who looked gorgeously like Beyonce/young Tina Turners, the only other people that were apart of the performance were the FAMU marching band and a background singer for Prince -who’s name I’d love to know, because she was an incredible addition (and good background singers are hard to come by). Prince ripped through several of his hits, and also launched into covers of Tina Turner(READER CORRECTION: Creedence Clearwater Revival-which I knew but the dancer were giving you a Tina Turner effect, and she sang it and made it hers and who remembers CCR?) Bob Dylan, and the Foo Fighters.
Then I heard the opening guitar chords of Purple Rain.
I thought, “No way!” His set had to be nearing the end, and well, it is simply unheard of to close an extravaganza like this, with a ballad (OK. I don’t know how “unheard of it is, but I am making a point, stick with it and stop being a Nelly-Know-It-All!).
Leave it to Prince. He rocked the crowd out with PURPLE RAIN, and had the tens of thousands of fans singing that one riff he does toward the end of the song “Yaaaaayy hooo-hooo-hoo.”
Unfortunately we can’t just stop at a great performance, and let it be just that. We can’t just leave well-enough alone. Some journalist/bloggers started writing a story that’s been picked up a mllion times about how some people thought Prince’s guitar solo behind a blowing curtain looked phallic.
First of all, someone from CBS was quoted and said that they received very few complaints about Prince’s performance. So how did this become a story?
Secondly, for the people with nothing better to do than to watch TV like traffic cops waiting for something to appear sexual to them, I have a question:
HAVE YOU LOOKED AT A F#@%&^**! GUITAR LATELY?????
They’re phallic in and of themselves! And you know what? They’re played at waist-level!
GIVE ME A F$$#@&! BREAK!
Even if he did mean it, so damn what. It lasted about as long as Janet Jackson’s truly accidental wardrobe malfunction-and I don’t think he did, given how completely tame Prince has gotten since his conversion to Jehovah Witness-ism (Are the word police going to come around and tell me witness-ism isn’t a word? That my “i” looks phallic? Perhaps the “m” I typed looks a bit like a mound of breasts?)
Watch the performance on Youtube. Enjoy. OH SORRY. I was going to embed the video from You Tube, but UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP HAS MADE THEM TAKE IT DOWN!
AND THE RECORDING INDUSTRY WONDERS WHY THEY’RE LOSING MONEY? THEY SELL YOU CRAP AND THEN WANT YOU TO NEVER BE ABLE TO SEE AGAIN A REALLY GREAT PERFORMANCE, THAT WAS ON FREE TV ANYWAY.
BAH HUMBUG!
Paul McCartney’s performance wasn’t that bad, you know?
And forget about embedding the performance, embed the Chappelle Prince skit. It’s funnier.
Hey didnt do a Tina Turner cover… Its a Credence Clearwater Revival song… which Tina Turner covered as well.
Joe - Paul McCartney was a snooze. Sorry.
James - thanks for the heads up. But considering what the dancers were doing, he definitely was invoking Tina, and not CCR.
It seemed to me and my sister that the backup vocalist was Philly songstress Jaguar Wright. I haven’t found any confirmation for sure but if it’s her, I think it’s a good move for her in terms of exposure…
Even though I was thrilled he performed some of his older catalogue, I wasn’t as impressed as you were but I will admit the downpour didn’t make things easier. I LOVED that he did “Baby. I’m a Star” and the performance made me dig up “Lovesexy,” “1999″ and “Parade”" all this week - which has taught me never to forget Prince Nelson Rogers ever again. There is a moment in “Lovesexy” in which a woman begins a rap which turns into Prince’s voice and ultimately into a gruffer masculine voice that is pure genderf*uckin’ greatness when genderf*uck had barely been invented (‘cept by Bowie and some glitter rock idols). But in 2007 it sounds as fresh as ever.
I do wish he would have incorporated the drum corps a bit better into his songs.
Everything you said, and more. Loved, loved, LOVED the halftime show, being a Prince fan from way back. I was heartbroken back when I found out that he was giving up his overt sexual lyrics because he’d got religion. He is a freakin’ genius, and I loved the way he pushed the envelope.
The friend I watched the superbowl with was talking about how they’re picking artists now who they’re sure will be totally safe, and that’s why they chose Prince, now that he’s become all tame. The guitar thing didn’t even occur to us at the time. That guitar is just supposed to be that symbol he used to go by, wasn’t it? I guess his old rep preceeds him.
Oh, and your rant at the end about the music industry? YES YES YES. THANK YOU. How ironic - the reason Prince changed his name to that symbol on his guitar is because he didn’t want to be a pawn of the music industry. But, now we can’t watch the video on YouTube of his controversial symbol on his controversial guitar because a music industry giant won’t allow it.
Thanks for the great blog. I’ve been a reader for a while.