Another boring, tedious SB halftime show

[Sibelius Fan]

Elevator music combined with hand gestures that haven’t changed in 30 years.

Stale.

[Polybius]

1. I can tell that you're not a Generation Xer or older Millennial n/t

[jimfields33]

32. My only complaint as a Gen Xer,

was I thought it was short. It didn’t seem very long to me. Did they cut the time they usually give to this?

[Polybius]

41. I was saying the same thing to my friend

It seems like the shortest halftime show ever.

[ProfessorGAC]

57. It Was About Normal

It was a couple minutes shorter than '23 & '22, but about 15 seconds longer than the show The Weekend did.
While weather may have had something to do with it, the Prince performance was a full minute shorter at barely over 22 minutes.
I didn't look up all of them but it appears the NFL allots 15 or 16 minutes, with some acts using closer to the full allotment. The entire halftime is scheduled for 30 minutes and has been for quite a while.
12 to 15 minutes is where nearly all the shows this century have clocked in.

[jimfields33]

58. Thanks. Maybe because they had so many performances

It broke it up. I definitely enjoyed it.

[ProfessorGAC]

61. I Thought It Was Fine

I do like his voice & his stuff has old-school elements like Motown or Philly, but with more modern beats. I only know a small number of his songs, so it wasn't a hit parade for me. But, that doesn't matter.i
I have an attitude about performing to canned music I can't get past, but it was a fun show.
The roller skate thing was pretty slick.

[Dorian Gray]

68. I'm firmly Gen X and I don't get usher

I do get Alisha Keyes, but not last night.

seeing Lil John and Ludacris was fun.

Usher is just a bummer to me. Never got his appeal. I know people who are huge fans, but he was never huge with my crowd. (Maybe we're five years too old.)

[Polybius]

74. Define firmly :)

Maybe I was too old, but I was hanging out with someone younger at the time and she loved Usher. I was about 28 in 2002, and she was 21. Got me into that era's R&B big-time.

[Dorian Gray]

75. FIRMLY! lol

I was born in 1971. (Gen X is 1965-1980)

[LisaM]

2. I agree.

This just seems like a re-hash, and the material is unmemorable.

Oh, and an Apple Music ad at the end.

[OAITW r.2.0]

3. Not my cup of tea,

Doubtful my tea will ever get served again in the Super Bowl.

[BootinUp]

13. Ha! But you never know. Maybe some youngsters will cover

something good.

[OAITW r.2.0]

15. Yeah, maybe Billy Strings will headline in a couple of years, lol.

[brewens]

26. There was a good run there when a lot of my favorites got the half-time show. Those days are gone.

I wouldn't even be that excited to see The Stones even now. It was good timing to put together another plate of nachos while that was going on.

[vercetti2021]

4. Want rock

I'm tired of pop and hip hop.

[Prairie Gates]

30. Best Rock Song didn't even make it to prime time on the Grammys

They ran it in the early show. The winner was a fantastic song, though (boygenius' Not Strong Enough).

[redqueen]

34. Rock seems pretty much dead in the US

Japan has some good bands though. And there's one I like from Ireland too.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

5. lol it was fucking fantastic

[Greybnk48]

10. I agree! Really fun! n/t

[obamanut2012]

56. Agree, and I'm not even an Usher fan

Elevator music? Usher???

[ProfessorGAC]

6. It Was Ok

But, just ok.
Admittedly, I'm never going to approve of performing to canned music.
No matter the stature of the artist, it's still just karaoke.

[keithbvadu2]

7. And lots of stomping.

[Sympthsical]

8. I liked the Lil Jon appearance!

Usher just kind of looked as old as I'm starting to feel. It was fine, just . . . low energy?

I honestly thought that woman fell off the stripper pole.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

11. They'll never top Prince

Never!

[Sympthsical]

12. Amen

I seriously cannot think of a single artist who could come close to that.

[Lochloosa]

16. Agree. And in the rain.

[Tommy Carcetti]

42. I found Prince boring and overrated.

IMHO.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

43. .

[Happy Hoosier]

48. I'll back you up... Prince isn't all that great IMO.

I’ll stand by that! Fight me!!!!

[Hassin Bin Sober]

66. .

[MerryBlooms]

71. Wow. 🤣

[beaglelover]

46. Preach it!! I doubt anyone will ever come close to topping Prince's SB half time performance!

Singing Purple Rain IN the rain!

[edisdead]

18. I thought the same until

I thought the same until the rollerskates came out. That was legit. That was a bold move that had some super high risk to it and had to have had some serious practice behind it.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

64. Usher is doing a Vegas residency right now

I wonder how much of the halftime show was lifted from his Vegas show (like the roller skates maybe?)

[calimary]

9. Are we in halftime already?

As you might have guessed, I am NOT keeping track. I wouldn’t know what I was looking at if I even tried.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

14. The show was okay but I like how they worked Usher into some of the commercials.

[Celerity]

17. sorry they couldn't clone Lawrence Welk back from the dead for you

[think4yourself]

20. If it's not "Up With People!"

I’m not watching!

[Tree-Hugger]

31. Scared my cat

This gave me a genuine belly laugh that scared my cat, who was sleeping on my lap.

[BannonsLiver]

40. Nice ageist joke there.

8/10

[Celerity]

53. its not ageist in the slightest, in fact it is the opposite

This board has so many who shit all over anything music-wise post 1970s, post 60s.

I am so not even a pop music fan (look at my Music Appreciation posts, I am a huge fan of old punk and post punk, plus alt rock, etc), but Usher's first single was 3 years before I was even born.

I have seen, since I joined DU in summer 2018, a non stop slagging off of anything that is not ancient 1960s/1970s classic rock.

Characterising music that is is 25, 35 years old (let alone alone tunes from the 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s) as some sort of 'new' dross is just silly. It IS agesist AF.

I refuse to bend to that actually ageist shit.

So no, I dismiss your attempted smear.

[Bettie]

79. It's the cry of every generation...

"And the music these kids listen to! Why in MY day...."

It dovetails nicely with all of the "Well, I would never listen to Taylor Swift, but...".

I listen to new and old music. Some I like, some I don't, but oddly, I find things in every genre that I enjoy.

And I'm an early-model Gen Xer.

[Sibelius Fan]

49. Lawrence Welk dead could be more interesting than Usher live.

At least if this show was any measure.

🤣

[Celerity]

51. only in your world m8

[EllieBC]

19. I was so happy to see Lil Jon.

Usher wasn’t bad but it got better with Lil Jon.

[WarGamer]

21. I'll never forgive them for not inviting Metallica to perform...

They've only been at the TOP for 40 years...

James has said they'd love to do it.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

62. I would love that!

[Demsrule86]

22. I loved it. I thought it was wonderful.

[DET]

23. Get Off My Lawn

Not my type of music, but I thought that Usher did a good job while channeling Michael Jackson. Not a fan of Alicia Keyes (and that outfit did her no favors). The woman with the guitar solo was great. But they lost me (not that they care) when the roller skates came out. Dumb gimmick, God awful music, and tedious choreography. Hope that woman who fell off the stripper pole is OK. I’m glad for anyone who enjoyed the half time show, but I wish that they’d occasionally cater to us geezers who like classic rock. We’re not dead yet and we still spend lots of money.

[rockfordfile]

24. I didn't watch it

I haven't watched one in a while.

I don't care much for hip hop or rap. I'm more of a Rock & Roll, Hard rock etc... listener.

[Delarage]

29. Same

Halftime is the time to pee, eat, take the dogs out, text people about the game, etc. UNLESS it's someone epic that I REALLY like (like Springsteen)....then I'll juggle all those tasks strategically to make time to watch.

But the crew I was with was hanging on every advertisement and waited excitedly for the halftime show.....so to each their own.

Definitely not for me, though. The two things I did notice as I was coming and going were the roller skates and the stripper poles---to which the thought "What the F....." entered my head. Then the dogs barked to come back in and off I went

[doc03]

35. I turned to the History channel and watched Ancient Aliens during the half

time. I haven't seen a half time show worth watching in decades. Just a bunch of people jumping around
grabbing their crotch. By the way get the f--- off my lawn.

[radius777]

25. When ludacris and lil jon came out was better, started kind of boring.

In recent years there's just too much dancing and spacey effects in these shows.

The one a few years ago with Dre, Snoop, Eminem, 50 and Mary J was one of the best IMO.

[Emile]

27. Does Usher still produce music?

[AZSkiffyGeek]

65. New album just came out

He’s had multiple charting singles in the past year or two.

[True Dough]

28. I have no doubt

all of the ushers in that stadium worked their tails off!

[Johnny2X2X]

33. Loved the roller skates

And people need to understand the cultural significance of roller skating rinks and how this was a nod to that era and what roller skating rinks meant to minority communities, and still do in some places.

It was an average show, Usher is way past his prime, but still put on a good show.

[Prairie Gates]

37. The whole show was like that

Roller skating, step shows, marching bands. Usher was very much commenting on the "Halftime show too black" discourse of last year. Oh, yeah? Double down. The nice touch was the guitar rock by a black woman. That's triple down.

[Wonder Why]

36. There are more of us seniors than those youngsters so they should have live performances by the big names like

Perry Como, the Big Bopper, Richie Valens, Buddy Holly, Nat King Cole, and Frank Sinatra. Bring them back!

The NFL thinks they can do anything so see if they can pull that off!

[Prairie Gates]

39. Can you recall what was revealed...

[Hugin]

38. My only complaint about the half time show...

Is the same as it has been for the last few. I could not hear the vocals clearly. Which really doesn’t have anything to do with Usher.

Other than that, SPECTACULAR!

[Ursus Rex]

44. It felt chaotic and overstuffed.

The roller skating was the most impressive part, IMO. Maybe it was better in person when you could get the overall impression instead of close-ups from a steadicam.

[maxsolomon]

45. I muted the TV and spent halftime in the hot tub. I DGAF about Usher.

I came back and the game had just restarted.

I also muted as soon as a commercial came on.

[LudwigPastorius]

50. I'm ready for an all star death metal band in the halftime show.

Call them, "Down With People".

[betsuni]

52. Just watched it and the dancing was fantastic, beautiful. I'm shocked anyone would find

that wonderful performance boring or tedious. Do they not understand the effort and skill that goes into performing at that level? Idiots, people are idiots. Whatever. Morons.

[Celerity]

55. for once we agree (and I am not even an Usher fangirl)

[tornado34jh]

54. To be honest, I didn't even watch because I had to vacuum my room for some fire inspection

I don't really watch the Halftime Show. There hasn't really been anything new in several years.

[Mountainguy]

59. I was in college when User was really blowing up

And I really liked him. But the show was pretty meh to me.

When I think of Usher I really think about all of the associated acts. And yeah, most of them were there but not all and none of them for more than a verse and then they were gone.

[senseandsensibility]

60. I find these kinds of threads a little perplexing

What is the point of putting down others' musical tastes? Saying you didn't like the show is okay of course, but why put others down? Then when it veers into agist comments (in both directions) it just becomes depressing. But that's my opinion. If others like it, so be it.

[Celerity]

63. It's a typical 'slag anything post 60s/70s classic rock' ageist claptrap that dominates here when music's discussed.

Some here think that ageism is a one way street.

Bollocks.

I have chafed for years here under an 'attack anything under boomer' ethos that too many here want to put forward. And that is FAR from just music in scope.

They want a one-way Gen war, one where anyone they deem as 'young, spoilt youngsters' (see the 'youth are kale-chomping, couch dwelling lazy, entitled POS' posts, for instance) is absolutely fair game to put on full blast, yet then whinge and toss out false AF 'ageism cards' when there is any pushback.

I understand that my words, spoken as a now 27 year old Zillennial (and probably the youngest regular DU poster (which is sad AF in and of itself) who has shared their age) are not welcome by some, but I refuse to back down.

It is absolute rot that some older posters chose to take continuous shits on people younger than they are, yet then demand those same people bend the knee to everything they demand.

Real life does not work like that.

Some of those 'fuck the youth' posters would shit their pants if they saw what pretty much all of the people under 40 I deal with in my real life have to say.

They could not fall back onto a 'alert and hide the post' templates.

They would have to actually engage with them, and that would be a fucking disaster IF they tried the shit I see them try and push here.

[senseandsensibility]

67. I try to look at it from a wider perspective

meaning that we are all progressives and should not resent each other. I have read that "generational" divide is a way for conservatives and the monied elite to divide and conquer. It is Very similar to the way bosses try to divide and conquer union members so that their strength is diminished. That could happen to us if we're not careful Unity is important because we really do outnumber them and relatively small resentments should not be allowed to come between us.

[Celerity]

69. I absolutely disagree that all posters on here are 'progressives' in any remotely valid sense of the label

there is a deep undercurrent of reactionary sentiment here, within which there has always been (since I joined DU in summer 2018, and I am sure LONG before that) a multiplicty of attempts to refefine/falsely claim the term progressive and, at the same time, attack many who most would actually considered progressive.

As for generational divide attempts, you need to talk to the people actually doing it. I can assure you that 90, 95 per cent (or more) comes from those on the youth-bash side.

There is a more than fair of overlap (not complete of course, but significant nonetheless) between those camps.

If I had 10 quid for every one 'those damn kid' style hostile posts (some more overt than others) I would be able to go on a hell of a Louboutin/Gucci/Balenciaga shopping spree with the payout.

This board literally has almost no out-in-the-open sub 30yo presence. It is hardly a balanced forum, age-wise. There are many older, wonderful posters who do try and defend us against the attacks, but alas, they are too often drowned out.

Sat Mar 5, 2022

Wed Feb 26, 2020

Tue Mar 14, 2023

[MerryBlooms]

72. I rec'd your comments and agree.

[MerryBlooms]

73. I listened to the game via radio, so I watched the halftime

Show on YouTube. I loved it, especially when the skates came out! My sister and I have been watching a lot of skating videos lately! Love the music and dance skate. Brings back great memories and makes our thighs and butts hurt just thinking about hitting the rink again! 🤣

[Texasgal]

70. To me the issue was the audio problems

I could not understand any of the lyrics whatsoever! I don't mind Usher and was kind of looking forward to the show, instead it sounded jumbled and I was not able to enjoy it at all.

Oh well.. I guess that's what happens when you stream. I cut the cord years ago.

[Ferrets are Cool]

76. Well, we thought it was great.

So there.

[Permanut]

77. Halftime was cool, but the Nickelodeon SpongeBob thing was annoying..

Please send them back to the kiddie channel.

[qwlauren35]

78. If you don't know the music, it won't appeal to you.

I fell asleep before it came on, so I hunted it down on YouTube the next morning. It looked fun, energetic. I loved seeing Alicia Keys. She was a big plus. They played some of his best music. I absolutely love marching bands, so I enjoyed seeing the band on the field and wish I had seen more of them. I have no doubt that if I had been there, I would have loved it.