Springsteen Bruces Up Tampa Super Bowl Halftime Show
Published: Wednesday, February 4, 2009
 "Photo: N/A")
Photo by Oscar Algote/flickr.com
This year’s Super Bowl has come and gone once again. The clash between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals was entertaining to say the least, but this year’s game will need to leave room in the books for an asterisk, reading only this: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band.
The band Journey opened up the Super Bowl pre-game event with their new lead singer, Arnel Pineda, performing their hit “Don’t Stop Believing.”
Although it was a really good performance, the song choice couldn’t help but underline what every loyal Journey fan was thinking, “Don’t stop believing that Steve Perry, the original lead singer, will someday sing with the band again.”
Faith Hill sang “America the Beautiful” and Jennifer Hudson, in her first live performance since her family tragedies, sang the National Anthem.
According to MTV.com, Super Bowl Producer Ricky Minor requested that Hill and Hudson lip-synch to pre-recorded tracks of the songs they were supposed to be singing.
“That’s the right way to do it,” Minor said. “There’s too many variables to go live. I would never recommend any artist go live, because the slightest glitch would devastate the performance.”
Although lip-synched, both performances were very good in their own right, and it was truly moving to see Hudson get back on her feet after a horrible year.
Springsteen performed the Super Bowl XLIII halftime show.
For the entirety of the set, the 59-year-old legend strutted around the stage only justifying why his persona name is simply the “boss.”
They started off the halftime show with, “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” followed with “Born to Run,” both of which are off his break-out and third studio album, “Born to Run.”
As the set progressed, the “Boss” ran right into his most recent single and the title track for his latest album, “Working on a Dream.”
And when fans thought it couldn’t get any better, they were all given shots of adrenaline when the intro to “Glory Days” was strummed so loud you couldn’t help but dance around.
Crowd interaction, knee-slides, jumps, smiles; everything was there during his performance.
The one thing that any aspiring musician should take away from Springsteen’s performance during the Super Bowl is this: enjoy what you do.
Today, stage performances can be described as overdone, redundant and trite. Springsteen and the E street band were neither of those on Sunday.
If there can be anything said about the “boss” and his performances, it is that he not only throws amazing performances, but you can actually tell he loves what he does.
Nearly every second of the halftime show was filled with contagious Springsteen emotion.
Running around, grinning from ear to ear, dancing, crashing into camera men, you name it, the “Boss” proved why his name has become synonymous with the best concerts around.
Of course, it is a given, when Super Bowl XLIII is brought up five years from now, people will rant and rave about a great game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals.
But, I believe that somewhere in that conversation, Springsteen’s name will be brought up, whether it is for his stage performance, the songs he played or the overall affect he had on the viewers watching, that can be contemplated.
But this is for certain: Bruce Springsteen and the E-street Band have officially etched their names in Super Bowl history.
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