Beyoncé, Coldplay and Bruno Mars put on a fine show, but the shoddy audio of the Super Bowl 50 halftime show made the performance hard to enjoy for viewers at home.
From the opening notes of Coldplay’s Yellow, which were impossible to decipher, to Beyoncé performing her new hit Formation, to the final medley that paid homage to the history of the halftime show, it was tough to appreciate anything because it was hard to hear what songs were being performed.
Coldplay is a fine band, inoffensive and cordial, with plenty of hits you know from the radio. They played those songs admirably, leading with a brief bit of Yellow and transitioning into Viva La Vida, along with an army of teenage violinists in bright jackets.
That was Coldplay’s main tactic for their set, bringing out musicians, a marching band, dancers, and more, creating an atmosphere and energy the songs themselves might not have provided. Lead singer Chris Martin did his best Bono impression, running around the stage and hamming it up with the crowd.
After Bruno Mars performed his hit Uptown Funk, it was Beyoncé’s turn. She only performed a few songs, including a dance-off with Bruno Mars and that final medley, but first, the song everyone was waiting for: Formation. Her performance didn’t disappoint, even if the audio was indecipherable.
Decked in black leather and gold, Beyoncé led an army of dancers across the infield. They danced gorgeously across the shoddy turf of Levi’s Stadium, managing to keep their feet in the chewed-up grass. (Though that probably didn’t do anything to help the field quality.)
Beyoncé did almost lose her footing when she finally made her way to the stage, but rescued it admirably.
In truth, Beyoncé had already stolen the halftime show from headliners Coldplay when she released the music video for Formation on Saturday, a music video that is Beyoncé’s most powerful release yet, an unflinching statement about being an African American woman in 2016. It dominated the weekend, and what hope did any live performance have to stand up to that?
Smartly, Martin and the rest of the band didn’t try to outdo Beyoncé. They played well, with confidence and energy and a sense of humor. They did their hits, kept the show moving, and when Beyoncé stepped on stage, had the grace to let her grab the spotlight she so rightly deserved.
This was the smart way for the NFL to bring back Beyoncé, who was the headliner of Super Bowl XLVII, and Mars, who headlined the year after, without looking like it was merely running a rerun of the show years ago.
The singer who can claim real ownership of the evening was Lady Gaga, who performed a spectacular rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner before the game began. (I wish I could say the players on the field were the stars of the night so far, but not after that first half.)
Sadly, no matter how great Martin’s energy and how well Beyoncé performed, little of it mattered because you couldn’t hear a thing either of them were singing. When a video recap of previous Super Bowl halftime shows is the highlight, you know it’s a problem.
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