Monday, February 7, 2011

Super Bowl as a Gig

The Super Bowl half-time show has got to be a very difficult show to invent.

The big problem is size: the "stage" is enormous and much of the audience is waaaay far away from the performers, so that even the biggest of rock stars is going to look like an ant.  It's necessary to do big stuff - stages, effects, and certainly to add dozens, scores, hundreds of backup dancers... Which usually looks like a herd.  Whatever the show is, it can't be subtle!

But yesterday's show by the Black Eyed Peas overcame all this.  The music was strong enough for the space and crowd.  The herds of dancers managed to look choreographed.  Cool Tron-like lighted costumes looked fantastic.  Pieces of set that came out during the show (which helped solve the hurry-up problem of getting all this started) really added interest - having them light up too and spell out giant words was clever.  Everything "read" even from high-up seats.  And there was a real sense of occasion.   (Plus I liked the confetti cannons.)

Not my favorite kind of show, but I've got to admire its slick success.

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