04/18/24
December 03, 2015
Coldplay Chosen for Super Bowl 0x32 Halftime: The British rock band Coldplay has been selected to perform at halftime of Super Bowl 0x32 this February, according to press reports. The announcement will be made at halftime of Thursday night's game between Green Bay and Detroit. Some Twitter users gave the news a chilly reception. "Like Coldplay is ever going to give us anything as good as left shark," wrote Ben Kercheval.
I've never seen them in concert
Well I know it's not cool to say this, but I have. In the interests of reclaiming my coolness, it was the first US tour and I'd been listening to a Napster'd copy of Parachutes for months. I couldn't tell you what they're like in concert now but they were pretty low key and Chris Martin was definitely still getting comfortable being on stage. He would have been seemed except the tour got postponed due to illness which meant the opener changed from Grandaddy (whom I loved) to Joseph Arthur (who I liked and, just to really date things, was Entertainment Weekly's Album of the Year winner). Joseph Arthur was the single worst performer I've ever seen. He had negative stage presence. Never seen anything close to that level of stage fright in my life.
In sum, hopefully Chris Martin doesn't drag "Special Guest" Joseph Arthur out on stage for the Superbowl or he will combust.
posted by yerfatma at 08:34 AM on December 04, 2015
I like this choice. A while back I discovered this Coldplay concert from Rock in Rio on YouTube and it won me over. They'll be able to do something entertaining with the spectacle.
I think this is the first alt-rock headliner. The Red Hot Chili Peppers performed with Bruno Mars and No Doubt with Sting and Shania Twain, but I don't think either band was the lead act.
I predict a stripped-down acoustic set that only contains music from their new album.
posted by rcade at 08:41 AM on December 04, 2015
I've never seen them in concert
Well I know it's not cool to say this, but I have.
I think I saw them on that same tour. It was right around the time Yellow started getting some decent radio play. My girlfriend at the time was a huge fan, so I took her. It wasn't the worst show I've ever seen, but it's not in the top 100 either.
I kind of want them to do the surprise guest appearance by a rapper thing again and have Dizzee Rascal or maybe FKA Twigs pop out in the middle of a song for no reason.
posted by Ufez Jones at 07:20 PM on December 04, 2015
He would have been seemed except
I think I had a stroke there.
posted by yerfatma at 11:19 AM on December 07, 2015
I know it's not cool to say this, but I really like "Clocks", so if they drop that in the middle of their set, I'll be happy with that.
I've never seen them in concert, so I have no idea if they'd provide a real visual treat for the viewing audience. I'm curious to see who they have show up as a "featuring" act, like Missy Elliot and Lenny Kravitz did for Katie Perry last year.
As for anything as good as "Left Shark", there isn't any hope of that happening. Last year's half-time show is the gold standard, as more people watched it than any half-time show in history, and it had better ratings than the game itself. If you include the fact that Elliot's and Perry's music on iTunes exploded in sales for the two weeks after the performance, I can see why Coldplay would be willing to take a shot at it.