For what it was (a halftime show at a football game) I thought it was great, far better than the previous two Super Bowls.
It may have been the insanely high heels she was wearing.
I think calling her ‘ageless’ does disservice to how much better she was in her heyday.
This was a good show. I loved the stage/lighting, the choreography, and the audio work in the studio. Madonna was good, but her choreography (hampered by costume choice, no doubt) was definitely that of a woman in her 50s. While the rest of the dancing was great, her movement was, IMHO, pretty uninspired.
She looked great, though in close ups she definitely looked her age.
I have never quite gotten Madonna. I think that most of her music sounds very dated and thin, and has not stood the test of time.
We were wondering if those thigh-high leather boots were a little too tight and constricting her knees. That one spot where she almost fell trying to get her foot up on the back row of bleachers looked like that might have been a problem.
I’m not a fan but this was the first half-time show ever that I watched all the way through. I thought she looked and sounded just fine, and the staging was incredible. Not quite on par with the opening ceremony of the China Olympics, but nicely intricate and fun to watch.
You can tell I don’t see many stage shows, or light shows, or any kind of shows, actually. I was impressed.
So what was it about the choreography that you think took months of rehearsal? Because that’s what I was refuting.
I neither love nor hate Madonna. I thought the show was pretty entertaining as an overall spectacle. Her dancing was a bit clunky but I’ll forgive her at her age. The other dancers around her were pretty amazing, and the whole video-stage thing worked a lot better than some similar efforts I’ve seen.
But the song choice was decidedly meh, in my opinion. I’ve always found Vogue and Like a Prayer to be two of her weaker efforts, and that new song was just awful. Anything from the mid-80s would have gone over much better for me – Like a Virgin, Lucky Star, Borderline, Material Girl… Now that was Modonna in her prime.
As opposed to… :dubious:
That’s a hilarious criticism, considering it was lip-synced (as has been mentioned a number of times in the thread now). The track you were hearing was her younger self.
Maybe she does. But she wasn’t using it last night.
I inflated my rehearsal time estimate because I wasn’t sure if the background dancers were pros. Amateur talent takes a lot longer to learn complicated routines. I’m familiar with the time it takes high school marching bands to learn formations. Its not easy getting a mob of people to move seamlessly together. You’d be amazed at how easy it is to turn wrong, or bump into someone, or trip over your feet. I spent several years in a marching band and had my share of embarrassing experiences.
Madonna wouldn’t have been involved in any of that anyhow. Her job was to explain the vision at the beginning and then let the music director make it happen.
I got a kick out of it, but I’m amused by giant spectacle shows with Cleopatra allusions. It was obvious she was lip-synching but that’s what you have to do if you’re going to dance too. I thought she had some good moves. The woman is 53, she looks good–though I’ve never been a fan. I do quite like Vogue–that was the best song in the lineup IMO.
At one point it looked like her little gold gladiator skirty-thing was falling off at the wrong moment, but then it seemed that she was supposed to be in plain black for the next number anyway. Did it fall off at the wrong time?
Madonna’s voice has never been that great, but I thought it sounded better yesterday than when she was younger. She rarely ever used to have any vibrato, but has plenty now. I thought the new songs were very monotonous, the spectacle expensive looking but sort of pointless, but loved the brief Cirque du Soleil slackline performance. I wonder if he sings.
I disagree with much of your post but I agree with this:
and propose that Bruce just does the show every year. 
I’m no Madonna fan, nor is my wife, and we both agreed it was pretty bad. Flat, no energy, and lip-synched.
Putting the slackliner in there was a mistake, because it contrasted so jarringly. The slack lining was a little suspenseful and well-done, compared with Madonna pretending she is still 25.
Unfortunately, no more than was expected from a Super Bowl half time. They keep digging up these has-beens and putting them center stage. Why don’t they pick somebody who is as far past their “use by” date?
Regards,
Shodan
Maybe I have been out of the loop for too long (as this was the first SB HT show I have seen in years) but I was very entertained. The transitions were well-done, the dancing was awesome, and that light-stage thing was amazing. I need to look up the technology for that.
I enjoyed it. Madonna looked amazingly beautiful especially given the fact that she is middle-aged. People of our generation tend not to look as old as our parents did at the same age. I have suggested it is the preservatives in the food we ate as children (Wonder Bread, anyone?).
I cut her some slack by why in heaven’s name did she include that dreadful track called “Music”. It’s one of the most embarassing pieces she’s ever released from an equally dreadful CD. She has dozens of hits to choose from and she picks that?
You know, this is an interesting point a few people have brought up, and I bet it is a very calculated move on the part of the organizers. The demographics for sports are all over the map, but it’s the 35+ crowd that really has the money they’re after. Picking performers who are a bit seasoned gives that crowd a sense of familiar comfort and nostalgia.
While the 18-25 crowd may be just as enthusiastic about the SB as the older folk, they tend to be a less lucrative demographic. So the Super Bowl will never market primarily to them by trying to be “young” and “edgy”.
Because most of the audience is past their use by date.
For Super Bowl 2011, 61% were 35 and over, 39% were under 35. We can argue about what age constitutes “use by date”, but cutting edge is certain younger than 35.
She’s had a lot of work done.