Regarding rehearsal time:
A week before the show, Madonna spent four days in Madison Square Garden in rehearsal - all very hush-hush; no audience, one allowed in, no one allowed to even open a door to the arena while they were rehearsing.
I didn’t like the lip-synching. I also didn’t like that:
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The “fantastic” light show was in the space that fans usually stand in. That made it a little too stage-y for me, especially since the light show was just okay.
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From the minute she was carried in (!) it was all about Madonna. Not the fans who were watching the show, not the people in the stadium, not the unbelievably talented Cirque du Soilei gymnasts, not the dancers, not the “guest stars” and certainly not the music.
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She was a total bitch to Bob Costas in an interview broadcast prior to the game. He asked her a great question about the NFL booking “safe” performers versus her legacy of being risque, and she just said something like “Well, I hoped they booked me because they thought I would be entertaining” with a dead look in her eye. That could have been a great discussion that went any number of directions, but she’s too arrogant to be a normal human being.
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Her costumes were UGLY. Bad coloring, poor design and cheap materials (at least they looked that way on camera). I mean, this is Madonna! A style icon! So we get an ill-fitting pseudo-“roman” thing with awkward boots and a cheap lame skirt and a absolutely horrid black robe…thing. Very disappointing.
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Song choice was lousy. Vogue is a great, great song, but not well suited for a huge stadium/TV stage.
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Her dancing was bad. She knew she shouldn’t have been dancing on giant heels, but do so anyway and probably hurt her hamstring. Not very professional of her.
I’m not her biggest fan anymore, but I’ve never seen her be so sloppy in a performance.
Madonna is far from ageless. In candid photos she sometimes looks weird or frightening.
However, with the best facelifts, botox, warpaint, photoshop, etc. that money can buy, she is able to occasionally approximate a human appearance.
I’m with Nzinga. It’s Super Bowl Halftime, folks. There are a very limited number of performers who could pull it off - widespread appeal, spectacle… going with a younger demographic with the BEP was hugely disappointing because a) they’re hacks, b) they’re not that good live, and c) not everybody knows their music (fortunately).
MJ, Madge, Prince, U2, Paul McCartney, and a few others are among those that belong on that stage. Tom Petty, whom I adore, might make the cut, but barely. The Stones, sure, but they usually have their Zimmer frames when they perform.
I thought she did a great job entertaining. I mean, do you expect Madonna to do Whitney Houston vocals? She never has. The only thing I would fault her on was song choice. It would have been cool for her to do a number like “Material Girl” reprising the video with a live band. I liked “Vogue” and “Music,” but the other songs were meh. The new song was channeling Toni Basil.
If she had done “Holiday,” “Open Your Heart,” “Material Girl,” and “Ray of Light,” I would have given it an A+. I’m not a massive Madonna fan but I respect the impact she has had on music and entertainment… those songs would have done a better job of showcasing it.
I thought she moved fine. MJ (if he was still around) and Prince are the only other entertainers of that era who brought that kind of dance/singing combo and they have all lost a step. Personally, I think she would have looked like an idiot trying to do the “look I’m 25!” thing.
There was a moment when she was on top of the bleachers where she kind of stumbled but other than that it went well. Rinsed the horrible BEP aftertaste out of my mouth!
I’m not a huge Madonna fan but I really liked it. The stagecraft was amazing and I really liked the new single. It sounds very 80s (in the best way possible). The only mistake they made was not making that single available for download immediately because I bet she missed out on a small fortune (at least Amazon’s downloads doesn’t have it).
That “joke” was based on the fact that we only see Dick Clark once every year. Disney really needs to get to work on the animatronic version of Dick Clark now that we’re on the subject. And speaking of the Super Bowl, can anyone imagine the halftime show for Super Bowl MMMCXXV?
Liked the stage and the lighting effects. But if she wasn’t going to actually sing they could have just played her videos.
So… they should have kept the stage n’ lighting effects…and instead of having Madonna performing in person, lipsyncing or not, they should have just set up a big screen.
Showing her videos.
Okaaaayyy…
That would certainly save a lot of time and trouble.
That is brilliant thinking, in its own special way.
Admittedly, I was watching her show from my dinner table, but it never looked at all live to me. I thought it was on videotape.
No, **Loach ** suggested that Madonna should have sang live.
Anybody got a live link to the halftime show?
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She wasn’t performing. She was faking a performance. Like Milli Vanilli. Playing her videos would have been more honest. Maybe I’m old fashioned but I prefer singers who actual sing.
“Vogue” is a great song. It’s dated, sure, but isn’t that what nostalgia is about?
What I couldn’t figure out is the Roman legion thing at the beginning. The Super Bowl isn’t a USC game (Honestly, I was expecting the head guy to thrust his sword into the stage, just as Tommy Trojan does before games), and it doesn’t go with “Vogue” all that well. I think an old-Hollywood theme with tuxes and gowns would have been better.
This guy seems to think that the whole thing was an art piece to communicate the impending collapse of the U.S. empire.
Disclaimer: I think the guy has FAR too much time on his hands, and has ingested too many substances of questionable value.
Bolding mine:
Milli Vanilli got busted for pretending that it was their own voice on recordings of someone else’s voice. Madonna lip synced over her own vocals. Lots of people do it when they are performing live. Particularly when their live show is so demanding.
Maybe it is my sedentary lifestyle, but looking at her doing cartwheels, bouncing up and down on those 54 year old knees like a bearded Russian dancer, jumping on dudes’ shoulders, tramping up and down those bleachers, (bleachers! those are tricky to manipulate!) and striking yoga poses that would make a hooker blush. That’s a performance. I don’t know how you fake that.
I thought all she needed was 300 guys in banana hammocks barring her way and screaming “THIS IS SPARTA!”. Xerxes wants his campiness back. 
Or maybe you’re just unclear on the meaning of “perform.” The dancing counts. The spectacle counts.
Madonna has never been a “singer”. Madonna is a performer. You may not care for that style of performance, but claiming that it’s not “performing” is ridiculous.
See also: the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
You owe me new eyeballs.