I would posit that the NFL is more concerned with programming a show that follows FCC guidelines than with presenting morally rich entertainment.
Even sans nudity, McCartney put on the most enjoyable half-time show I’ve seen. Quite refreshing.
-wm
Yeah well Paul managed to slip another one past the censors.
Same song with that ‘awful’ drug reference:
“Sweet Loretta Martin thought she was a woman, but she was another man”.
Obvious references to transgenderism, gender confusion, possibly even an allusion to a masculine type lesbian?
You can be darned sure Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell will be talking about that !!
But on the serious side, I’m glad Paul played the songs that are the most familiar to everyone. I heard that a few years ago, Eric Clapton performed at Boston Garden and started off with (I am told) five songs from his new album. I would have been yelling for “White Room” the moment he stepped on the stage.
Amy Pohler on “Weekend Update” on SNL: “Paul McCartney will be performing the halftime show at tomorrow’s Super Bowl. And although the FCC and NFL officials scrutinized every lyric, I have it on good authority Paul is going to whip out his dong.”
I thought the show was fantastic, nudity or not.
I don’t suppose anybody knows who the guitarist was? I though he might be James McCartney, but I’ve never seen a photo of him and have no idea what he looks like. But in height, slim build, eyes, nose, chin, and jawline he was reminiscent of Linda. (I hope he takes more after Paul in the musical talent category…)
I don’t think it’s James McCartney, but honestly, I’ve never seen a picture of him either so I don’t know. The band looked like exactly the same lineup he had on his last tour, and I know James wasn’t a part of the band then.
As for his recent work, Flaming Pie and Run Devil Run are a little old now, but they were brilliant albums…Driving Rain less so. In concert he pretty much does a good mix of the new and old stuff. I know I wasn’t disappointed, but then, I never am when it comes to Paul.
Shoot, when I saw Clapton he waited until the end of the show to play his big hits. He played two full hours of new music before hitting the classics. And then it was only a handful–Sunshine of Your Love, You Look Wonderful Tonight…but he didn’t play White Room or Crossroads!
Actually, I was kinda hoping he’d spoof Janet Jackson’s little “malfunction.” How funny would it have been if, before the last song, he took off his jacket to reveal that his shirt had a large patch of material that was obviously being held on with snaps or velcro or somesuch, and at the end someone ripped it off?
PepperLandGirl
My God - 2 full hours of new stuff? Seems to me that Clapton has a rather big ego.
But you like “White Room” huh? To me that is inspired guitar playing with possibly the best use of a wah-wah pedal by anyone. In fact when I look at wah-wah pedals being sold on the Inernet, almost all of them will mention “White Room”. In fact some even claim to have a “White Room” setting !!
Go to this link http://www.snarlingdogs.com/products/discwahs.html
and look at the first line: "Features our “White Room™ Wah Mode”…
I listed some “proposition bets” along with our usual entirely random Super Bowl party wagering. One of them was “McCartney drops trou and shows off The Walrus.”
I listed it at 1500-1. No action.
The concert Paul McCartney in Red Square on A&E in 2003.
Here’s yer McNipples. 
Good night, no. The sooner people stop talking about and spoofing last year’s show, the sooner it will go away.
Hopefully.
I agree wholeheartedly.
And, can I just add I’m floored to see you here. I didn’t know you were a charter member, nor that you hung around here anymore. Great to see you! 
Agreed. “Wardrobe malfunction” jokes need to die. The ad during the game that allegedly spoofed the “malfunction” was lame too.
Actually, Paul McCartney spoofed the whole wardrobe malfunction nonsense in an interview a few days before the Super Bowl. He assured the interviewer that there would be no wardrobe malfunction because the band would be doing the whole show in the nude! 
You know, this is one halftime show I was actually looking forward to seeing. I’m not that thrilled about the songs he did, but it was still a well done, professional show. I admit it wasn’t all that exciting, and I’ve never been that big a fan of Hey, Jude or Get Back, but it was still pretty good.
CJ
Let’s see… McCartney is a billionaire. he’s been knighted, he had a great marriage with no Hollywood antics and is working on marriage #2, raised what seem to be normal children, and still provokes screams from teenage girls when he walks onstage despite being old enough, in some cases, to be their grandfather…
Geez, it’s not like the man has anything to prove to anyone.
Yes, he’s still recording new material. He will probably continue to do so as long as he can pick a guitar and croak out a few lyrics. But he doesn’t need hits anymore, he’s unconstrained by the need to make money, and can just do what he wants. He seems to understand that this reduces the likelihood of a pop #1 hit, on the other hand, there are McCartney fans who probably buy a CD of him farting tunefully.
On the other hand, when he was asked to do the Super Bowl halftime show he was no doubt aware that he was being hired to entertain the crowd not to be a primadonna artist. So he went with tried and true crowd pleasers.
In other words, he did what he was hired to do - entertain people.
I enjoyed the halftime show; it made a nice change from the last few years of MTV frantitcally trying to prove how Hip and With It they are by cramming every no-talent Big Name they could find into the show, each of them singing one line of some hit song and gyrating.
On a side note, I thought the performance of the Star Spangled Banner was awesome; that may be the first time I’ve ever seen the national anthem properly sung at a sporting event (not that I watch that many of them), with no egos trying to be Artistic with it. It had my ex-Marine husband in tears.
I have to second the National Anthem was done right.
I am tired of some Big Star belting it out one looooong note at a time to 'make it their own." Look, Jose Feliciano did the best job of it evar, you twats, everyone else, ( except the military chorals) please go away.
I’ll third that. Definitely the best rendition of the National Anthem that I’ve heard in a long time.
What did you guys think of the pre-game stuff? I’ve heard a lot about the Black-Eyed Peas, but I wasn’t that impressed by them. I’ve never heard of the country chick before. Both of the older groups were good.
I thought Paul’s first two songs were kind of slow and too low-key in special effects for a Superbowl–I was getting embarrassed fro him that they toned it down so much. Thank goodness they beefed it up for Live and Let Die. From then on, it was great.
My husband thought it was strange that:
[ul]
[li]they had an Englishman for something as American as the Superbowl–what, they couldn’t find a Polish pop star to represent our only other ally?[/li][li]that they choose Live and Let Die, which comes across as somewhat callous with the Iraq war and all, especially with all the emphasis that the troops were watching[/li][li]that they didn’t have a spotlight on Paul that showed from the stands–the close-ups looked well lit, but when they pulled back, you couldn’t see him at the piano with the light waves underneath him[/li][/ul]
We both thought it would have been funny if his pants fell off. What can I say? We are not too highbrow.
I was glad it was a one-act, no-medly, interpretive-dancer-free show. The most watchable in ages; I kept waiting or them to introduce Throwaway Popstar X to butcher some Beatles tune.