Whether or not Beyoncé will be reuniting with her old bandmates from Destiny’s Child onstage at Super Bowl XVLII on Feb. 3, one thing’s for sure-- Beyoncé will be there, and she will be ready to rock.
Fresh off of singing at President Obama’s inauguration on Jan. 19, the best-selling international artist has been hard at work rehearsing for the “Big Game’s” highly-anticipated Halftime Show.
In fact, this past weekend, Beyoncé posted a picture of herself on Instagram rehearsing for the show. The picture shows the “Best Thing I Never Had” singer clad in a grey sweatshirt, dark sunglasses, a Brooklyn Nets hat (her husband, Jay-Z, is a minority owner with the NBA franchise) and black sweatpants during rehearsal in New Orleans.
Interestingly enough, her rehearsal shirt reads “Can I Live?” The line was made famous by Jay-Z in his rap hit “Heart of the City,” but Vibe suggests that it may have been a tongue-in-cheek rebuttal to her critics amid rumors that the singer lip-synced during President Obama’s inauguration.
“Taking a note from her man’s lyric pad, she’s wittingly made her point,” Vibe writes.
Earlier last week, amid reports that Beyoncé would be reuniting with Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams--the trio collectively known as the best-selling female singing group “Destiny’s Child”--Williams denied reports that the band was getting back together. However, a song set list for the show, leaked to Us Weekly last week, has songs for the trio listed as part of the Halftime Show performance.
Either way, all eyes will be glued to the screen for the Halftime Show on Feb. 3. Having featured a gala of great and legendary performers and acts though the years, some were memorable, some were controversial and others were understatedly better than expected.
Let’s take a look at the Top Five Underrated Super Bowl Halftime Shows of All Time:
5. Gloria Estefan, Super Bowl XXIX, 1995
One of the best-selling Latina performers of all-time brought a little Latin flavor to the twenty-ninth Super Bowl at the Joe Robbie Stadium in her hometown of Miami, Fla., performing a medley of hits that included her remake of the 1970s classic “Turn the Beat Around.” Her performance brought some life into a game that was largely over by halftime as the San Francisco 49ers dominated the San Diego Chargers 49-26 behind game-MVP Steve Young’s record-setting six touchdowns that game.
4. Shania Twain, No Doubt, Sting, Super Bowl XXXVII, 2003
A sultry country star, a rock legend and Gwen Stefani--Super Bowl XXVII’s Halftime Show at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, Calif., had it all.
Twain, who brought sex appeal to country music during her rise to fame, kicked things off with her classic hit “Man! I feel like a Woman” and segued into the gorgeous Stefani and No Doubt’s attitude-filled hit song “Just a Girl”. But the crowning moment of the show was rock legend Sting singing his iconic Police hit “Message in a Bottle”…during which Stefani joined him onstage as two generations of rock merged as one for the thousands in attendance and millions of viewers at home to rock out to.
The performance provided fitting entertainment to a game that saw NFL great Warren Sapp win his first Super Bowl as his Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Oakland Raiders handily, 48-21, in a game where Tampa Bay safety Dexter Johnson won the game’s MVP for two interceptions.
3. Rolling Stones, Super Bowl XL, 2006
If there was any doubt as to whether or not Mick Jagger and the boys still got it, a raucous performance at Ford Field in Detroit, Mich., erased those doubts. The legendary rock band had the crowd roaring and singing along to their classics “Start Me Up” “Rough Justice” and, of course, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” as they watched a historic and dramatic game where NFL great and Detroit native running back Jerome Bettis, in his final NFL game, announced his retirement onstage after his Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Seattle Seahawks 21-10 to win his first and only Super Bowl championship.
2. The Black Eyed Peas, Usher, Slash, Super Bowl XLV, 2011
Perfect synchronicity.
That would be the two words that would best describe the performance put on by Fergie, will.i.am, and the Black Eyed Peas, the electrifying Usher and legendary rock guitarist Slash at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The crowd’s estimated 103,219 fans in attendance watched Fergie rock out with Slash to Guns ‘N Roses’ smash hit “Sweet Child of Mine,” followed by Usher and will.i.am kicking it to their collab hit “OMG” and then culminating with the Black Eyed Peas’ closing song “The Time (Dirty Bit” with a reprise of “I Gotta Feeling.”
And their song’s line “Tonight’s gonna be a good night” was prophetic indeed, as the thousands in attendance watched a down-to-the-wire game which saw the Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25, as Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was named the Super Bowl MVP after completing 24 of 39 passes.
1. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Super Bowl XLII, 2008
A classic performance for a classic game is what Tom Petty delivered at the University of Phoenix Stadium, the soulful, yet energetic Petty and his crew delivering a rousing and rocking medley of the group’s hits “American Girl” “I Won’t back Down” “Free Fallin’” and “Runnin’ Down a Dream” to the delight of the crowd in Glendale, Ariz., where a miraculous catch from New York Giants receiver David Tyree on a miracle throw from Giants quarterback Eli Manning helped the Giants stun the undefeated 16-0 New England Patriots for a shocking 17-14 come-form-behind win in one of the most unlikely upsets in NFL history.