Coldplay were this year entrusted to fill the shoes of many world renowned artists who have previously performed at the Superbowl Halftime Show. 2016 brings the 50th version of the American spectacle and the five-piece, originally from London, were asked by organisers to try and encapsulate the past, present and future of America’s biggest sporting event.
Chris Martin and co. opened proceedings with their 2008 single ‘Viva La Vida’ whilst children ran onto the pitch of the Levi’s Stadium to swamp the area around the stage. The iconic track was an excellent start to the Halftime Show and got the entire crowd up onto their feet and singing along. After Martin had returned to the stage to finish the opener, the band seamlessly moved straight into ‘Paradise’. The stage illuminated with bright colours in eye-catching patterns as Martin danced and pranced around manically, jumping in the air and offering himself to the children surrounding the stage.
Coldplay then moved on to their only single of 2015, ‘Adventure Of A Lifetime’, before being joined by the first set of two very special guests. As the track came to an end, Mark Ronson started spinning his decks and 2014 Superbowl Halftime Show performer Bruno Mars appeared with a group of dancers dressed in full pleather. They burst straight into ‘Uptown Funk’ and Mars showcased his dancing talents as well as his vocals. The track then merged into ‘Formation’, the most recent single from the one and only Beyoncé. Queen B appeared with her own group of dancers and she too showcased her own choreography before joining Mars on stage for what can only be described as a dance-off.
Chris Martin then joined the two former Halftime Show performers for the last few lines of ‘Uptown Funk’ before retreating to his piano in order to sing part of ‘Fix You’. Whilst performing an instrumental version of the 2005 single, video footage of previous Superbowl Halftime Show performers were shown on the stage, which had become a big screen. The likes of Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson could be seen strutting their stuff from Superbowl’s past. Martin then did a mini-mashup of songs those artists performed at their respective shows before being joined by Beyoncé and Mars again for the finale.
Superbowl 50’s Halftime Show came to end with the three artists performing the last track from Coldplay’s 2015 album A Head Full of Dreams – ‘Up&Up’. The bright colours were streamed across the whole stadium and the Show came to an end with the crowd of the Levi’s Stadium lifting up cards to spell out “Believe in Love”.
The 2016 Halftime Show will not go down as one of the Superbowl’s best, but Coldplay did themselves proud and were still able to put on an entertaining ten minutes or so. It would have been nice to have seen Beyoncé and Bruno Mars perform a couple more of their more well-known tracks, but at the end of the day it was Coldplay’s night.
