Madonna’s Grindr-shutting spectacle during the Bridgestone Super Bowl XLVI Halftime Show might have spared us the gimmicks (all nipples were covered for the safety of her career and predominantly gay fanbase), but certainly didn’t spare us the awe-inspiring production. The Lucas Oil Stadium turned into a colosseum as the “Like Virgin” singer entered the field rocking a fierce Egyptian queen look and sitting on a golden throne placed on a platform dragged by numerous gladiators.
Voguing her way to the main stage, Madonna kicked off the show with “Vogue” before being joined by LMFAO for a special “Party Anthmem/Music/Sexy and I Know It” mash-up. And as if LMFAO wasn’t enough to kill the initial classines of the show, Nicki Minaj and M.I.A. came out for the cheerleader extraganza that was the first ever performance of “Give Me All Your Luvin’” (I didn’t know cheerleaders loved to flip middle-fingers, did you, M.I.A.?) The Cee-Lo assisted ”Like A Prayer” completed the set-list with a bang! Being the only person on stage who sang live that night, Cee-Lo brought it to the church with souful over-powering adlibs.
As it usually happens with Madonna, massive productions overshadow her presence. She was never the best dancer (some mastery of Granny-pilates was showcased though) or singer (I lip-synch and I know it) in the world; and to be able to command the stage relying on her talents only was never her strength. However, the concept and the multimedia effects in this performance were simply brilliant and mind-blowing. The themes, the costumes, the way the field was vacuumed by the stage before the last song, and the choreography were spectacular. And while Madonna hands down cemented her ability the put on a remarkable show, her new single sounded so lame mixed with her classics. It made it hard for me to L-U-V it.
Watch Madonna’s performance below:
