Prince’s Performance Lacks Controversy
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By KELEFA SANNEH
Published: February 5, 2007
A brief concert in the middle of the Super Bowl, on a temporary stage, designed to thrill a captive audience with nothing in common except a love of sport or spectacle, or both. How could that ever be a good idea? Then, just when it seemed time to give up on that quaint ritual known as the halftime show, along comes Prince.

Prince performed a medley of his hits Sunday night during halftime. Appropriate to the weather conditions, “Purple Rain” was among them.
His performance last night at Super Bowl XLI will surely go down as one of the most thrilling halftime shows ever; certainly the most unpredictable, and perhaps the best. “Dearly beloved,” he whispered, intoning the famous first words of “Let’s Go Crazy.”

What followed was a dizzying demonstration. He navigated a smooth course through a jumbled-up set built from bits and pieces, hits and covers. “Let’s Go Crazy” ended with an ad-libbed call-and-response, after which Prince was joined by a marching band.

Soon came “Proud Mary” by Creedence Clearwater Revival. That gave way to a piece of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower,” which melted into “Best of You,” the 2005 hit by the Foo Fighters. He ended the medley by modifying a favorite line from the Foo Fighters’ song: “I’ve got another confession, my friend/I ain’t no fool.”

Somehow, it all made sense, or maybe it made something better than sense. The heavy rain made the smoke and lights seem mysterious, instead of merely ridiculous. And there was a sneaky thrill in watching Prince steal the field from guys three times his size, if only for a few moments.

At one Super Bowl gathering, at least, Prince’s extravagant guitar solos, seductive facial expressions and strutting stage manner made boozy viewers whoop and wonder in equal measure. Who knew a Super Bowl halftime show could be this delirious?

No doubt National Football League officials were pretty pleased, too. They know that the halftime show is still haunted by the specter of 2004, when Justin Timberlake enlivened an otherwise unmemorable show by baring Janet Jackson’s breast. Somehow, Timberlake’s role has been largely forgotten, but Jackson’s career has still not recovered. And compared with the controversial Jackson, Prince must seem like a pretty safe bet.

Would that last statement have made any sense at all 20 years ago? In 1987, Jackson was best known as Michael’s effervescent younger sister, and Prince was perhaps the most polarizing pop star in the country; the sexually frank lyrics of his “Darling Nikki” had helped spark a national debate about explicit lyrics.

Yesterday’s command performance was yet more proof that Prince has made that familiar journey from pariah to American treasure. He has a catalog of hits that everybody seems to love (even the players, who normally take little interest in the halftime show, were quoted praising Prince), and he sings and plays and moves as well as he ever did.

Best of all, he does not carry himself as a pop-star emeritus. Did you see his face during the first verse of “Purple Rain,” when he tossed his bandana into the crowd? He looked as if he were getting away with something.