Focus on the positives: Prince ruled

February 5th, 2007 | Posted by PostmanE

I know I’m not the oldest cat in the game, but I am racking my memory for a Super Bowl halftime show I enjoyed more, and I’m coming up with nothing. Maybe Michael Jackson? Doesn’t count; I was like 7 or something.

Even the recent rock shows didn’t live up. The Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney are obviously better acts, but their performances were sort of uninspired. Prince’s, on the other hand, was totally maximized to its fullest potential, complete with light and explosions, a cover song medley, even artificial lightning. Everything - down to his weird little headscarf - was on point.

Kelefa Sanneh of the New York Times agrees, it seems:

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.

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.”

Yep, it was pretty much awesome. And we probably should have seen it coming, too, considering he gave the single coolest Super Bowl press conference ever: