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13 memorable Super Bowl halftime show musical moments

February 6, 2025

As Kendrick Lamar gets set to take the stage at halftime of Super Bowl LIX on Sunday, Feb. 9, we’re confident he’ll put on a great show.

For one thing, he’s been there before, performing as part of a hip-hop super-group with Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Eminem, and Mary J. Blige at Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, just up the street from his hometown of Compton.

He’s also the first solo Super Bowl headliner to also have won the Pulitzer Prize for music, which he did in 2018 for the album “Damn,” which has to count for something, right?

Prince performs during the halftime show at the Super Bowl XLI football game at Dolphin Stadium in Miami on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2007. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

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Prince performs during the halftime show at the Super Bowl XLI football game at Dolphin Stadium in Miami on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2007. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

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So before Lamar shows us what he’s got at halftime in New Orleans, we decided to look back at the history of Super Bowl halftime shows, and highlight its most memorable moments. Beginning with …

Purple rain on ‘Purple Rain’: Let’s just get this out of the way right now: Prince’s performance at Super Bowl XLI in Miami in 2007 is the best single performance in Super Bowl history. From opening with Queen’s “We Will Rock You” to closing with “Purple Rain” as the skies opened up to rain through the purple lights on “Purple Rain,” his set was magic.

A rare playoff appearance for Jets: Ever wonder why so many people expected flying cars and jetpacks were the future? For flying cars you can blame “The Jetsons.” For jetpacks, blame Super Bowl 1, the halftime of which featured two dudes in bulky jetpacks flying briefly over the field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Down with Up With People: We said these were memorable moments, but we didn’t say they were all good memories. No one should be as constantly cheerful as the song-and-dance troupe Up With People was during its four – four! – Super Bowl halftime show performances between 1971 to 1986.

Startin’ something? Michael Jackson’s performance at Super Bowl XXVII at the Rose Bowl in 1993 marks the start of the modern era of pop music halftime headliners. Sure, Gloria Estefan and New Kids on the Block were part of the previous two halftime shows, but they had to share the stage with Olympic skaters and 2,000 kids doing one of those old-fashioned card tricks.

Hit records? We barely know ’em! George Michael’s “Faith” was the top-selling album of 1988, and Guns N’ Roses’ “Appetite for Destruction” and the soundtrack for “Dirty Dancing” were close behind. But the Super Bowl halftime producers must have been listening to Art Laboe’s Golden Oldies because they booked Elvis Presto, an Elvis-impersonating magician, and a song-and-dance troupe for a ’50s rock ‘n’ roll medley.

Love Hirt’s (Trumpet): This year is the 11th time the Super Bowl has been held in New Orleans, and five of those halftime shows included New Orleans jazz trumpeter Al Hirt or New Orleans jazz clarinetist Pete Fountain, both of them fine players, both of them White. We’ll be surprised if Lamar doesn’t include some traditional New Orleans jazz elements while also celebrating the city’s Black musical history.

Beyoncé Shuts It Down: The last time the Super Bowl was in New Orleans its halftime headliner was Beyoncé, whose thrilling performance included a surprise reunion of Destiny’s Child, the trio with which she began her ascent to global stardom. How powerful was her show? A blackout in the stadium after halftime delayed the game 34 minutes which we are almost certain is the only reason the San Francisco 49ers did not beat the Baltimore Ravens.

Crotch Watch 2009: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band delivered one of the best halftime show performances at Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa in 2009. The Boss got a little bit over-excited at the end of “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” though, when he sprinted down a ramp, dropped to his knees, and slid crotch-first in living rooms around the world.

This is an arrival: Admit it, you believed for a moment that Lady Gaga really had dived off the roof of Houston’s NRG Stadium to kick off her performance at Super Bowl LI in 2017. Sure, it was a neat piece of editing, but man, in the moment, it sure looked like she had. Admirably cool, the Gaga is.

And this is how you leave: When the confetti explodes over the football field that’s the end of the show. You don’t really notice how the performers depart. Unless we’re talking about Diana Ross, who flew out of Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona at Super Bowl XXX in 1996 on a helicopter. Divas gonna diva.

Whither goest thou, Left Shark? Is it bad when a costume dancer upstages your halftime show performance? After Katy Perry’s performance at Super Bowl XLIX in 2015 all anyone could talk about was the performer known as Left Shark his wildly noticeable gyrations inside a shark suit as Perry sang.

U2 and us, too: U2, an Irish rock band known for its inspirational songs, was chosen to play the halftime show at Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002 just months after the terror attacks of 9/11. Springsteen would have been good here, too. Though it’s hard to top the emotional wallop of the names of those who died in the attacks scrolled across the video screens as U2 played “MLK.”

Wardrobe Malfunction: Ah, the infamous Nipplegate, there’s no avoiding it, we’re afraid. That moment during Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004 when Justin Timberlake grabbed part of Janet Jackson’s top and tore it off, scarring children worldwide who discovered that human anatomy includes nipples. Sure, it was a mistake, but the outrage outstripped the offense. Forgotten in the furor was the fact her performance was fire, as those kids grew up to say.

13 memorable Super Bowl halftime show musical moments Orange County Register

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13 memorable Super Bowl halftime show musical moments

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