The Who didn't rock the house, but they didn't strip to their underwear either
Posted on Sun Feb 7 2010
The biggest event of the year, the Saints vs. the Colts on Super Bowl XLIV, had no shortage of robust musical talent entertaining at halftime: legendary British rockers The Who, who (excuse the pun) might be criticized for being a musical infomercial for CBS. Airing on the Eye net, Roger Daltrey, Peter Townshend and company (including Ringo Starr's son Zak) took us through bits and pieces of the trio CSI: theme songs: the original CSI: ("Who Are You"); CSI: Miami ("Won't Get Fooled Again"); and CSI: NY ("Baba O'Riley"). If anything, this reminds us of the importance of opening a TV show with some kick-ass lyrics. The adrenalin gets pumping before any word of dialogue is spoken, thanks to any catchy TV-show theme.
With only 12 or so minutes to perform, we also got parts of "Pinball Wizard" and the close of "Tommy" amid an orange-and-green-toned halftime show, which according to one Twitterer was "insanely cool." But not everyone was impressed. "The halftime show is supposed to leave you with wanting more," said one blogger. "The Who are always great to hear but tonight I hoped for more." "The Who halftime show was brought to you by Geritol and Depends," barked another. "They needed to leave early to get home to watch Matlock."
Regardless of the reviews, CBS was not disappointed. Fortunately, there was no wardrobe malfunction, à la the Janet Jackson debacle of six years ago. Not a nipple in sight, nor any member of the Who sliding on his knees groin first into the camera. While the Who were not necessarily at the top of their game, anyone with some "snow on the roof" (myself included) watched and remembered the good old musical days of yesteryear. Too bad, though, that we are the not the audience that advertisers necessarily want to reach.
—Posted by Marc Berman
