Superbowl

So because I had no attachment to either team in the Super Bowl this year, I was of course excited that the one and only Bruce Springsteen would be providing the halftime entertainment this year. According to several reports requests for his performance date back almost 30 years. It was only see bands such as The Rolling Stones and Tom Petty 'legitimize' the performance that he agreed to do it. Oh and he has a new album and world tour coming up. It's a different world in the music industry and I wouldn't consider it 'selling out', more making a smart business move. Bruce promised that the show would be like you got stuck on the Jersey Turnpike and circled for two and half hours and only made into his concert for the last 12 minutes. He held his promise. A silhouette of the boss and the Big Man reminiscence (but not quite) of the cover of the Born to Run album started the show and it was right into "10th Avenue Freezeout", the tale of how the E-Street Band came to be. Next a trimmed down "Born to Run". All the time the energy was as if backstage they had been playing for a few hours. The new Working On A Dream was a small bump in the road, but showcased his new stuff, backed by a full choir. Then it was right back to the "Glory Day". 'Speedball' became 'Hail Mary' and the momentum was back. It truly was Boss Time and if they let him go, he probably could have played into overtime, but no it came to an end. From "Is Anybody Alive Out There?" on top of Roy's piano, to his knee slide (into the cameraman) and jumping right out into the crowd, the whole world got a taste of the E Street Experience. Oh did I mention he'll be 60 in September.

Let's back it up a few though. Jennifer Hudson's rendition of the Star Spangled Banner was phenomenal. I don't think people are saying that because she's overcome so much and they wanted her to do so well, but because she actually blew that song out of the water. I saw a survey comparing her to the Whitney Houston rendition from 1991 and she was winning by almost a 50% margin. She is truly a talented vocalist and she may not have had the popular vote on American Idol, but she will be very successful and perhaps our generations Whitney Houston.

The game was pretty unexciting to start, but as it got closer to the end I was really pulling for the Cardinals. That last touchdown was awesome, except I knew that there was way too much time on the clock for the Steelers. I still think the last fumble was a incomplete pass, but I'm not an official. Congrats to the Steelers on a job well done. I heard a report earlier last week that if they won, the city of Pittsburgh was not sure if they would be able to throw them a celebration based on the state of the economy and the budget in Pittsburgh. I hope that they are able to do something at least for the fans.

Overall it was a good night. Can't wait to see Springsteen on tour. Apparently the scalpers were watching the Superbowl too, tickets are already going for between $100 to $1000 above face value. They went onsale 4 hours ago.

-Sh