here always seems to be three elements to every super bowl. The game itself, the commercials
and the halftime show. The Superbowl didn’t really start having pop and rock musicians
perform at the halftime show until the 90’s when New Kids on the Block appeared in 1991
paving the way for the acts we see today. Perhaps one of the most controversial super
bowl halftime shows occured in 2004 with Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson with the nipplegate
scandal.. It was following the 2004 super bowl halftime show the NFL thankfully took
a break from pop acts enlisting rock musicians including Paul McCartney in 2005 and, The
Rolling Stones in 2006.. 2007 would see musician Prince perform at the halftime show. But Prince’s
performance could have went awry. From 2005 to 2010 the Super Bowl halftime
shows featured some pretty great acts featuring the Who, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers,
The Stones, Paul McCartney and Bruce Springstee And the E Street band,. Perhaps it was a pivot
by the NFL to recover from the fallout from the 2004 super bowl halftime show and attract
more baby boomer friendly acts.
Charles Coplin the executive producer of the superbowl halftime show would tell the ringer
David Saltz (who was a producer who worked with the NFL & ABC) was hired to go out into
the music community and ask around and sort of say, “Hey, we’re building this franchise.”
I think that after we did McCartney and the Stones we had built up some credibility on
the rock ’n’ roll side, overcoming the Janet Jackson–Justin Timberlake theater.
There were so many things about Prince that we liked, between his catalog, the fact that
he was a performer, the fact that he appealed to a diverse group.
Saltz would approach prince about doing the halftime show and would be invited to the
musicians house for dinner.. Prince had a clear idea of what things he liked from past
halftime shows and what he didn’t like and made it his mission to put on the greatest
halftime show in history. Saltz would recall how Prince after dinner took him and his counterparts
to one part of his house where his band was standing and waiting and they went into an
impromptu performance for the producer whose jaw hit the floor. It was following the performance,
Prince agreed to do the show.
It was throughout 2006 and in early 2007 that Prince was coming up with ideas for the setlist.
The plan was for Prince to do a medley four original songs and four covers over a span
of 12 minutes
Ruth Arzate would tell Ringer what followed
Arzate: After David Saltz came by the house and Prince put on that half-hour private show,
he began to compile music. He asked me to retrieve a list of CDs every Tuesday when
new music was released but he added some Foo Fighters albums, Santana, Hendrix, and Nine
Inch Nails. I think he was playing with the idea of mixing up some of those artists.
I made a mention that I loved the Foos and I heard them do “Darling Nikki” at a show
once. He said, “The Foos are the only band that could do a collection of my rock songs
justice.” I replied, “Oh my gosh, that would be amazing!” He then said, “You
wish.” I responded with, “I do. I do.” He made a smirky face and dismissed me from
the office.
Charles Coplin who was the head of the NFL’s programming at the time would tell The Ringer
about his pre-superbowl meeting with Prince at the musicians room in the beverly wilshire
hotel We took the elevator up, walked down the hall, knocked on the door, and there he
was. There was Prince. He was wearing a canary yellow suit and makeup. And he just didn’t
look human. And I don’t mean that in a negative way. He looked like he was kind of this angel
or this alien or something. He smiled at us and he invited us in and we were walking and
he was gliding, and the reason why he was gliding is because he was wearing these kids
sneakers with the wheels on them. He was wheeling down the floor and the lights of his sneakers
were lighting up in the back, the same color as his canary yellow suit.
The NFL executives would be nervous over what exactly Prince was going to perform. Would
be do rapsberyry beret little red corvette they wondered? Prince would play the covers
he had planned for the superbowl including Queen’s We will rock you, bob dylan’s
all along the watchtower, CCR’s proud mary and foo fighters best of you. The performance
would also include his own songs including Let’s go crazy, 1999, baby i’m a star
and the performance would end up with Purple Rain.
It is customary for the halftime performer to do interviews, but Prince made it clear
to the NFl he wasn’t doing any interviews. But then something odd happened.
Morris Hayes prince’s musical director Once again, Prince being a master of just stirring
the pot and really doing something different, he had said, “We’re gonna have this press
conference, but just be ready for anything.” And so we was like, “OK.” We knew that
he knew that he was gonna do something. Here’s what happened at the press conference.
It is customary for the halftime performer to do interviews, but Prince made it clear
to the NFl he wasn’t doing any interviews. But then something odd happened.
Morris Hayes prince’s musical director Once again, Prince being a master of just stirring
the pot and really doing something different, he had said, “We’re gonna have this press
conference, but just be ready for anything.” And so we was like, “OK.” We knew that
he knew that he was gonna do something. Here’s what happened at the press conference.
It is customary for the halftime performer to do interviews, but Prince made it clear
to the NFl he wasn’t doing any interviews. But then something odd happened.
Morris Hayes prince’s musical director would tell Ringer Once again, Prince being a master
of just stirring the pot and really doing something different, he had said, “We’re
gonna have this press conference, but just be ready for anything.” And so we was like,
“OK.” We knew that he knew that he was gonna do something. Here’s what happened
at the press conference.
It’s hard to believe but the super bowl according to The Ringer had never been played
in the rain and as the day of the game inched closer the weather looked unfavouarable. Despite
all the preparations ahead of the performance the NFL hadn’t really planned for rain.
As the execs scrambled to make adjustments they were worried about electrocution with
Prince’s personal assistant telling The Ringer “I knew that the executives were
concerned about the rain and about electrocution,” One of the NFL execs suggested lip syncing,
but his assistant would recall “Prince was like, ‘I’m Prince, I’m gonna play live.’”
Prince’s musical director suggested that perhaps they should wear tennis shoes on stage
so they don’t slip on stage, but he didn’t want to change anything.
But things hit a snag when the crew started to roll out Prince’s performance stage which
came in a a number of pieces. Executive producer Don Mischer would recall to the Ringer ”