egan the Super Bowl 51 halftime show on the roof of Houston’s NRG Stadium and ended it on the field, after jumping down from the stage with a football she’d just caught in her hand.
In between a half dozen hits were performed and plenty of costume changes, dancing and pyrotechnics.
It all started with a patriotic medley on the stadium roof — “God Bless America” into Woody Guthrie‘s “This Land Is Your Land” and ending with Gaga reciting the original ending of the Pledge of Allegiance, “one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” Behind her, dozens of drones came together to form an American flag.
After that, Gaga launched into “Poker Face” as she descended via wires from the roof to a platform above the stage. Still wired, she dropped down to the stage and later returned to the platform and made one final ascent and descent with a flip in the middle.
As “Poker Face” segued into “Born This Way,” with dancers circling around Gaga, halftime had it’s one misstep, as one of her dancers took a tumble on the stage. “Telephone” followed, then Gaga grabbed a keytar for “Just Dance.”
Back at the piano for “Million Reasons,” she gave a shout-out to her parents as hundreds made a formation around her with handheld torches. She closed with “Bad Romance,” with she and her dancers wearing costumes that incorporated football shoulder pads into the design of their tops. After it was over, she did a mic drop, caught a football that was thrown to her and jumped off the stage.
If that wasn’t enough Gaga, the performance segued into an ad for a new show called Genius, that had Albert Einstein playing “Bad Romance” on violin.
Elton John posted this on Instagram: “The most spectacular performance ever seen during Super Bowl half time. Such a thrill to be there.” Elton is an Atlanta resident and Gaga is the godmother to his second son, Elijah.
FASHO Thoughts
- Some people expected Gaga to make a statement of some kind, but there wasn’t really anything other than what seemed to be a nod toward inclusion at the opening of the show.
- Was there a wow moment, or moments, in it for you? Other than her coming down from the roof, there really wasn’t one.
- Were you surprised that there was no special guest at all?
- Where does it rate among Super Bowl halftime shows?
- More people probably would be talking about it if the game itself hadn’t ended the way
Source: Radio One / Don Juan Fasho
