I never watch the Super Bowl, normally I could care less. But this year the NY Giants were playing and after their dramatic win to the 49’s in the playoffs I was excited enough to watch the game projected on a huge screen with a couple dozen of my closest friends down at Coney Island USA. I knew Madonna was going to be in the halftime show but she wasn’t the reason I watched the game. But like her or not, the production value alone to her half time show put many if not most prior attempts to shame. I mean she started the whole affair with several dozen beefy marching men dressed as Roman gladiators and had male and female dancers all over her ever-expanding and changing stage. It was so over-the-top that love her or hate her music it was one hell of a show. The group of people I was sitting with sat mesmerized, again for the stagecraft if nothing else. They have something like seven minutes to put it up and eight to take it down, it was beyond ambitious and it seemed to go off without a hitch. And if it was anything like her concerts, Madonna was instrumental in how everything looked down to the last detail.
I wasn’t surprised that there was controversy surrounding her appearance as Madonna always seems to court controversy. Some were upset that another female performer, M.I.A. flipped the bird and screamed an expletive. I hardly noticed it and Madonna can hardly be blamed as the rapper did not do either in rehearsal and she cannot be responsible for the actions of a another. What I have found depressing is how most of the criticism was about Madonna’s age. And I thought to myself well wasn’t “The Who”, “The Rolling Stones“, and Paul McCartney recently in halftime shows? Then I went and watched clips of previous performances and well lets just say when compared to the “Black Eyed Peas” appearance Madonna looked like an absolute genius. Even the “Rolling Stones” played it extremely safe as it was just the band performing on a stage in the middle of the field. Which is their prerogative of course, as the original halftime shows were just marching bands.
But just for the heck of it, I wanted to do an age by age comparison of the male performers who have also graced the halftime stage with Madonna. I know there were some critics who said the male performers were also a bit long in the tooth, but there is something about our society that holds women to a higher standard. Women can’t be past a certain age, and if they are then they can’t go to any extraneous methods to try to keep their appearance youthful. If she didn’t get plastic surgery people would say she looked old, if she does get plastic surgery people will complain that she has had plastic surgery! She certainly doesn’t look old! It is just a blatant double standard. So here we go by the numbers, the ages listed represent the ages they were when they performed, not their current ages.
- 2012 – Madonna – 53
- 2010 – The Who – Roger Daltrey – 63, Pete Townshend – 64
- 2009 – Bruce Springteen – 59
- 2008 – Tom Petty – 58
- 2006 – Rolling Stones – Mick Jagger – 62, Keith Richards -62
- 2005 – Paul McCartney – 62
So a person could argue that the men weren’t trying to be “sexy” at that Madonna was trying to pull off sex appeal at 53. Well I don’t think most female fans of the men listed would agree to that, and I hardly think Mick Jagger considers himself a non-sexual human being. Not even close! He doesn’t exactly just stand there and sing…HA!
Love her or hate her everyone is entitled to their opinion. But calling her too old doesn’t make a ton of sense especially since she is a decade younger than most of the men who have gone before her. And if you want to compare, look at some of the previous performances…most were extremely straight forward. Madonna was hardly boring. And if the producer want to keep with the age as a theme…Cher is 65! Just saying…that would be interesting! 🙂
And just for a bit of fun…here is the super bowl performance of the Black Eyed Peas
And here is Madonna
NO COMPARISON! Even if you don’t like Madonna her production was flawless….the Black Eyed Peas…well…I will just say I think they are a much better group than that performance.
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First of all, the guys you mention aren’t prancing around TRYING to be sexy, as Madonna was. They stand there and SING AND/OR PLAY AN INSTRUMENT. Not lip sync while fawning all over guys and vice versa.
Furthermore, the Superbowl has a global audience with many kids watching, that’s why people don’t want that dope to give anyone the finger and curse. Wrong venue.
Well it could just be a question of personal taste. I thought it was tame. The year MTV had the show and Janet Jackson had the “wardrobe malfunction” was raunchy! Kid Rock was nasty. But not everyone is going to agree, obviously. She isn’t too old though, if she is 10 years younger than half of the guys who have performed. And that was my point. 🙂
No matter what you think of her music or politics it can’t be denied Madonna is in incredible shape for her age. Fifty-three? Bravo! She is a paragon of what is possible through diligent athletic drive and effort. More women (and men) should follow her example.
Oh boy you’re really breaking new ground with the ageism theory here… Could it be that people just thought it was lame? I mean lip syncing and lowering herself by bringing in these awful contemporary rappers. Talk about selling yourself short.
And since you seem to imply this is all about her age and looks Madonna is just like every other fading star hacking herself into a joker look a like with her bad plastic surgery. Madonna was supposed to be about self expression and keeping it real… neither of which she is doing.
They can think whatever they want. I just noticed a ton of comments about her AGE. People can say whatever they want, but she isn’t too OLD if all of the male performers before her were quite a few years older than her. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. 🙂 And when compared to previous years….for her stagecraft alone…I mean the Rolling Stones just sang on a stage that was it. The Black Eyed Peas were a hot mess, and The Who was fairly boring. Again, everyone is entitled to say whatever they want, I just think the AGE comments are way off base. The numbers don’t lie. She is considerably younger than the male performers before her, with the exception of the years when there were younger performers.
Agree with you on age comments which never seem to arise unless it is a woman! Our society is so way off in this regard!
She does have talent, but so do lots of non-young individuals. This infatuation with youth is annoying.
Juliet, great entry! Yes, Madonna is old, but not too old. She was amazing. To counter some of the comments above, I don’t think she was “fawning over” guys. What I saw was energetic (very) dancing with a huge amount of and variety of people. I don’t think she was “trying” to be sexy. She just is sexy, try or not. Not sure if she has had plastic surgery, and it’s none of our business if she has. Also, due to her high-energy performance, some lip-syncing was probably necessary (I’m almost sure that the commenter above has not had to dance and sing at the same time – it is NOT easy), I’m not convinced that it was totally lip-synced. Bottom line is people love to criticize people doing things that they themselves could never do.
i thought the show was done in good taste .,it was absolutely incredible
i just don’t like her being too plastic and a granny dancing there as if she was in her 20s , Grow up , your 53 , well , I don’t think i have seen many stars beings as plastic as madonna except Micheal Jackson tough , What will happen if science advances too much so that we can become androids or cyborgs ? Will people just keep implanting mechanics or techs in themselves until they die ? Just to loo young all the time ?
I dunno , but there is a limit to how plastic one should be , She wil probably die if she keeps up …