Super Bowl Halftime Show – The Who

By James Sheldon on February 7th, 2010

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This post cannot be written without cranking Baba O’Riley into the headphones.

Ah, much better. Young members of The Who, reminding me of what I won’t hear come Sunday afternoon. It’s all good. Things change, and I can roll with that. In terms of entertainment, I’m always thankful to get a classic rock act on stage during the Super Bowl’s halftime, regardless of age, wear and tear. Anything other than Justin Timberlake and/or a member of the Auto Tune generation. I do think a current and classic act like Pearl Jam would bring the house down, but I’m certainly not complaining about The Who offering Pinball Wizard as background music to my longest pee of the 4 hour stretch.

There is one thing you can say about The Who in 2010: They’re really not The Who…they haven’t been The Who since Keith Moon OD’d in ‘78… Yeah, it’s still Daltrey and Townshend, and yeah Baba O’Riley and Who are You are still two of the most infectious rock songs ever written, but if Keith Moon were still living, this might be the greatest halftime show ever devised. The potential for a jaw-dropping moment would increase 10-fold. In Moon’s presence, one of the fans lucky enough to be on the field during halftime would have certainly been impaled with a flying drumstick, or crushed by a drum set falling from the stage. Now, we’re left to hope that somehow…some…how…Pete Townshend can get down to the ground, spin around and get back up before smashing a guitar. I don’t see it happening in their 12 minute time allotment, but I also don’t pretend to know what kind of drugs these dudes do in the 21st century.

Don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to the moment they dip into Behind Blue Eyes, to which every individual between the ages of 18-30 at every Super Bowl party will ask, “Why are they covering Limp Bizkit?” At that point I will have to lay the musical smack…DOWN! Of course that moment will be preceded or followed by the awkward moment when people between the ages of 55-65 start singing along, and getting nostalgic to My Generation. And of course, there’s the moment in what has to be the opener, Baba O’Riley,  in which we millions of viewers from around the world will sing in unison (and on satellite delay): “Don’t Cry…Don’t raise your eyeeee…It’s only teeeeeeenage wasteland!”

(Image via: Official Site – The Who)