Hardeep Phull

Hardeep Phull

Entertainment

Beyoncé and Bruno owned Super Bowl 50

Forget the Carolina Panthers against the Denver Broncos, because the most exciting match-up in San Francisco on Sunday night was the dance-off between Beyoncé and Bruno Mars.

The Pepsi halftime show during Super Bowl 50 went all out to deliver the stars for the event’s golden anniversary, and they shone as bright as anyone could have hoped. Fresh from debuting her superb new single “Formation” (which dropped on Saturday), and dressed in a gold and black outfit that echoed her idol Michael Jackson when he performed at Super Bowl XXVII in 1993, a sensational Beyoncé danced up a storm, and did it while wearing heeled boots on grass.

A photo posted by Beyoncé (@beyonce) on

Although censors would have shut down any use of the song’s already famous lyric about taking Jay Z to Red Lobster after a particularly gratifying session of intercourse, Bey did at least manage to work in the line about having “hot sauce in my bag.” Probably the strangest line ever uttered during a modern Super Bowl halftime show.

It’s the sort of spectacle that the pop world has sorely missed since her Mrs. Carter World Tour ended in 2014. Luckily, there’s more to come, as the “Formation” world tour was announced immediately after.

Bey’s heat (in terms of performance, rather than choice of condiments) was matched most of the way by Bruno Mars, who was invited back on the strength of his well-received halftime show at Super Bowl XLVIII. The Las Vegas lothario teamed up with Mark Ronson to serve up a new version of “Uptown Funk” that reinvigorated the smash hit No. 1 single with hyper-funk beats and breaks.

#SB50 #PepsiHalftime

A photo posted by Coldplay (@coldplay) on

And then, there was Coldplay, who opened the show with a multi-colored run-through of their hummable hit “Viva La Vida,” gave a blast of their catchy recent single “Adventure of a Lifetime,” and rounded out the entire 10-minute show with a reworked “Fix You” that incorporated lyrical nods to previous halftime stars like U2 and Prince.

The Brits would have been the first to admit they were playing third fiddle to the stars they were sharing the bill with, but they turned in the kind of solid, uplifting performance they have done for years. But the social media hate they received for their troubles was nauseatingly predictable, and says more about their detractors than it does the band.

Hating Coldplay is what you do when you’re desperate to be hip, but can’t be bothered to actually do the work. It’s cultural hearsay, parroted by musical dunces. And it’s the best way to show you actually know nothing about the band, what they do and how they do it.

But ultimately, Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion can all rest easy knowing they just played a part in one of the all-time great Super Bowl halftime shows. That’s likely to be a much better buzz than having a handful of people “like” a Coldplay hate tweet.