Lord of the Rings house band receive mixed reviews for Superbowl halftime performance

Battered voices and unfortunate, exposed mid-rift aside, I'll give The Who a solid 6.5 for their performance last night at Sun Life Stadium.

Sun Life Stadium?

That's where the Superbowl was dummy.

These days, you're either "AWESOME" or you "completely suck shit on a shingle." People want to hear/see/read a definitive opinion or nothing at all. Given that, I'm not surprised that everything I saw today regarding The Who was either mostly positive or entirely negative.

I think to be fair, even the biggest Who fans on the planet would have to say that wasn't their best performance. It's not even that Pete Townshend and Roger Daltry can't pull it off anymore, it's that playing to a crowd 70K strong with 100 million people watching on TV is not easy.

Wait a minute.

Why am I apologizing for these has-beens?

Let's face it, The Who hasn't put a big number up on the charts since the late 1970's. The stage they were standing on last night was cool but the vocals left something to be desired. I like the songs, I just didn't think the performance was that strong. I know that might sound shocking.

And what I found most annoying about The Who last night? The fake, piped-in crowd singing along. FAKE.

Frankly, we have Janet Jackson and her waning career to thank for that disappointing Superbowl halftime show. Janet Jackson exposes herself during halftime of the Superbowl and subsequently the world is subjected to Paul McCartney, U2, the Rolling Stones, Prince, Bruce Springsteen and The Who. That's a Hall of Fame line-up, no doubt. Unfortunately, The Who finally gave us the performance that most would expect from a bunch of guys that are at least 30 years past their prime.

Best stupid Who joke of the night? "Maybe they should change their name to The Was." And everyone that offered up, "Who was that performing at halftime?" You're a complete hack.

The NY Times was mostly kind to Daltry and Townshend. The medley of songs format pointed out by the Times I think was required. It's a 15 minute show and the band is trying to cram as much of their act into that space as possible.

And if you want a synopsis of The Who performance from nearly every newspaper in the western world, here it is from the Sports Business Journal. Enjoy.