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Tom Petty Halftime Show: Thoughts?

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Des_Lab

Active Member
Banned
Glad to see that Tom Petty was selected to play at the Super Bowl halftime show. Of course I can't help but speculate what was behind it. Perhaps the NFL (or whoever runs it) is still reeling from that whole 'wardrobe' thing. (As an aside, is it just me or does one get the impression that if the NFL had their way, Half Time would consist of strippers?)

Anyway, so I guess they felt the need to find someone who is "family friendly' but still having mass market appeal. So while it may be an honor to PLAY at the Super Bowl, I don't know that I would necessarily feel flattered; because of the reasoning behind the choice. Add to all of that the game being in Maricopa Co, AZ, home of Sheriff "Pink Panties" Joe. I'm pretty sure everyone was on their best behavior and took no chances.


ANYWAY, so what did you think of his performance? The songs played were "American Girl", "Free Falling", "Running Down A Dream", and "I Won't Back Down". Did anyone else notice that on "Free Falling", the song was cut in half with two verses left out?

My opinion was: He sang rather weakly. Mister Petty is getting on in years. And last nights performance showed. Either that or he has a cold right now. He just didn't seem to be much into it. His vocal inflections were unmodulated and lacking in enthusiasm. He barely sounded like himself. Not at all impressed.

However, the BACKING vocals as well as the band itself (the instruments) were impeccable, flawless, and played to perfection.

Thoughts?

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DL-Must be suffering from that full moon fever
 
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My thoughts are he could not sing back in the day and still cannot :)
 
Des, you pretty much summed it up (IMO). But, I'd rather see a laid back semi-enthusistic, modified song Tom Petty set than anything close to the Janet J thing.

I don't think Sherrif Joe knows Petty from Peter, Paul & Mary, but I'm sure he laid out his set of rules in 10 commandments form to the organizers.
 
Gosh. At Tom's age, he can't sing? Who would have thunk it... That said, DesLab is rignt, the rest was flawless.


What was wrong with Janet's crap wasn't her middle aged breast, it was the choice of song for the venue. Heck of a time to celebrate prostitution and abuse. She and her pimp are idiots. So is the NFL and whoever sponsered that crap.
 
Well the odds were infinitesimal on a breast unveiling. This is America after all, and folks get all shook up over bare breasts, fancy that.

And while we didn't have an unveiling, we did get a lovely shot of a groupie's breasts jiggling.

Old folks can't sing as well as they did when young.

I loved the show, though for the last 3 songs I would've preferred The Waiting, Only the Losers and Refugee. The first song was by far the best.

Overall one of the better halftime shows I can remember, and the first I've made a point to watch in some time.

disclaimer: No offense intended in the 3rd sentence. Do not infer anything.
 
the only thing that could have made the performance worse would be if he was actually in the living room and we weren't able to mute him. I would prefer to be beaten within an inch of my life than to watch that again.

i actually like tom petty and the heartbreakers, but i don't get them being chosen for the halftime show. they looked out of it and sounded it, too. I also don't get why they play him incessantly on classic rock radio.

I was half expecting a "thank you, cleveland!!" from TP - he looked so disconnected at the end.
 
WOW.. harsh crowd.. you would think Tom was on his deathbed or something they way you all mention "up in the years" He's going to be 58 this October.. I know many people well over that age that can outdo me at LOTS of things.. My grandfather is 81, and rides his bicycle 10 to 20 miles a day.. I can't... Les Paul is 82, and still playing in night clubs, and from what I hear, tearing it up...

I've seen Tom several times, and I think he did no worse this time, than the times I've seen him in concert.. yeah.. he seemed to not be jumping around the stage as much as he used to... but maybe it was because this time he was playing more for the cameras than for the crowd? He spent a lot of time close to them and looking at them...

Vocal wise, sounded like I've remembered from his concerts.. he's never sounded live like he does on memorex...

I thought it was a lot better than a few years ago (2003) when Axle Poser was up there.... Best one I've seen in quite a few years..
 
its a football game not a rock concert...how about letting one of the Arizona big Pac-10 bands do a halftime show?

I don't see why they need to put on such a spectacle. I didn't watch it, I switched over the Sci-Fi and picked up the Star Trek Enterprise marathon. I hated Prince last year, wardrobe malfunction year before....

and why do they feel it necessary for a 4 hour pregame show? silly.

i'm happy the giants won, it was a good game.
 
At the risk of poaching my own thread, let me just say that I am not necessarily opposed to t*ts and a$$ per se. I am a red-blooded male who loves the female form as much as the next. What matters is the setting, context, and timing of it all. And therein lies the rub (so to speak) of it all. If I'm in the mood for some girl watching (sans the wife of course), I can go down to the beach. Or peruse a Victorias Secret catalog. Or, indeed get it on with the wife. Or whatever. Too many times, that material gets inserted into every possible opportunity: when selling drinking water. In a movie about a plane crash. During Half Time at the Super Bowl. We don't NEED to have porn rammed down our throats (again, so to speak) every waking minute of our lives. So here you have two opposing forces: One group (usually Hollywood and their ilk) believing that it should be standard curricula for second grade and up. And those of us who still think that there's a proper time and place for it all saying "wait a second". In response, Hollywood accuses us of being 'repressive' and prudish. So they come back with even more of it, triggering an even bigger backlash, which results in....


...and round and round it goes.

I don't think for one second that most people were so offended at a two second sight of a 40-something year old breast that we had to all write our Congresspeople and boycott the NFL. I think the REAL reason for the uproar was because of the timing of it all and most of saying "enough is enough".

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DL-Besides, here in SoCal, most women contain the same amount of plastic as a Honda Civic
 
You don't think it would have anything to do with the fact that T.P.
is going to do a character's voice in an upcoming King of the Hill
on Fox do you?
 
philcib said:
You don't think it would have anything to do with the fact that T.P.
is going to do a character's voice in an upcoming King of the Hill
on Fox do you?
Click to expand...

that might have something to do with it. they certainly were advertising it.
 
I enjoyed the halftime show. At his worst, he is a lot better than most of the pop music on the radio right now. As was mentioned, it is a halftime show, so that limits what he can do for song choices. Also, Petty is no Pavarotti, so I was not surprised by his vocals. I guess other would have preferred Josh Grobin for halftime?:D
 
I've been to Petty shows, and I have enjoyed his music for many years. Mostly the first three albums, but the later stuff was quite good as well. Tom was never known for his singing voice, and I thought he sounded as good yesterday (Well, as good as the home theater could make it sound, no digital cable/satellite at my house...) as he did years ago in concert.

Yes, he stayed pretty much in the cameras the whole time, but that is the way that something like a halftime show is produced. I'm just glad he was not reduced to doing a medley of his hits, with some vulgar overblown production gimmicks throughout the performance. It was nice to see him do four songs all own thier own.

I give it a thumbs up! :thmbsp:
 
spok said:
its a football game not a rock concert...how about letting one of the Arizona big Pac-10 bands do a halftime show?

I don't see why they need to put on such a spectacle. I didn't watch it, I switched over the Sci-Fi and picked up the Star Trek Enterprise marathon. I hated Prince last year, wardrobe malfunction year before....

and why do they feel it necessary for a 4 hour pregame show? silly.

i'm happy the giants won, it was a good game.
Click to expand...


Simple. Halftime shows are designed to keep people watching. Which keeps advertising rates during halftime nearly as high as during the game.

You'll never see a college marching band in the SB, since few would watch.
 
He was fine. Petty proves what CCR proved before him-- straight up, good rock & roll is always in style. I thoroughly enjoyed it, although for my money, nobody will ever outdo Prince's gig last year.
 
As I watched it, I couldn't help but draw a comparison to the overall quality of Tom's performance to that of the Rolling Stones performance back in 2006. For what its worth, I enjoyed Petty's performance FAR more than the Stones. Sure you get truncated songs at a Halftime performance, and the NFL closely supervises the content of the performance via a written agreement in advance of the performance.

However, I liked it overall. Alot, actually.
 
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