Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend wrap their set at
the Bridgestone Super Bowl XLIV Halftime Show
Sunday at Sun Life Stadium in Miami. (Photo: Bethie Curley)
When the National Football League began considering who should perform at this year's Super Bowl XLIV in Miami, The Who was suggested as a natural fit given the league's recent predisposition towards iconic rock acts for its halftime show.
Most would agree they'd belong in the conversation with Paul McCartney (Super Bowl XXXIX at Jacksonville, Fla. in 2005), the Rolling Stones (Super Bowl XL at Detroit in 2006), Prince (Super Bowl XLI at Miami in 2007), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (Super Bowl XLII at Glendale, Arizona in 2008) and The Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen (Super Bowl XLIII at Tampa in 2009).
Along with Aerosmith (Super Bowl XXXV at Tampa in 2001) and U2 (in their moving 9/11 tribute during Super Bowl XXXVI at New Orleans in 2002), The Who is among the legendary bands of the 1970s and 1980s still rocking after all these years. That makes raspy lead vocals by Roger Daltrey and windmill guitar work by Pete Townshend resonate as a blast from the past with the boomer generation while still being relevant to the core Generation X NFL demographic and at least intriguing as historic rock'n'roll curiousities to the young adults in Generation Y and the young teens making up Generation Z.
Yet make no mistake: The Who earned the nod mainly because Super Bowl XLIV U.S. television rightsholder CBS loved the idea.
Giving The Who the high-profile gig made CBS Entertainment a happy camper because it would effectively cross-promote three of its most valuable television properties in one flick of the guitar pick: CSI and the Crime Scene Investigation trio. That's because The Who licensed their music to all three shows produced by Jerry Bruckheimer Television and CBS Paramount Television.
The original CSI (created in 2000 by Anthony E. Zuiker and still running strong Thursday nights at 9 p.m. PT on CBS in the U.S. and CTV in Canada) opens with about 40 seconds of Who are You?, the 1978 classic considered among the top-100 (#97) on the Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs of All-Time.
Its first spin-off CSI: Miami (launched in 2002 and running Mondays at 10 p.m. PT on CBS and CTV) begins with Won't Get Fooled Again, The Who's 1971 anthem that ranks #133 on the Rolling Stone Top 500. CSI: New York(which made its debut as the third in the trio of crime dramas and airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. PT on CBS and CTV) features Baba O'Reilly, another 1971 song (#340)by The Who.
We first raised The Who/CSI/CBS connection with Blake Price on The Blake Price Show on Vancouver sports radio TEAM 1040 on November 27th, the day after the NFL Network announced the selection of the 2010 halftime show headliners during a Thursday night showdown between the Oakland Raiders and the Dallas Cowboys.
So when Townshend leaked the Super Bowl set list in an interview with Billboard two weeks before the February 7th game on CBS and CTV, it should have surprised no one that Baba O'Riley, Who Are You? and Won't Get Fooled Again were part of the plans for Miami.
The Who followed Townshend's Billboard promises to a tee. Before a capacity crowd of 74,059 at Sun Life Stadium and a record North American television audience of 114 million on CBS and CTV, they opened the Bridgestone Super Bowl XLIV Halftime Show with Pinball Wizard and did a short segment from the close of Tommy. Yet it was nothing but CSI theme music the rest of the way.
Baba O'Riley was first up among the CSI themes. Then came Who Are You? and the quick "See Me, Feel Me" from Tommy. The ending was perfectly-scripted. As the theme song for CSI: Miami, The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again was the natural finale as an ode to the host city.
The 12-minute set was solid, arguably strong enough to knock off Diana Ross and comfortably rank among the top-10 Super Bowl halftime shows of all time. Performed on a wildly-impressive stage that starred in its own right and provided a modern light show extravaganza, the set served the event and its television audience well.
More than anything, though, it stoked host broadcaster CBS and its Bruckheimer-produced CSI franchise -- not to mention CTV as the Canadian rightsholder to both the Super Bowl and CSI -- in a brilliant medley of cross-promotion and co-branding.
It's much more likely he'll be owning a National Hockey League franchise in Las Vegas sometime soon, but it almost makes you wonder how long before Pete Townshend's guitar windmill from Sunday's Super Bowl XLIV re-starts the rumour windmill about Bruckheimer getting himself involved in the return of the NFL to Los Angeles later this decade.
www.TheSportMarket.biz
Most would agree they'd belong in the conversation with Paul McCartney (Super Bowl XXXIX at Jacksonville, Fla. in 2005), the Rolling Stones (Super Bowl XL at Detroit in 2006), Prince (Super Bowl XLI at Miami in 2007), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (Super Bowl XLII at Glendale, Arizona in 2008) and The Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen (Super Bowl XLIII at Tampa in 2009).
Along with Aerosmith (Super Bowl XXXV at Tampa in 2001) and U2 (in their moving 9/11 tribute during Super Bowl XXXVI at New Orleans in 2002), The Who is among the legendary bands of the 1970s and 1980s still rocking after all these years. That makes raspy lead vocals by Roger Daltrey and windmill guitar work by Pete Townshend resonate as a blast from the past with the boomer generation while still being relevant to the core Generation X NFL demographic and at least intriguing as historic rock'n'roll curiousities to the young adults in Generation Y and the young teens making up Generation Z.
Yet make no mistake: The Who earned the nod mainly because Super Bowl XLIV U.S. television rightsholder CBS loved the idea.
Giving The Who the high-profile gig made CBS Entertainment a happy camper because it would effectively cross-promote three of its most valuable television properties in one flick of the guitar pick: CSI and the Crime Scene Investigation trio. That's because The Who licensed their music to all three shows produced by Jerry Bruckheimer Television and CBS Paramount Television.
The original CSI (created in 2000 by Anthony E. Zuiker and still running strong Thursday nights at 9 p.m. PT on CBS in the U.S. and CTV in Canada) opens with about 40 seconds of Who are You?, the 1978 classic considered among the top-100 (#97) on the Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs of All-Time.
Its first spin-off CSI: Miami (launched in 2002 and running Mondays at 10 p.m. PT on CBS and CTV) begins with Won't Get Fooled Again, The Who's 1971 anthem that ranks #133 on the Rolling Stone Top 500. CSI: New York(which made its debut as the third in the trio of crime dramas and airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. PT on CBS and CTV) features Baba O'Reilly, another 1971 song (#340)by The Who.
We first raised The Who/CSI/CBS connection with Blake Price on The Blake Price Show on Vancouver sports radio TEAM 1040 on November 27th, the day after the NFL Network announced the selection of the 2010 halftime show headliners during a Thursday night showdown between the Oakland Raiders and the Dallas Cowboys.
So when Townshend leaked the Super Bowl set list in an interview with Billboard two weeks before the February 7th game on CBS and CTV, it should have surprised no one that Baba O'Riley, Who Are You? and Won't Get Fooled Again were part of the plans for Miami.
The Who followed Townshend's Billboard promises to a tee. Before a capacity crowd of 74,059 at Sun Life Stadium and a record North American television audience of 114 million on CBS and CTV, they opened the Bridgestone Super Bowl XLIV Halftime Show with Pinball Wizard and did a short segment from the close of Tommy. Yet it was nothing but CSI theme music the rest of the way.
Baba O'Riley was first up among the CSI themes. Then came Who Are You? and the quick "See Me, Feel Me" from Tommy. The ending was perfectly-scripted. As the theme song for CSI: Miami, The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again was the natural finale as an ode to the host city.
The 12-minute set was solid, arguably strong enough to knock off Diana Ross and comfortably rank among the top-10 Super Bowl halftime shows of all time. Performed on a wildly-impressive stage that starred in its own right and provided a modern light show extravaganza, the set served the event and its television audience well.
More than anything, though, it stoked host broadcaster CBS and its Bruckheimer-produced CSI franchise -- not to mention CTV as the Canadian rightsholder to both the Super Bowl and CSI -- in a brilliant medley of cross-promotion and co-branding.
It's much more likely he'll be owning a National Hockey League franchise in Las Vegas sometime soon, but it almost makes you wonder how long before Pete Townshend's guitar windmill from Sunday's Super Bowl XLIV re-starts the rumour windmill about Bruckheimer getting himself involved in the return of the NFL to Los Angeles later this decade.
www.TheSportMarket.biz
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