Timberlake plays it safe
Justin Timberlake’s Super Bowl Halftime show ★★★ (out of 5)
The last time Justin Timberlake played the Super Bowl halftime show, it didn’t go so well.
That was 2004, and he ended halftime performer Janet Jackson’s set by ripping off half of her leather bustier to reveal a naked right breast except for a silver nipple shield, and Nipplegate — as it was called at the time — ensued.
Jackson took most of the heat and 14 years later, Timberlake — now a 10-time Grammy winner and married father — returned Sunday night to play the Super Bowl halftime just days after the release of his new album, Man of The Woods.
And it was clear from the outset, there would be no shocking repeat of a wardrobe malfunction of any kind.
In fact, dressed down in a black fringed leather jacket (a shout-out to Jackson’s brother Michael?), camouflage pants (and later a camo blazer), he played it so safe that his halftime performance was muted at best.
There was a notable video appearance — not the rumoured hologram that angered so many on Twitter —by the late, great Prince performing I Would Die For U projected on a white cloth as Timberlake sang and played along on a white piano below.
But it seemed more like an apology.
“Minneapolis, Minnesota — this one’s for you,” said Timberlake, who had a Man of The Woods listening party at Prince’s Paisley Park earlier in the week riling many of The Purple One’s fans.
And while most Super Bowl halftime performers know how to make an entrance — who could forget Lady Gaga appearing to jump from the roof last year? — Timberlake began his performance in the bowels of Minneapolis’ U.S. Bank Stadium singing Filthy, the first so-so single from Man of The Woods.
He then climbed the stairs onto the field with male dancers behind him for Rock Your Body as he worked his way across a bridge, before taking the stage for SexyBack, My Love and Cry Me A River.
Save for some light panels, it was a small production despite dozens of dancers and his large band, the Tennessee Kids, all crammed onto a tiny stage.
A fun drum line picked things up energy-wise during Suit and Tie before he trotted out the unnecessary ballad, Until The End of Time, on that white piano before the Prince appearance which ended with The Purple One’s guitar in silhouette from his own thrilling Super Bowl halftime show in 2007.
“Two fingers in the air for Prince tonight!” said Timberlake.
The only other really flashy moment came during Mirrors, with dancers holding mirrored panels on the field, as Timberlake ended up back on the stage before heading for the field again for Can’t Stop The Feeling and climbing into the stands, where he took “Super Bowl selfies,” as he called them, as his performance ended.
At a live Timberlake show, that moment in the stands works but it didn’t make for great live TV and neither did much of the rest of his performance.