| February 6th, 2006 09:47 AM |
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| Mel Belli |
ABC Avoids a Lyric Malfunction but Allows Mick's Midriff
By JON PARELES
The Rolling Stones sang three songs for the Super Bowl XL halftime show last night and were censored in two of them — not a bad average for a band of sexagenarians who still ride a reputation as provocateurs.
As the band played, the vocal suddenly went silent for one word each in "Start Me Up" and "Rough Justice," a song from the latest Stones album. Each unheard word was a sexual reference. But then again, so was most of the Stones' miniset, from the stage shaped like the band's lascivious lips-and-tongue logo to Mick Jagger's hip-swiveling, elbow-pumping, gleefully leering presence. His cropped-top shirt showed his navel, and, of course, he sang "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction."
"Here's one we could have done at Super Bowl I," he said, introducing that 1965 hit. "But everything comes to he who waits."
The Stones have been rocking stadium-sized audiences since the 1960's, and they do their job with rowdy ease.
There was no question that the songs were being performed live, as Keith Richards and Ron Wood played tandem guitar parts that constantly jostled each other and as Jagger toyed with the timing of his leathery vocals. That perennial looseness, the constant playful reworking of the few basic chords after 40 years of performing the same song, is one of the band's claims to greatness.
Suiting a sports event, the performance was also a show of athletic prowess as Jagger, who is 62, ran up mileage while he swaggered and skipped across the stage and around a tongue-shaped runway where he could high-five eager fans.
The television cameras could barely keep up; much of the set was shot from behind Jagger's back. He was as limber as anyone on the field.
The Super Bowl, under protest, had been forced to lift its initial age limit of 45 for the standing-room fans who wanted to get close to the Stones. For its musical segments, this Super Bowl belonged to icons of the baby-boom generation: not just the Stones at halftime, but a soul-music showcase before the game.
"The Star-Spangled Banner" was shared by Aretha Franklin, from Detroit, and Aaron Neville, from New Orleans, with another New Orleans patriarch, Dr. John, on piano.
But no one upstages Franklin. After Neville sang a sweetly tremulous verse, Franklin took over and turned the anthem into one creamy, sustained, swooping phrase after another, bringing it the ecstatic devotion of gospel music.
To baby boomers, Detroit is Motown, and before the game, Stevie Wonder was at the center of a Motown medley that also featured younger performers: John Legend, India.Arie and Joss Stone, all seizing their moments in songs like "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," "Dancing in the Street" and "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours."
But Wonder also seized his chance to reach the Super Bowl's broadcast audience with a message. Singing "So What the Fuss" and "A Time to Love," the title song from his most recent album, he insisted, "We all agree that peace is the way." He added: "It's not about the religion, it's about the relationship. Let us come together before we're annihilated."
Amid the hard sell and testosterone frenzy of the Super Bowl broadcast, it was a true touch of 1960's idealism.
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| February 6th, 2006 09:41 PM |
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| glencar |
Much too nice to Neville & Franklin. They were just awful, er, "aweful" as our newest troll would put it. The hard copy has a nice photo of the guys... |
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