2026 Super Bowl Half Time show - closest to our world I've ever seen in mainstream!

[greg_orangecounty]

I watched the Turning Point USA halftime show, but I wish Kid Rock would have sung "You Never Met a M***** ****** Quite Like Me" instead.  

[kdaddy]

How the Bad Bunny performance relates to drum corps: coordination, artistic direction, salesmanship, and performance levels were off the charts. 

What do we always say about drum corps? "I didn't notice that the first time I watched/didn't understand what was being portrayed until I learned more about it." There was a ton of that in the halftime show. The celebrities dancing on the porch. The story behind the bodega owner. The issues with the power grid represented with "props." 

How the Bad Bunny performance relates to America: it represented the truly best of us. How on earth was that halftime show even remotely controversial? God bless (all of) America.

[perc2100]

On 2/10/2026 at 8:42 AM, Jeff Ream said:

i found it funny watching online a corps with a legacy of playing latin music had a ton of issues with latin music being played.

 

we ain't the demographics the NFL was going for. as they keep adding games in Spanish speaking markets, that's who they were going with. Bad Bunny isn't on my playlist, hell i'm still ###### Rush never got to play the Olympics in Canada. But the music was superb, great staging, and while i didn't get all of the references til later.....like watching many DCI shows....i thought the entire performance was great. 

Right; Spanish is the #2 language spoken world-wide (with English #3)

Edited February 11 by perc2100

[perc2100]

It's amusing to hear complaints about not understanding Spanish = disliking the show.  I just spent 5 days watching curling, figure skating, ice dancing, snowboard jumping, etc. and I don't understand any of that stuff as far as rules, how exactly points are awarded, etc.  Still enjoyed.  I typically don't know or "understand" lyrics from many recent SB half time performers and that didn't stop me from performing.  I think mostly you just have to be curious enough to engage in the art (or sport) and then determine if that is your jam.  I don't need to understand Spanish to see the words "The only thing more powerful than hate is love," here ALL of the countries of the Americas (South, Central, and North) spoken, see the words on the football at the end "Together we are America," and to see all of the cultural celebration throughout.

I agree that this show was likely a very interesting thing from the stadium, but I think we also know that an event as huge as the Super Bowl (128.2 million viewers watched the HT show vs a little under 71,000 at the stadium) the HT show has _ALWAYS_ been about TV viewers.  Fun Fact: the HT show was traditionally lame, but in 1992 the Wayans Bros decided to do a live 'In Living Color' broadcast at SB Half Time on a different network.  They 'stole' 20million+ viewer from the HT SB broadcast, and for 1993 in order to stop that from happening the Super Bowl hired Michael Jackson to do Half Time, and have 'gone big' for the HT show ever since!  So thank the Wayans Brothers for the HT spectacle that is today!!

[mcjordansc]

For those wondering how people in the stadium viewed the show, they saw it like we did at home, but on much larger screens. 

[waliman4444]

As far as the language issue, as has been pointed out on here, the NFL has expanded it's domain to include Spanish speaking countries...SO as a marketing tool the halftime show was brilliant..The entertainment was arguably the best representation of the AMERICAS that I've seen at the Super Bowl..And given the fact that it was held in SANTA CLARA ..Well that speaks for itself..peace

[Jeff Ream]

On 2/10/2026 at 11:12 PM, Galen said:

Definitely agree that subtitles would have been helpful. I'm not familiar with any of BB's music and don't know a lick of Spanish, so those would have certainly helped me connect more with the performance as a first-time viewer. If they can do it at every modern opera house for any classical opera being put on nowadays, they could certainly have done it for the Super Bowl.

Plus it would have likely helped soothe at least some of the white fragility that's been on display in our society over this topic.

 

i doubt it given the freaking out over other artists the past few years who sang in English

[Jeff Ream]

18 hours ago, Boss Anova said:

 That TMZ poll  is up to 400,000, TMZ skews toward mostly younger respondents. These are not your grandma or grandpas. ( I think I know how they might have voted if they participated in the TMZ poll.). They also skew toward english speaking US respondents.  At 400,000 post half time shows, the Turning Point USA halftime show is still preferred at 2-1 margins at 64% to 36%.

 I actually don't find the US results for preference as that surprising. Its true that a " Puerto Rican performer singing in Spanish " is at a distinct disadvantage in any US based poll where the 400,000 or so respondents likely mirror the US English speaking population ( 85% English speaking, 15% Spanish speaking ). So naturally, the US audience when asked would naturally tend to have such overwhelming preference.

 The NFL is not so much interested in the US market for their football, as they have that market pretty much nailed down. They are very interested in expanding American football globally. We see this in the ever increasing NFL teams going and playing their NFL games in Mexico (Mexico City ), Spain (Madrid ), United Kingdom ( London ) Germany ( Berlin _) ,etc recently. Its US expansionism with its multi billion dollars out there globally for the taking by US brand football, via the NFL. So their selection of Bad Bunny in in keeping with this global reach via non English speaking performers. Economically it fits their future expansion interest plans very well, imo.

correct. but economics and political hot topics don't always agree. look at the Disney issue

[Jeff Ream]

16 hours ago, perc2100 said:

It's amusing to hear complaints about not understanding Spanish = disliking the show.  I just spent 5 days watching curling, figure skating, ice dancing, snowboard jumping, etc. and I don't understand any of that stuff as far as rules, how exactly points are awarded, etc.  Still enjoyed.  I typically don't know or "understand" lyrics from many recent SB half time performers and that didn't stop me from performing.  I think mostly you just have to be curious enough to engage in the art (or sport) and then determine if that is your jam.  I don't need to understand Spanish to see the words "The only thing more powerful than hate is love," here ALL of the countries of the Americas (South, Central, and North) spoken, see the words on the football at the end "Together we are America," and to see all of the cultural celebration throughout.

I agree that this show was likely a very interesting thing from the stadium, but I think we also know that an event as huge as the Super Bowl (128.2 million viewers watched the HT show vs a little under 71,000 at the stadium) the HT show has _ALWAYS_ been about TV viewers.  Fun Fact: the HT show was traditionally lame, but in 1992 the Wayans Bros decided to do a live 'In Living Color' broadcast at SB Half Time on a different network.  They 'stole' 20million+ viewer from the HT SB broadcast, and for 1993 in order to stop that from happening the Super Bowl hired Michael Jackson to do Half Time, and have 'gone big' for the HT show ever since!  So thank the Wayans Brothers for the HT spectacle that is today!!

WWE did it in 1999 with halftime heat...the Rock and Mankind in the empty arena match

[Jeff Ream]

10 hours ago, mcjordansc said:

For those wondering how people in the stadium viewed the show, they saw it like we did at home, but on much larger screens. 

hey they probably did that for a lot of the game too. when you're up high, you need the screens