Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner OT: Are they trying to GIVE him stage fright? (re Supr Bowl)

In NY Times, about Bruno Mars

I'm not sure what kind of chance I'd have if the newspapers ran stuff like this before I was going to play.

Some excerpts:

....those few minutes will be the most crucial and thoroughly scrutinized in this young pop musician's booming career, in a show that has been second-guessed for months....Compared with previous artists who have played to national television audiences of 100 million or more on the coveted Super Bowl stage....Mr. Mars seemed to lack the stature and longevity....For the N.F.L., the selection of Mr. Mars is a potentially risky experiment for the halftime show, as the league forgoes a heavily mined supply of time-tested musicians in favor of a younger and relatively hipper headlining act. But the biggest risk of all is to Mr. Mars himself, who, in the span of a few songs, can either prove that he is a rising talent worthy of this distinction or that his detractors were right to be skeptical.

"He needs to really come across strongly and obviously not fall flat on his face, or it could kill his career," said Gary Bongiovanni, the editor in chief of Pollstar, a publication that tracks the concert tour industry....


They even saw fit to throw in this:

In the last year....Mr. Mars's concerts had grossed $72.4 million from 84 shows, at an average ticket price of about $66 — still far less than is charged by competitors like Justin Bieber, who gets about $90 a ticket, or Beyoncé, who charges about $111.

....Mr. Mars may come across as authentic and guileless, but he has further raised eyebrows by adding the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the aggressively nonconformist and sometimes underdressed Southern California funk-rock band, as a special guest to his Super Bowl set. "It seemed like somebody was getting the jitters," Mr. Rosen said. "Probably too many people were saying, 'Bruno Mars?' "


Still, he said:

"No matter where I perform, it’s my job to uplift the people. So whether I'm performing at a graduation party, a wedding, a bar mitzvah, the Grammys, the Super Bowl, I'm going to give it all I got. Whatever happens, happens. I ain't scared, if that's what you think."

Good for him.
I was interested even before this. I'm more interested now.

Why?

I can't think of a subject I care less about than performances of pop music at the Superbowl. There are better things to worry about.

Such as?

But to your point, Mark, I do agree that's a heck of a lot of pressure. But Mars seems to be taking it in stride. The question is, could you? Ready to dust off Ballade No. 4 for next year's bash?

Bruno Mars is the greatest musical genius to have ever lived. He'll do fine.

Greater than Chopin, Beethoven, Bach,....?

Greater than Rachmaninoff?

It makes sense and he's right especially when you consider that Bach, Beethoven Chopin, and all others were never in the music category to begin with, they were in the Divine Creation category.

Maybe he means he's above them in terms of living composers.

what's there to get stage fright about? They all lip synch so all he has to do is get the choreography mostly right.

Okay this one made me laugh.

I love how you put Chopin first in this list.

Mark,

Maybe look at it from an audience perspective... It could be that programmers are trying to lower audience expectations a notch or three after the trend of over-hyping the half-time shows for so many years. No doubt, though, the trend of public displays of darkness and depravity will continue. That part is not likely to change.

Have you ever heard Louis Black's take on Super Bowl halftime shows? In my opinion, this is insightful commentary (and entertaining ), and well worth the time to listen to with a critical ear:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1d8_...;list=PLz-SfWHCpvHXUhxEWjWgisuKMtDR9TaHM

--Andy

Well who here has one of those?

BTW, ever notice, most people named Black are white, and most people named White are black?

Just goes to show something or other, or not....

P.S. I did listen. Good good stuff.
Best/Worst part: what he did with the spoon.
No, correction: The beginning of Part 3.

I know! There are *so* many good bad parts!

BTW, I would not doubt that your thought about piling on pressure is fully in play, as well. Just sayin'.

But he says "to have ever lived"...

Well, I haven't got rid of my addiction yet, and apparently it shows!

As compared to Adele, there's no comparison.

True, but Renée Fleming will most definitely not lip-sync! (Curious to hear and watch it- I'm certain she will be fabulous.)

Go Seahawks!

He did good.

What did he play?