The Best & Worst Super Bowl Half Time Show Performances

For those of you who don't know anything about the football...

Tonight sees the 50th Super Bowl take place at the home of the San Francisco 49ers in San Jose, California. The Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers go head to head to claim the coveted American football accolade.

For those of you who aren't at all interested in the actual football itself, because lets be honest, a lot of us don't know what in the name of God is going on beyond someone scoring a touchdown, you'll be looking forward to seeing the famous half time show.

This year it's Coldplay's turn to take to the pitch at half time to wow the world in a mere 12 minutes. It is believed that Beyonce and also Bruno Mars may join them on stage during their performance. 

We're looking back at former half time shows and picking our favourites.

The Worst, The Very Very Worst - The Black Eyed Peas (2011)

There aren't many positive things we can say about this performance. In 2011 The Black Eyed Peas were still flying high with success all over the world for their chart friendly tracks. I was utterly bemused watching this performance with strange robots appearing left right and centre and even stranger a Slash cameo...because when you think Black Eyed Peas, you think yes, a Slash collaboration makes total sense.  Usher looked like he ended up on stage against his will and the general vocals* are very poor. 

*When I say vocals, I mean shouting.

The Most Infamous - Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, P.Diddy, Kid Rock, Jessica Simpson & Nelly (2004)

Most people will remember this performance for Janet Jackson's staged nip-slip over anything else that happened during her half time show. It didn't do any favours for Jackson's career which up to that point hadn't been doing too badly. The incident didn't help Justin Timberlake either with his handling (literally) of the situation not gaining him any fans. The mimed performances in general weren't bad though, if it's any consolation to flashing millions of people... 

The Most Unusual Pairing - Bruno Mars & Red Hot Chili Peppers (2014)

Bruno Mars is a great showman and there's was an awful lot of hype leading up to the performance which meant more pressure for the pint-size pop star. Unfortunately Bruno was following in the footsteps of Beyonce who perform the previous year which is never an easy show to out-do. Bruno starts with an impressive drum solo which leads into hit after hit. I just didn't get the link to Red Hot Chili Peppers who are a polar opposite group to Bruno's motown style group. All the same, Bruno Mars vocals and synchronoicity with his band was very impressive, even if they were stuck to the same little stage for the majority of the show. Unfortunately these days, the show needs more pizzaz shall we say.

The Most Iconic - Michael Jackson (1993)

One of Michael Jackson's last big TV Show performances was his half time show at the Super Bowl in 1993. The music legend stood still for a whole 90 seconds, taking in the screams of his fans before lashing into hit after hit including Billie Jean and Black Or White and We Are The World. It was this year at the Super Bowl that the coin tosser was some guy called O.J. Simpson...

The Most Viral - Katy Perry, Lenny Kravitz & Missy Elliot (2015)

We have to say that Katy Perry's halftime performance is one of our favourites. The staging was second to none, especially when Katy turned into a shooting star near the end of the show. But the real star of Perry's performance was Left Shark. Left Shark was a dancer dressed in a shark costume and who just couldn't get the moves down compared to Right Shark. However who's to say that Right Shark wasn't the one who was off time? The jury's out!

The Best. The Very, Very Best - Beyonce (2013)

The most fierce performance seen at a Super Bowl half time show came from Queen Bey. The Houston native tore the roof off the stadium with an outstanding performance. Beyonce went from chart topping hit to chart topping hit, dancing with an army of woman and the small matter of a surprise reunion of Destiny's Child for a brief but brilliant few minutes. Beyonce's performance was so powerful that the electricity blew in the stadium for a period of time following the end of the performance and play had to be delayed. Slay.