Superbowl LIV halftime show

[dvsDave]

Welcome to the ControlBooth annual traditional of commenting on the SuperBowl halftime show.

This year we have The Weekend headlining.

 

[Amiers]

Messed up panel middle of his enterance

 

[Amiers]

What is this audio????

 

[dvsDave]

There's an impressive level of automation happening here

 

[dvsDave]

The mix is just terrible.

 

[Amiers]

Smoke machines in the choir is pretty dope.

 

[Calc]

For as obviously lip-synced as this is, why isn't the audio better?

 

[dvsDave]

Omg, the number of tiny little lamps in that gold passage

 

[Amiers]

The one on one inside was cool. But it’s getting old

 

[Amiers]

That’s a very big led wall. Nice mapping.

 

[dvsDave]

The led tape outlining the set elements are nicely diffused, I almost thought it was EL wire for a bit.

 

[Amiers]

The flares woof

 

[techieman33]

That automated spotlight is awful

 

[egilson1]

What’s with the jock strap looking masks?

 

[Amiers]

What’s with the jock strap looking masks?

Abbey says it has something to do with what he did this year.

 

[dvsDave]

What’s with the jock strap looking masks?

He covered his face in bandages when he accepted the award for this song, because it's about the effects of drunk driving.

 

[Amiers]

So thoughts on the flares and half fish eye lens on some but not all the cameras

 

[MNicolai]

The mix is just terrible.

I don't think that's an accident, but it really sounds like the left and right channels are out of phase -- that's absolutely not what's happening, but that's the consequence of having so many vocal effects and having the lead vocals buried under a reverb-heavy mix.

What’s with the jock strap looking masks?

It has something to do with a persona the Weeknd has been fostering for his recent album. He's been photographed out and about with his face bludgeoned and then again with his face ultra made up. It's a character he's been immersing himself in.

 

[BillESC]

That was 20 minutes I'll never get back.

 

[MNicolai]

I really love the Weeknd but this halftime show didn't do anything for me. I didn't need more dystopia and overelaborate production in my life right now. After everything we saw at the Biden inauguration, it really felt like they missed the cultural moment by going with a production effect that came across as inauthentic, egocentric, and closed off from reality.