Black Eyed Peas Ruin Super Bowl Halftime

By ALEX VAN BEEK

Many musicians say that what they live for as artists is the thrill of being on stage in front of a crowd.

In essence, this is what makes concerts such engaging experiences: the live performance has always been a way for artists to showcase their talent.

While each artist brings their own type of flavor to their performance, the key factor is, of course, the music itself. This is a concept that The Black Eyed Peas do not have a complete grasp on yet, relying instead on flashy choreography to hide their lack of musicality.

The first glaring warning sign that the Super Bowl Half-Time Show would not be about the music came when Fergie, Will.i.am, and the two other guys came on-stage without any instruments.

With that in mind, where was the actual music coming from? I would have pondered the question had I not immediately lost interest due to the sound of auto-tune coming from that one guy with the hat.

Technology has advanced to the point where singers can not only fake it in the studio, they can fake it in front of a live audience. Somewhere, Frank Sinatra is rolling over in his grave.

As their tired charade of a song “I’ve Got A Bad Feeling” ended, the Peas moved onto that other song of theirs from yesteryear, “Boom Boom Something.”

Didn’t these guys just come out with a new album? The better answer would probably be who cares.

Anyway, somewhere down the line, something completely unexpected happened: Slash, the guitarist of Guns and Roses fame, rose up onto the stage playing the famous “Sweet Child of Mine” riff.

What appeared to be a blessing in disguise turned out to be anything but, as Fergie proceeded to completely butcher the vocals to the classic track.

Why Slash agreed to this, I will never be sure, but I guess anyone will do something completely idiotic if the pay is good.

Continuing on the trend of guest stars, famed R&B artist Usher showed up to perform a song titled “OMG” with what’s-his-face from the headlining band.

I’ll give credit where credit is due, as this was by far the least painful part of the whole show, mainly because it only involved a fourth of the members of Black Eyed Peas.

Like Slash, however, Usher was gone almost as fast as he appeared, making both cameos inconsequential in the whole scheme of things.

The ongoing choreography of the show served its purpose, which was to distract the crowd with a series of flashing lights while the Black Eyed Peas pretended to sing onstage.

While it was well done and visually appealing, the whole thing was ultimately pointless, as it added nothing to the music.

As an example of how visuals can complement the overall experience, look no further than Prince’s half-time show from a few years ago, where he utilized a marching band for a few of his songs.

This was not only a visual spectacle, but added a new musical twist to Prince’s performance. I feel like this is the kind of effect The Peas were going for, but like the rest of the show, it amounted to nothing.

To sum it up, the Black Eyed Peas performance at the Super Bowl was garbage. Over-produced “bands” like these should not set foot outside of the studio, as all it does is show that they cannot sing and have no real musical talent whatsoever.