She nearly broke the Internet Sunday evening (Feb. 3) with her halftime performance and she definitely wowed many critics, so it was only natural that people were talking by the Third Quarter about Beyonce's show as one of the best -- perhaps even the best -- Super Bowl halftime shows ever. In fact, Forbes kicked her right into their Top 5 of all time. But was her show that good?
There was absolutely no doubt Beyonce Knowles was stunning in her tight black leather bodice, a bit of sexy lace falling over over her hips. Her look and her act not only blew up the Internet but had reporters, bloggers, and tweeters blaming the sultry hotness for the power failure that shut down the game for 35 minutes in the Third Quarter.
Bent on making certain she wasn't accused of lip-syncing the Super Bowl XLVII show like her Obama inauguration national anthem, she started out a capella (of course, she could have lip-synced some of the later stuff -- but more on that later) with her hit song "Love On Top." She moved straight into "Crazy in Love," "Never Let You Go," "End Of Time" and "Baby Boy." While she strutted, popped, locked, and gyrated along with a slew of other dark-garbed dancer, Beyonce stomped the stage like she owned it.
But for some, the arrival of two of her former groupmates from Destiny's Child, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, was the highlight of the night. The three performed "Bootylicious" and "Independent Woman" but then moved into territory that might have been the most disappointing of the show. Instead of performing something like the No. 1 Destiny's Child hit, "What's My Name," the trio sang "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)." (Really? Like Beyonce couldn't have done that one by her lonesome, since she went straight back into singing her solo stuff following the song? How self-indulgent was that?)
Still, self-indulgence aside, Beyonce then powered into "Halo," ending the mini-concert.
Over all it was a relatively good show. Considering that it followed Madonna's 2012 flop and the Black Eyed Peas 2011 musical travesty (by far the worst Super Bowl halftime show by a music artist in history), it scored as great entertainment and could very easily fit on a few Top 5 or Top 10 "Best" list.
Nicole Sia at Spin applauded: "Best Super Bowl halftime show ever? Pretty damn close. And we've seen pop at the big game a few times before."
And yet, as good as it was, there were still detractors and those who thought there were moments of lip-syncing (despite that a capella lead-in). John J. Moser of The Morning Call wrote that he suspected "she wasn't singing all of them." Like "Bad Boy," where the vocals continued even after she took her mouth away from the microphone, and "Halo," which Moser observed had plenty of Beyonce bending over and obscuring the mic.
Julia Turner at Slate scolded the pop diva for "dragging" Rowland and Williams on stage and forcing them to face the "culturally relevant force" that was Beyonce by singing one of her songs while having to face that they were now mere pop "afterthoughts."
So was it one of the best ever? Perhaps. Lip-syncing or no, it definitely ranked somewhere in the Top 10, but it still didn't seem top U2's post-9/11 performance, Bruce Springsteen's 2009 show, Prince's guitar-driven 2007 performance in Miami, Michael Jackson's powerful 1993 halftime moment, or even Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake's 2004 blow-out (wardrobe malfunction blow-up and all).
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