Super Weeknd

 

Last week, we discussed the sad news concerning Coachella and other major live music gatherings — the fact that they will not be coming anytime soon. However, there is one live show that is still happening, or rather just happened: the Super Bowl halftime show. Arguably the biggest musical event in the United States — as well as the biggest sporting event, we’re told — the Super Bowl has long had a tradition for much hyped performances, some truly historical like Michael Jackson, Madonna or Beyoncé, some rather infamous like Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake’s “Nipplegate” back in 2004. Either way, memorable events…

This year, in these strange and troubled circumstances, the honor fell on Canadian superstar The Weeknd, who was hosting on his own, as has less and less been the case in recent years. All the more respect to the man: in a tight 14-minute long uninterrupted musical number, the artist went through a medley of his already sizeable catalog of hits, while walking around stage, dancing proper routines, all the while clearly without any lip-syncing involved… As was to be expected given The Weeknd’s always highly cinematic universe, the show was extremely well choreographed, structured, performed, much in the way a super-charged Broadway show would look like. Not a glitch to be heard or seen: a perfect score, quite paralleled by that Tampa Bay performance…

Song highlights of the show include “Starboy”, current radio darling “Save your tears”, the classic Daft Punk-produced “I feel it coming” and of course “Blinding lights” as a closer, perhaps The Weeknd’s most potent signature track at this point of his career — and as evidenced by his Spotify stream count. As was the case with visual direction, musical consistency was also spotless, aided by the fact that the artist has already forged a highly distinctive sound, shock full of slick keyboard layers, a sophisticated 80’s retro vibe and a voice whose only rival is that of the (late) King of Pop himself — Michael Jackson.

Indeed, Drummer extraordinaire Questlove was quick to point out on Twitter that The Weeknd’s entrance referenced Jackson’s classic 1993 show — with a bit of magic added to both mixes. That is perhaps the only downside of yesterday’s performance: nodding a little too hard at the incomparable heights Jackson once achieved…