To say I’m not much of a sports fan is an understatement. I haven’t watched the superbowl in a long, long time. Today, I did catch up on the vaunted superbowl commercials and I was definitely underwhelmed - a few chuckles, but nothing terribly entertaining or technically interesting.

However, I did see Prince’s superbowl half-time show on YouTube and it is amazing! It’s pretty clear that he was really doing all of the playing and singing (which is somewhat rare for big event shows), his guitar tone was loud and raw, and his performance was fantastic! It’s really cool to see some real, live rock and roll happen in what is usually a recording industry artifical polish showcase.

You can watch his performance in two parts: here and here. Songs included: “Let’s Go Crazy”, “Proud Mary”, “All Along the Watchtower” (Hendrix!*), “Best of You” (Foo Fighters cover!), and “Purple Rain”.

Even his pre-game press conference show was extremely well done. Songs: “Johnny B. Goode”, “AnotherLoverHolenYoHead”, and “Get on the Boat”.

• Yeah I know that Dylan wrote “All Along the Watchtower”, but Prince played the Hendrix version.