Super Bowl 2012 Halftime Show Review: Madonna Performs At Halftime

Super Bowl halftime shows are usually the same. Madonna's performance during halftime of Super Bowl 46 between the New England Patriots and New York Giants surely fit the script. The 53-year-old pop icon performed a truncated version of five different songs, ripe with guest appearances, an insane number of background dancers, in a totally overproduced and over the top fashion.

There were so many different motifs going on that it was quite hard to keep track of. She began the performance dressed as an ancient gladiator, and proceeded to perform her classic hit "Vogue". There's nothing vogue about gladiators, but whatever, it's the halftime show at the Super Bowl so these things aren't supposed to make sense. Next up in the medley was "Music", a contemporary hit by Madonna's standards (released in June of 2000, eleven years ago, but still) while her and a few dancers did a routine on what looked like a futuristic set of bleachers. It appeared as though Madonna slipped at one point during her bleacher dance. I won't get on her too much for this because one thing I've always feared is falling through a set of bleachers and tumbling all the way to the ground, and I'm 25-years-old. Bleachers are very awkward, so I give the pop queen props for trying something daring.

Then came our first guest appearance, by LMFAO. They randomly broke into a hilariously slowed down version of their hit "Party Rock Anthem". The three of them performed the now-famous dance, the Party Rock Shuffle, but again it wasn't at the usual frantic pace. Hey, Madonna is 53, so I guess she's earned the right to request a slower version of the song so that she could keep up.

Next up was Madonna's new song, "Give Me All Your Luvin", featuring guest appearances by Nicki Minaj and M.I.A. The song sounds pretty much like every other Madonna song from the past 30 years, except it features Minaj doing what she does best; interjecting in the middle of a pop song by rapping quickly and unintelligibly. The performance wrapped up with Madonna performing "Like A Prayer". There was another guest appearance but unfortunately it wasn't by Tim Tebow; it was a wizard-dressed Cee Lo Green. Remember to catch The Voice, only on NBC.

So another Super Bowl Halftime show came and went. There were plenty of head-scratching moments, like a random Cirque Du Soleil-esque trapeze artist (I suppose) who was bouncing on a high wire seemingly with his genitalia. That's the best way I can describe it. The whole thing was fairly forgettable, which seems to also be the norm for Super Bowl Halftime shows.