National Anthem and Half-time

The Super Bowl, while it didn't have the desired outcome many of us were hoping for, was still a great game. It was exciting, entertaining, and had us on the edge of our seats until the last moments.

The musical performances, on the other hand, were not.

Christina Aguilera put on a poor performance of our nations National Anthem. Sadly this seems to be the norm now when it comes to major sporting events. You grab a big celebrity and shove a mic in their face and say "have fun with one of the most important songs to our country". I get artistic liberties and choices, but when you have no sense of musical phrasing, it's time to go back to the basics.

It was so horrible that in our criticism of the phrasing, pitch, and tone, my friends and I missed the slip up that she had with the lyrics. There is absolutely no excuse for forgetting the words. I get that it's not their song, and that it's a huge stage to be performing on, but these musicians are supposed to be used to performing in front of huge crowds. That's why they get paid an absurdly large amount of money to do these things.

I know so many talented musicians who can sing on pitch, with proper phrasing, and who would get all the words right that would love to have a chance to perform on a stage that large. Sadly we now hold fame in higher regard than actual talent.

We've gotten into an era where most of the popular musicians use Auto-tune in order to achieve the sounds and pitches they want. This leads to the Black Eyed Peas having a great studio sound, but leave something to be desired when it comes to a live performance. In a show that has little margin for error in terms of the technology that has to go along with it, the Super Bowl is no place for it to happen. Assembling the stage, getting the sound right, and getting performing takes place in a matter of minutes. The second the teams step off the field the crews are moving to set up for the performance. All that rush and movement leads to mistakes. Add to that the fact that the BEP just seemed not at their best and you get a mediocre performance.

The only good moment was when Slash came out and started playing "Sweet Child o' Mine". Fergie singing it...not so much.