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The Weeknd was good. The Weeknd was fine.
The singer’s halftime show at the Super Bowl was always going to be difficult this year. With limited fans in the stadium, a hesitance to bring in any guest performers (which resulted in Abel Tesfaye singing alone), and a need to keep things mostly toned down, it was always going to be hard to make the show feel special.
Things were always going to be difficult, and then they got even worse — the sound mix on the first song was so bad that many fans at home were left turning up the volume or wondering what was even happening.
They eventually ironed out the mix, but then The Weeknd made another misstep — trying to create a more dynamic atmosphere by going inside a set that was supposed to create a funhouse effect. It ended up being disorienting (and kind of nauseating), and had more than a few fans comparing his camera work to that of The Joker in The Dark Knight.
— Joey (@JoeyMulinaro) February 8, 2021
That combined with the attempt to create some hysteria with the masked background dancers (were they robots? half-bandaged mummies?) led to moments that felt more disorienting than inspiring or cool. It was just sort of weird.
It was one of those times where he was best served by just playing his songs — and this performance did remind me that The Weeknd has an awful lot of good songs.
And that all led to the final cut, and The Weeknd’s one true shining moment of the halftime show. He ran down to the field and with all his half mummies, started running and dancing to his new hit, “Blinding Lights.”
Gone was the hysteria. Gone was The Joker vibe. It was sweet release — a great song playing and a bunch of people all running around at a concert, dancing their faces off. It’s what we all want. It was, for that moment, perfect.
