With the first round of the playoffs in the books, the dream of Super Bowl glory is still alive for eight NFL franchises.
Super Bowl LVIII takes place at the Allegiant Stadium on Sunday, February 11 and as well as seeing two teams battle it out for the Vince Lombardi Trophy, the event also plays host to what is always one of the most anticipated music performances of the calendar.
More than one hundred million people tune in every year to watch the Super Bowl half-time show which sees one of the planet’s biggest music stars give it their all for 20-or-so minutes in the middle of the field.
R&B icon Usher will be doing the honours this year as he celebrates year 30 of his career, but will his perfomance hit the heights of some of the other acts to grace the big game’s half-time show?
Prince (Super Bowl XLI)
The 2007 showdown between the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears wasn’t a classic on the pitch, but the performance that Prince served up was perhaps the best in the event’s history.
Playing a mix of classic covers and some of his biggest hits, Prince took to the stage in a Miami thunderstorm - the first time that the Super Bowl had been played in a downpour. After treating the crowd to hits like ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ and ‘All Along the Watchtower’ he - of course - ended with Purple Rain, which brought the house down. It was then back to watching Rex Grossman try and win a Super Bowl title.
Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Mary J Blige, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem (Super Bowl LVI)
If you’re playing the Super Bowl in Inglewood, then the half-time line-up picks itself, doesn’t it? Thankfully, the organisers didn’t try and overthink this one and gave us a stageful of hip-hop royalty that served the most thrilling performance in years.
With Dr Dre heading up proceedings, Snopp Dogg was soon on for ‘California Love’, while Kendrick Lamar (an act big enough to headline this slot on his own) came on for his anthem ‘Alright’. Eminem took a knee after performing ‘Lose Yourself’, despite being warned by the NFL not to.
This 20-minute hip-hop history lesson that took the crowd on a 25-year odyssey of the genre was lapped up by viewers across the world.
Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, P. Diddy, Kid Rock, Jessica Simpson and Nelly (Super Bowl XXXVIII)
The most controversial moment in Super Bowl half-time history came back in 2004 when the New England Patriots were facing off against the Carolina Panthers in Houston. ‘Nipplegate’, as it came to be known, saw the infamous Janet Jackson ‘wardrobe malfunction’, that came via a Justin Timberlake assist.
Even in this pre-social media time, huge swathes of the US were immediately outraged, with broadcasters CBS fined $550,000 (later rescinded on appeal) over the incident. Whether it was a planned publicity stunt or a genuine mishap is still debated today, but it remains the controverial event in Super Bowl half-time history and meant an otherwise unremarkable show is still talked about to this day.
U2 (Super Bowl XXXVI)
Coming less than five months after the events of September 11, the 2002 Super Bowl was always going to be an emotionally charged occasion. U2 paid tribute to those lost in the tragedy, by scrolling their names on a giant screen, ending their set with ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’.
As that classic reached its climax Bono would rip open his jacket to reveal an American flag sewn inside on the heart-shaped stage that the band played on.
Michael Jackson (Super Bowl XXVII)
When you look back at the first 25 years of Super Bowl half-time shows, a very different kind of performance was served up. There were no global megastars or elaborate sets, with the show mainly the preserve of university marching bands.
That all changed in 1993 when Michael Jackson was drafted in to try and arrest the falling viewing figures. With the crowd screaming, Jackson stayed still for the first 90 seconds of the gig before performing the likes of Billie Jean and Black and White. Not a vintage performance, but it ushered in the era of the huge headline act.
As a footnote, the coin toss that day was made by a certain O.J. Simpson. A different time, eh?