The Black Eyed Peas Bring Pop Back to the Super Bowl in a Halftime Show Free of Controversy

By PopEater Staff Posted Feb 6th 2011 08:18PM

The Black Eyed Peas had the privilege of being the first pop act since Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake's 2004's Nipplegate to grace the Super Bowl halftime spot. But they also had the disadvantage of being the first act not playing their own instruments and as a result, often came off muted following memories of Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, The Who and Prince. But fans on Twitter and Facebook were blaming that more on a faulty mix.

Fergie and will.i.am. kicked off the elaborate show with 'I Gotta Feeling,' and as the medley went on to 'Boom Boom Pow,' the field at Cowboys Stadium became crowded with glowing dancers. The amount of performers made the show feel almost like an Olympics opening ceremony.

Slash rose from a lifter onto the stage and performed Guns N' Roses' 'Sweet Child O' Mine' with Fergie doing her best to pull off an Axl Rose impression.

Usher swarmed the stage to take 'OMG,' his hit with the Peas. The band, dancing on a glowing "Love" sign, united with the hundreds of dancers on 'The Time (Dirty Bit)' before wrapping it up with a reprise of 'I Gotta Feeling.'

On the televised broadcast, sound problems flooded the mix including Fergie's vocals coming in late on several songs. But nothing compared to the musical mayhem of Christina Aguilera's flubbed national anthem before the big game.

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Credit: Getty Images

"So the Peas did not sound amazing, but they were very entertaining!" tweeted Perez Hilton. "Much better than The Who last year or Tom Petty before!"

"The Black Eyed Peas just kicked ass at the Super Bowl," raved Avril Lavigne. "Great performance!!!! It was perfect. The dancers were insane."

David Spade wasn't so kind: "wtf is usher doing here? Did black eyes peas run out of songs in 8 minutes?"

Fergie does not have a fan in funnyman Steve Martin either. "I learned so much about love during the halftime show," he tweeted. "And then at the end when it said, 'The Beginning,' I thought 'Wow.' Just. Wow."

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Fergie Snapshots

Getty Images for Capital A

Getty Images North America

Fergie Snapshots

DALLAS, TX - FEBRUARY 04: Singer Taboo, music Producer David Guetta, singers David Guetta, Fergie and apl.de.ap attend The Black Eyed Peas Super Bowl Party presented by Sports Illustrated and Bacardi at Music Hall At Fair Park on February 4, 2011 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Tiffany Rose/Getty Images for Capital A)

Fergie Snapshots

DALLAS, TX - FEBRUARY 04: Singers Taboo, Fergie and apl.de.ap of The Black Eyed Peas attend The Black Eyed Peas Super Bowl Party presented by Sports Illustrated and Bacardi at Music Hall At Fair Park on February 4, 2011 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Tiffany Rose/Getty Images for Capital A)

Fergie Snapshots

DALLAS, TX - FEBRUARY 04: (L-R) Taboo of The Black Eyed Peas, music producer David Guetta and Fergie and apl.de.ap of the Black Eyed Peas attend The Black Eyed Peas Super Bowl Party presented by Sports Illustrated and Bacardi at Music Hall At Fair Park on February 4, 2011 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Bacardi)

Fergie Snapshots

DALLAS, TX - FEBRUARY 04: Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas and music producer David Guetta attend The Black Eyed Peas Super Bowl Party presented by Sports Illustrated and Bacardi at Music Hall At Fair Park on February 4, 2011 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Bacardi)

Fergie Snapshots

DALLAS, TX - FEBRUARY 04: (L-R) will.i.am, Fergie and apl.de.ap of The Black Eyed Peas attend The Black Eyed Peas Super Bowl Party presented by Sports Illustrated and Bacardi at Music Hall At Fair Park on February 4, 2011 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Bacardi)

Fergie Snapshots

Tags: black eyed peas, Fergie

Comments

(403)

Sunday 06 February

By stu

Highest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

C plus performance.
Fergie screamed most of her tunes. Most singers sound terrible in arena settings. 1 would have to have the vocals of Celine
Dion or Susan Boyle to pull it off.

By Nhumar8

Anyone with a good ear knows they SUCKED big time. The yoking, no instrumentals to be heard. Just a total disaster. Bunch of people dancing around does not make up for this fiasco.

I meant to say YELLING.t

By sem

That is the WORST half time show EVER! It was a screeching, off-key mess! The BEPs owe all of us a huge apology for subjecting us to such a crap show... ;)

By rudewaitress

Look up the word LAME in the dictionary and it links you to a video of the Super Bowl XLV halftime show.

By X1600

Ah yes, the BEPs...Boring Every Performance.

Monday 07 February

By Frank

I'm not a fan of vocals being sung "Off Key" and "Not in Tune." No, Auto-Tune does not count. The show was great. The singing...ehem...the yelling sucked all around. Fergie does not have a sound of her own. So when she sang the covers, she copied Axl Rose and Jennifer Warnes. In their defense, Arena sound is pretty sucky, but too much much screaming for me.

By nbart

Hot garbage all the way. I feel sorry for Slash. Who exactly was that aimed at? Deaf, anime obsessed 12 year olds?

By Marlene

Just plain bad! The mic was not the issue. I saw the BEP's a couple of years ago and they have not changed. Even the outfits that they wore looked like the crap they wore when they WERE popular. Ushers pants were even horrible. He reminded me of a wannabe.

Gawd, I don't listen to the BEP's or Usher and this pretty much cinched me wasting my time to listen to them in the future.

By sway

It was awful. The only thing that saved the whole show was Slash and Fergie is sure not Axel.

By BTDT

Bring back the marching bands. Dagummit!

By joann

Half-time performance was so bad. I can't believe people, refering to themselves as performers, need and want millions of people to watch a truly bad performance but they seem to.

By cici217

I don't know which was worse.. the halftime show mess or Lea's karaoke-sounding singing at the beginning. Fox owes us an apology

By Jo

High Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

I totally agree...Celine Dion would have sang it a lot better. The whole performance by black-eyed peas was a disaster. Its almost they tried too hard and thought it would never end? Fergie singing Axel Rose was a disaster! I feel bad and what an insult to one of the greatest guitar players "Slash."

By Walter

Low Ranked Vote down Vote up Report this

Question of the day: Are the Black Eyed Peas worse than Hitler? Debate amongst yourselves.

By debbie

thought fergie and black eyed peas was really horrible on halftime show not only did they ruin the song but the sound quality was just horrible as well

By fiona

Madame Zelda and Her Dancing Poodles would have been a better halftime act.

By asssvvvvxc

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

Slash, Usher, black eyed Peas!! Loved it

By Starlight

It was a fantastic extravaganza. Reminded me of the Olympics and the opening show. A problem with the sound, but not the BEP fault. Grand opening great production numbers. Good music much better than McCartney in past years.

By Shadowrosch

Sucked BIG TIME!!!!!

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