You may recall in the months leading up to this past Sunday's Super Bowl, there was a petition floating around to get Metallica to play the big game, which happened in their home city of San Francisco. The NFL instead decided to go with Coldplay, Beyonce and Bruno Mars, three acts not from the Bay Area at all. Metallica made the best of the situation by playing "The Night Before" at the nearby baseball stadium, AT&T Park and streaming it for the whole world to see online, even poking fun at the Super Bowl with a graphic at the beginning of their set that read "Too Heavy For Halftime."
But one local musician is so unpleased that he decided to let his voice be heard, and that is legendary guitarist Carlos Santana. Santana posted a message on Facebook questioning why the NFL avoided any local live music acts from playing the big show:
Dear NFL/CBS….
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you both for including me as a part of your Super Bowl entertainment. I do feel compelled to point out to you that the Halftime Show should have included some of the local iconic bands that the World would have loved to see perform. Bands like Metallica, Steve Miller, Journey and yours truly. We would have rocked the Half Time Show and done the SF Bay Area proud. This is just an invitation for you to consider iconic bands as part of your Half Time entertainment. Real live music, real live vocals, and give the audience real live chills.
Carlos Santana
Kudos to Carlos for saying something, but I doubt the NFL will change their ways. They did book a "live" band two years ago, Red Hot Chili Peppers, but then forced them to pre-record their set and mimick playing instruments, something the band got a whole lotta of flack for.
Will the Super Bowl host a "live" act when coming to Houston next year? They have plenty of time to figure it out.
