“I heard there was a Beyoncé concert at some football game”

Super Bowl halftime shows leave a lot to be desired. There’s only so much you can do in 12 minutes, but like every loyal follower on the Holiest Day of Sports, I jump on the bandwagon.

I didn’t expect Beyoncé to top Madonna’s masterpiece, but I suspected the Destiny’s Child reunion might bring it close. And I’ve been a fan of Beyoncé, in some capacity, for most of my life.

Overall, I thought Beyoncé put on one crazy performance. I sometimes wonder if she’s even human. The energy was palpable, and what can I say – Sasha Fierce showed up and slayed it. As for my comments on the actual halftime show, I would say it was good. Not great. My reasons are nothing to do with Beyoncé, but on some questionable production choices.

The performance kicked off with 2003’s summer jam, “Crazy in Love.” Couldn’t have chosen a better song, but where was Jay-Z? Since Beyonce’s new tour is titled the “MRS. CARTER TOUR,”  this seemed like the perfect opportunity to remind us what that actually means.

At some point after that, we went into multiple rounds of Beyoncé’s booty-pop-shake. She can move, and she knows it. But a halftime show is like 5 seconds long – I’d rather enjoy some hits in that short amount of time. Arguably, there was too much filler. With all the hype around Super Bowl halftime, I’ve always wondered why the NFL doesn’t allow more time for the performance. The Super Bowl is ONCE a year, and I’m sure football fans can wait 10 more minutes.

As Dangerously in Love is B’s first solo album, I fully expected “Baby Boy” or “Naughty Girl” was going to make the cut. As much as I love both songs, I have to say: they made the wrong choice. One song isn’t necessarily better than the other, but since “Naughty Girl” very blatantly samples Donna Summers “Love To Love You Baby,” Beyoncé (or her producers) missed a massive opportunity to do a short, but appropriate, tribute.

But now the important part…

When the sirens went off, I just knew. Then Ms. Kelly Rowland popped out, and it was ON!!!

I thought they were going to do “Survivor,” but this was just so much better. “Bootylicious” is the bands signature jam, and “Independent Women” just happens to be my favourite Destiny’s Child song of all time. This is what the halftime show should have been. DC killed it, and the fans have been waiting a LONG time.

But Beyoncé’s the true star, and she’s not going to let us forget that. Having Kelly and Michelle join her for “Single Ladies” was sweet, until they were relegated to backup singers. Whatever went down with the mics should have never happened, period. I ate it up either way, and then Beyoncé put us to sleep with her ballad “Halo.”

Meh.

If I were producing this show, I would have added Jay-Z to the line up, hands down. Have them perform a medley of “Crazy in Love” and “Bonnie & Clyde.” Lights dim, throw on a gold cape, and work that indian theme with “Baby Boy” and “Naughty Girl.” Remind us she’s still relevant with “Girls (Run The World),” the perfect intro to Destiny’s Child. “Bootylicious.” “Survivor.” “Independent Women.” “Single Ladies,” with proper mics for Kelly and Michelle (because this is still BEYONCE’s show – the cousin-sister’s are just visiting). And if she was desperate to go out on a slow jam, why not “Nuclear”? I was under the impression that Destiny’s Child was reuniting to promote their new compilation, Love Songs. I like the song fine enough, even though I don’t think it’s half time material, this was a MASSIVELY missed PR opportunity to promote the single and album. I would love to know what happened there, because that’s a pretty glaring omission! And in a dream world, I would have picked “Survivor” to close.

What did you think?