WEBVTT - Super Bowl: The Full Experience Part 2 0:00:00.720 --> 0:00:03.800 Hey, glad you're here for Super Bowl The Full Experience 0:00:03.920 --> 0:00:07.640 Part two. I hope you enjoyed Part one. Twins Devon 0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:10.280 and Jason mccordion what it feels like to play in 0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:13.040 a Super Bowl, to win it and lose it. This 0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:16.639 episode features more tremendous storytelling on two aspects of the 0:00:16.680 --> 0:00:20.760 game that are always highly scrutinized, the Super Bowl Halftime 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:24.920 show and the officiating. I guess Charles Coplin says he 0:00:24.960 --> 0:00:29.520 experienced twelve minutes of terror followed by tequila each time 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:33.160 he co produced the halftime and former official John Perry, 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:35.880 who worked three Super Bowls, tells a great story about 0:00:35.880 --> 0:00:38.920 the pressure of being head raff in Super Bowl fifty three, 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:42.559 the game right after the infamous officiating the Bacle in 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:45.440 the NFC Championship game down in New Orleans. Remember the 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:48.519 past interference non call of the final minutes that the 0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:51.720 Saints will always believe costs them their Super Bowl shot 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:55.640 and put the NFL officials under fire. So to follow 0:00:55.680 --> 0:01:00.240 that no pressure, right risk reward is one of the 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:03.920 biggest reasons why you do it. From an official standpoint, 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:06.560 You look around, you think, why would anybody do this? 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:10.199 You never can win you never have a home game. 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:13.360 No matter what you do, the people are gonna hate you. 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:17.880 No matter how good you get. They won't remember the 0:01:18.040 --> 0:01:19.959 You know, in a in an average NFL football game 0:01:20.040 --> 0:01:23.679 is a hundred fifty three plays. Generally there are two 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:28.440 or three mistakes. They're human. That's where everybody focuses. No 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:31.920 one will talk about the hundred fifty that they did correctly. 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:35.520 It's just you get used to it. Uh. But the 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:37.640 challenge is to go out and try to work a 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:41.720 perfect game. Impossible, but he can strived excellence. And you know, 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:44.479 as an official, when you leave that football field, you're 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:46.520 going in to take a shower. You know right there, 0:01:46.600 --> 0:01:50.400 whether you were good or bad. The unique inside of 0:01:50.480 --> 0:01:53.559 John Perry is coming up. But now the Super Bowl 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:57.240 halftime shows. Of course, super Bowl fifty six in l A, 0:01:57.360 --> 0:02:00.720 dr Dre Snoop dogg Eminem, Mary j Blind, Kendrick Lamar 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:04.040 were booked sort of full circle because Super Bowl one 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:08.400 was also in l A. That inaugural halftime featured the 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:12.880 University of Arizona Symphonic Marching Band, the Grambling Marching Band, 0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:17.400 Al hurt On trumpet, and the Anaheim High School High 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:22.560 Steppers drill team. And flag girls. The NFL has come 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:25.760 aways in terms of star power and the emphasis place 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:29.200 on the halftime show. For years. Of course it's been sponsored, 0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:31.799 were tens of millions of dollars to the NFL every year. 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:37.440 It's also brought some controversy, the infamous wardrobe malfunction eighteen 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:41.000 years ago now now. The following year, the NFL stepped 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:43.520 in and took a much more active role than producing 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:46.480 the halftime and my good buddy Charles Coplin became the 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:50.120 NFL executive in charge. I met Charles when he ran 0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:53.079 teleprompter in my early days of Sports Center. He wasn't 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:56.079 very skilled at that, but he had many more important 0:02:56.120 --> 0:02:58.920 talents to become a producer at ABC Sports, eventually an 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:01.320 NFL vice president, it in charge of programming, and the 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:04.519 co executive producer of the halftime show for the six 0:03:04.680 --> 0:03:09.000 years that featured Sir Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:12.280 Tom Petty, The Who, and the greatest Super Bowl halftime 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:17.520 performance ever. Prince Okay, Charles, were going back in time 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:20.600 to the years that you supervised the Super Bowl halftime 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:25.120 show for the NFL first half winding down, Where are you? 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:30.079 What are you thinking? What are you feeling. I am 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:34.880 walking from one of the suites inside the stadium to 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:39.600 the production truck, and I am feeling share terror and 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:45.840 panic feeling because I mean, logistically, the show is a 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:49.480 herculean effort. And while you plan for months and for 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:51.840 every contingency and all that stuff, at the end of 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:55.360 the day, you know, like the repercussions if anything were 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:59.600 to go wrong or are pretty pretty drastic. So yeah, 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:04.400 I mean, you're just like fingers crossed. There's only a 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:08.360 hundred twenty million people watching, right, There's only a show 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:11.960 that is twelve minutes, with about eight minutes to set 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:14.400 up a hugely elaborate stage. What could go wrong in that? 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:19.120 What could go wrong? Exactly my point? And when the 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:21.480 twelve minutes are done and it's come off well, and 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:25.280 you've entertained that many millions of people, shots of tequila, 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:31.640 lots of hugs, uh, feeling of tremendous relief, elation, and 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:37.440 a lot of reading of texts, you oversaw what many 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:40.680 people would consider the greatest Super Bowl halftime show ever, 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:44.440 Prince in Miami. Many would consider it one of his 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:47.240 greatest performances period, even though it was only twelve minutes 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:51.000 long take us through how you got Prince, how you 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:53.320 put the show together, and then how it unfolded in 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:58.360 Miami with that incredibly dramatic rainstorm. Well, we had um 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:00.919 people working for a that would reach out to the 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:05.560 artists on our behalf, and Prince was interested early on. 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:11.599 So um, we we felt like with that particular show, 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:17.960 we had somebody who was really uh invested in doing 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:21.919 a really really good job. And he was so invested 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:26.320 that he invited us to his hotel room at the 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:31.440 Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills to play us um a 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:34.080 track he had recorded a reference track of the full 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:38.760 show of full twelve minutes, and it was an amazing 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:44.840 experience meeting him. It was quite comical, uh, but he 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:49.080 had done his homework, you could tell on the other shows. 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:52.599 He almost went into it kind of with a competitive spirit, 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:56.120 and I think to your point of it being his 0:05:56.160 --> 0:06:00.040 best performance. You know, for us, he was such the 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:02.800 obvious choice because he was like James Brown and Jimi 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:06.720 Hendrix rolled into one, and he also had great appeal 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:11.960 for the players, which was important. So uh, you know, 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:14.200 the rest, as they say, is history. But he he 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:19.039 was so diligent and had so much vision in the 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:22.480 show that he put together that that it was. He 0:06:22.520 --> 0:06:25.000 was a great partner. So you're in that hotel from 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:26.719 in l A. You're listening to the twelve minutes that 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:30.520 he's produced. What what's the reaction? What are you what 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:32.960 are you thinking? Well, I have to tell you that 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:35.960 that whole experience in that hotel room was surreal because 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:38.120 first of all, when we knock on the door, he 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:41.159 opens it and there's there's Prince and he doesn't look 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:46.080 human like he he does not look human. He's he's diminutive, 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:50.920 diminutive in the stature, and he's wearing a canary yellow 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:55.719 suit and makeup, and he invites us in very warmly, 0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:58.640 and we start to walk in the door and we 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:02.360 realized that princes act really gliding. He's not walking, he's gliding. 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:05.760 And that was because he was wearing those healy stinkers, 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:08.279 you know that light up in the back. So he's 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:14.240 around the hardwood four hotel and um, he sat us 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:16.520 down there, about four or five of us. He sat 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:20.240 us down and he's kind of a low talker. So 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:23.080 we're in this sweet on this white couch and he's 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:29.440 talking really low and he's speaking in really esoteric, creative language, 0:07:29.800 --> 0:07:31.960 and he could you could kind of tell he was 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:34.880 getting a little frustrated with us in terms of like 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:38.880 not completely understanding where he was going. And so then 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:41.880 he just said, well, rather than keep talking, I'm just 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:44.960 gonna have you experienced this in the fourth dimension. And 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:47.040 we were kind of like, I don't really know what 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:48.800 that is, but just just go with it. Does it 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:51.120 mean you have to take something to get the fourth dimension? 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:56.320 He didn't offer that. So he wheeled over to this 0:07:56.440 --> 0:08:00.080 sound system that he had in his hotel suite O 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:05.400 and he he hit play or whatever, and it was 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:09.680 just so loud, and it was that thundercrack, which was 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:12.360 that lightning strike thundercrack, which was the beginning of We 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:16.320 Will Rock You. And we sat there for twelve minutes 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:21.720 just listening to this music, playing extremely loud and hearing 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:23.800 for the first time. Oh, he's not going to play 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:27.880 Little Red Corvette or Raspberry Beret. He's covering songs. He's 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:31.120 doing Proud Mary or All Along the wash Tower, the 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:34.400 Best of You, and we were just taking it in. 0:08:34.679 --> 0:08:37.880 And then he wheeled over about eight minutes into this thing, 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:39.760 and he had a box of tissues and he just 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:42.360 gave each one of us a tissue and then he 0:08:42.400 --> 0:08:46.120 wheeled away and the music kept playing and then, uh, 0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:48.840 when it finally ended, you know, the beautiful ending of 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:52.000 Purple Rain, he came back in. He wheeled back in, 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:54.839 and he now had a tissue and he held the 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:58.480 tissue aloft and suggested to all of us to hold 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:00.640 the tissue aloft. And we were and I'm like, I 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:03.160 wonder how this is gonna end. And then he just 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:05.319 sort of put it the tissue to his eye like 0:09:05.520 --> 0:09:07.840 it brings a tear to your eye, and he started laughing, 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:10.920 and we were all very happy, and we left the 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:12.920 room and we were like, it's gonna be a great show. 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:15.720 You know what it does bring a tear to your eye. 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:19.440 And anybody that plays that that performance on YouTube, it is. 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:21.959 It is powerful. It is moving. Purple Rain at the 0:09:22.040 --> 0:09:24.199 end is a sing along. You get the Florida a 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:26.280 and m band is a part of it. Then the 0:09:26.360 --> 0:09:29.240 rain is dumping down. The legend has it that Okay, 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:32.160 it's one of those Miami you're from Miami, I lived 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:35.559 down there. It's one of those torrential rain storms that 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:38.600 only the tropics can deliver, right and it's like that 0:09:38.720 --> 0:09:42.400 all day. And I know there was some anxiety among 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:46.000 their various parties, not among Prints, apparently about whether than 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:49.080 not he could do this. You know, four different electric guitars, 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:52.319 the dancers are in six inch heels, the stage is slick. 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:54.520 I mean a lot can go wrong with that. And 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:58.559 as legend has it, Charles when he was ask about 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:02.400 the rain, he said, can make it rain harder? And 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:04.240 I don't care if you're a performer or and I mean, 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:06.120 that's just that's what you want to hear. Game on. 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:09.120 I'm ready for this. Yeah, no, that's true. And you 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:13.160 know you're you're right. We both are Floridians. I was 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:16.520 born there, and and it doesn't really rain like that 0:10:16.600 --> 0:10:19.559 in February. It rains like that in like June. So 0:10:19.600 --> 0:10:23.640 it was really freaky weather. And there was a concern 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:26.040 like what if he doesn't go on? There's no plan B. 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:27.960 And then when we got worried that, he said, can 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:33.560 you make it rain harder? I'm like, so Prince, so tremendous. Yeah, 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:35.880 I didn't you know it added obviously, it added to 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:39.720 the show because when you're playing a song called Purple 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:43.319 Rain and it's pouring and the lighting is all purple 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:46.720 and it's hitting the rain drops. I mean, it just 0:10:46.720 --> 0:10:48.439 couldn't have worked out any better. But at the time 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:52.160 it was pretty scary. Two years later, Bruce Springsteen very 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:55.560 different kind of artists. He doesn't work with pyrotechnics, he 0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:58.200 doesn't work with elaborate light shows. He does three hour shows. 0:10:58.360 --> 0:11:01.199 Now you've got twelve minutes to del ever this, and 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:04.480 he also knocked out of the park. People will consider 0:11:04.520 --> 0:11:07.360 that a great performance by Bruce and the eas Street Band, 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:09.280 But but take us through that process. How do you 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:12.559 get a Springsteen show squeeze and into twelve minutes? And 0:11:12.600 --> 0:11:15.120 when he goes on, by the way, he's not rushing 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:17.520 to the music. He's kind of taking us to church. 0:11:17.920 --> 0:11:20.040 He's playing the role of a preacher. And I'm sure 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:23.760 you're thinking, Bruce, TikTok, TikTok, let's get to some songs here, 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:26.040 because it's such a different animal for him, that kind 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:29.280 of show. Yeah, another guy who in his own way 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:33.200 was super competitive. You know, these guys understood this is 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:39.160 not their show. This is a unique situation, and they 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:43.480 rose to the challenge of trying to adapt not only 0:11:43.600 --> 0:11:50.360 their songs but their performance to maximize the power that 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:53.400 they would have within the constraints of a show like that. 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:57.720 His manager John Landau even said to us, the super 0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:00.800 Bowl has been about electronic energy. We want to bring 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:03.840 the stage lower and we want to have this intimate 0:12:04.040 --> 0:12:08.720 human energy. And you know, you're not in a position 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:13.079 where you're foolish enough to tell an artist what to play, 0:12:13.160 --> 0:12:17.360 So you are at the mercy somewhat of what they're choosing. 0:12:18.280 --> 0:12:22.400 And you know, Bruce's deal is he he walks around, 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:27.520 he entertains, he takes his audience to church, and he 0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:30.240 had the right songs. So it was just a question 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:35.559 of like supporting him and he had a lot of Uh. 0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:40.400 He really rose to the challenge of trying to conform 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:42.080 to the twelve minutes. He was one of the few 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:44.800 artists that we worked with that wanted to rehearse ahead 0:12:44.840 --> 0:12:47.719 of time, and so we met him in New York 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:49.520 City at eight thirty in the morning. They were on 0:12:49.559 --> 0:12:52.160 the stage boom and he kept doing it over and 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:54.320 over again, and he would be like, twelve forty five. 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:56.240 I got it to twelve forty five, you know, So 0:12:56.320 --> 0:13:01.000 he was he was fired up. Yeah. That again, it's 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:03.600 just not what you think of Springsteen worrying about time constraints. 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:06.040 But that's why I was so brilliant. He can play 0:13:06.080 --> 0:13:08.160 to the back of the house in a huge arena 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:10.840 or stadium, but that night, if you watch it, he 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:13.520 played to the millions and millions watching at home, right 0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:15.960 to the cameras. It's pretty masterful, pretty hard thing for 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:18.199 an artist to pull off. And I'm sure as a 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:20.920 Bruce fan, you're sitting there watching this unfold, thinking, yes, 0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:23.880 very different from Prince, but man, he nailed it in 0:13:23.960 --> 0:13:26.720 his own way. Well, Bruce was our white whale because 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:29.840 he had always said no to the Super Bowl halftime show, 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:34.840 and uh he John Landelle later told me that that, uh, 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:36.760 I mean, I know this story to be true that 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:38.920 Bruce called him during the Tom Petty show the year 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:41.040 before and he said, why the bleep aren't we doing 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:46.360 this show? And I think, um, we had to prove 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:49.560 that it was a credible musical show and not just 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:51.960 kind of a novelty And I think the artist that 0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:57.000 we had the years prior um really went a long way. 0:13:57.200 --> 0:13:59.760 And also, you know, Frankly, and this is something that's 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:04.040 still holds true. Artists were having harder and harder time 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:08.280 selling their music. The industry was changing, album sales were declining, 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:11.040 and this was an opportunity to give an artist a 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:14.600 tremendous amount of exposure. And John Lando is as smart 0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:17.080 as they come as a manager, and and realized that 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:19.400 some of the other artists did, We're not going to 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:24.680 get any better promotion than this. So Bruce finally says 0:14:24.760 --> 0:14:27.200 yes because of Petty, and Petty was sandwiched in between 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:30.600 the years of Prince and Springsteen. You're a huge time 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:34.320 Petty fan, as I am, but he wasn't the first 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:37.760 choice of the folks there, and he was a guy 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:40.480 that I know you've told me had unusual reaction when 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:42.920 you were kicking around the idea of him playing the 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:45.680 Super Bowl halftime. Yeah, I think Tom kind of felt 0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:49.520 maybe he wasn't worthy of it, which is ridiculous, I mean, 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:56.560 just ridiculous. But um he I think had to really 0:14:56.640 --> 0:14:59.240 gear up to do it. Um he was. Do you 0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:01.480 think he felt that Charles as biggest following Prince is 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:03.760 obviously a challenge. Why do you think Petty felt I'm 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:09.280 not worthy of this halftime stage? I think because Tom 0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:13.680 Petty is is a complicated was a complicated man. He's 0:15:13.960 --> 0:15:19.480 a tremendous talent. I think while he is I was 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:23.360 a fantastic performer, and the Heartbreakers are a fantastic band. 0:15:24.280 --> 0:15:30.160 I think he's more introspective. Bruce and Prince have more swagger. Uh. 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:33.880 And I think one thing that was was great is 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:36.760 that everybody, including Tom in the band and his manager, 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:40.600 Tony Demitriati's, we all knew that he had songs that 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:44.680 are anthems that everybody knew, and that we would be 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:49.160 able to design a production around him to put him 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:52.000 in the best possible light. I think he got more 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:55.720 comfortable as we went on. I also think he was 0:15:56.800 --> 0:16:00.400 concerned with the commercialism of the Super Bowl. You know, 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:03.920 the man that's saying I won't back down is you know, 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:08.240 part of the bridge Stone halftime show, and we had 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:11.520 to sort of convince them that, you know, television from 0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:15.800 its very earliest days was presented by a sponsor. But 0:16:15.920 --> 0:16:18.320 those were the kinds of things that I think he 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:23.400 was very careful with and wisely so. But to no 0:16:23.440 --> 0:16:28.520 one's surprise, probably even not even to his surprise, he 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:32.960 was fantastic and he found that much like artists who 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:36.800 are more current and more recent, like Lady Gaga, justin 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:40.880 timber Lake that the platform that the halftime provided was 0:16:40.920 --> 0:16:43.000 I meant say lucrative. He you had a conversation with 0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:45.120 Bruce about it afterwards. Many of the songs he played 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:47.160 you talked about were quite old, They've been out for 0:16:47.200 --> 0:16:50.840 a long long time, but now new people were hearing him. 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:53.600 He made cash off of that. It worked out for him. Yeah. 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:55.920 I mean, if you look at the metrics of artists 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:59.640 that play the Super Bowl halftime show in terms of downloads, 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:02.720 in terms of concert sales the weeks and months after. 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:05.560 I mean, even Paul McCartney, if you go back and 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:07.560 you look at McCartney's career at that point. I'm not 0:17:07.600 --> 0:17:11.520 suggesting he wasn't you know, a Beatle and he wasn't 0:17:11.520 --> 0:17:15.200 at the top of the list, but that to your point, 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:19.760 You're you're being introduced to a whole new audience. You're 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:24.560 being reintroduced to an audience. And also you're that the 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:27.960 budgets for that show are quite high, so you're getting 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:34.920 to perform your canon of songs with tremendous production value, 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:37.240 and as you suggested earlier, in front of a hundred 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:40.280 fifty million people on TV and eighty thousand high rollers 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:44.240 in the stadium. The only thing that always had to 0:17:44.280 --> 0:17:47.760 be kept in mind from these artists, they weren't paying 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:51.120 their money. This was not a ticket to see your show, 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:55.640 So you had to be sort of aware that if 0:17:55.680 --> 0:17:58.320 you went deep on the album cut list, you know, 0:17:58.400 --> 0:18:00.640 that might not be let's talk about or Paul. Sir, 0:18:00.680 --> 0:18:03.719 Paul is the first halftime show that you oversaw at 0:18:03.760 --> 0:18:06.320 the NFL. And and yes, he could have played hundreds 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:08.679 of songs and could have gone a lot of different 0:18:08.680 --> 0:18:11.920 directions with this. But I guess in the years when 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:15.720 the NFL was now taking a much more active role 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:19.160 in the wake of the wardrobe malfunction, um, with Janet 0:18:19.240 --> 0:18:22.359 Jackson and Justin Timberlake, everything had to be scrutinized. Even 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:24.760 with a guy like McCartney. You've told me what Paul 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:28.080 was gonna wear on stage, The NFL had to sign 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:31.200 off on things like that, and then what Beatles songs 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:33.439 he was going to play? Yeah, well, you have to 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:36.879 remember that was right after the wardrobe malfunction and the 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:43.280 paranoia from everybody. Um was when I look back at 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:45.520 it now, it's ridiculous. I mean, there were concerns about 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:50.880 him singing California grass and how quaint right, and now 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:56.480 it's the title of the Disney Plus documentary. Um, we 0:18:57.000 --> 0:19:00.320 had to walk with him into his dressing room where 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:02.440 he showed us what he was gonna wear. I mean, 0:19:02.480 --> 0:19:05.560 even if he wanted to commit a wardrobe malfunction, I 0:19:05.600 --> 0:19:08.560 don't even know what that would have been. The band 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:11.840 had t shirts made up that that was a saying 0:19:11.880 --> 0:19:15.720 that poked fun of the wardrobe malfunction. So there was 0:19:15.800 --> 0:19:21.480 just this incredible like concern and it sounds absert at 0:19:21.520 --> 0:19:25.479 the time, but you know, like we had to resist 0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:28.040 going all the way back to up with people because 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:30.600 there was so much ter annoying about this. But he 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:33.440 comes through and he's very cooperative. And then the year 0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:37.000 after that are The Rolling Stones, and the Stones catalog 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:39.359 contains a few more songs and a few more lyrics 0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:43.640 that could rattle some people. And so after dealing with 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:47.840 cooperative Paul McCartney, here comes more rock and roll Royalty. 0:19:47.960 --> 0:19:50.640 But you've got Keith and you've got Mick, You've got 0:19:50.640 --> 0:19:53.840 these two alpha's. What was dealing with the Stones like 0:19:53.920 --> 0:19:55.840 in the run up in terms of trying to figure 0:19:55.840 --> 0:19:58.040 out what they were going to do with their twelve minutes. Well, 0:19:58.040 --> 0:19:59.560 I'll tell you a funny story. We were at the 0:19:59.600 --> 0:20:02.080 Hollywood Ball seeing the Rolling Stones and we ran into 0:20:02.119 --> 0:20:04.560 the McCartney guys who we had worked with the year before, 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:07.120 and they were tough. Paul was awesome, but they were tough, 0:20:08.040 --> 0:20:10.000 and they looked at us and they laughed and they 0:20:10.000 --> 0:20:13.280 were like, who's worse us through the Stones. You're like, 0:20:13.480 --> 0:20:16.359 that's kind of a tie. Um. The Stones are just 0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:19.800 different because you have two leaders, so you're dealing with, 0:20:19.880 --> 0:20:22.439 you know, kind of different camps, and the Stones are, 0:20:23.440 --> 0:20:26.200 you know, they're they're not that Paul isn't a phenomenal 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:31.000 live performer, but the Stones are a looser band and 0:20:31.000 --> 0:20:34.480 and they approached it in a very different way. And 0:20:34.600 --> 0:20:37.919 with Paul, we were very very aware, and we had 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:42.600 spent months going through the four songs driving My Car 0:20:42.600 --> 0:20:46.160 and Get Back, Kate, Shoot and Living Let Die, and 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:49.479 the Stones were still not exactly sure what they were 0:20:49.480 --> 0:20:53.840 going to play even several days before the show, which 0:20:53.920 --> 0:20:56.600 is people have to understand how different that is. They've 0:20:56.600 --> 0:21:00.919 talked about how much work went into twelve minutes, so 0:21:01.000 --> 0:21:04.040 in their view, there was a lot of labor on 0:21:04.119 --> 0:21:07.280 their part, and it may seem like they just winged 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:10.040 at the last minute, but I know they took it seriously. 0:21:10.080 --> 0:21:13.040 There's that shot after the performance when they're kind of 0:21:13.040 --> 0:21:15.440 wheeled away in golf carts and you know, it takes 0:21:15.480 --> 0:21:18.800 a lot of thing to make you know, Nick Jagger 0:21:18.920 --> 0:21:20.879 jump over the moon. But it looked like they were 0:21:20.880 --> 0:21:23.560 pretty happy with how things had gone. And in the end, 0:21:24.040 --> 0:21:27.040 what you didn't have to censor lyrics to start me up? 0:21:27.080 --> 0:21:29.159 Which you make a grown man cry, you make a 0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:31.560 dead man come? I mean right out of the gate. 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:37.479 That's their first song. Youther not have that on Global TV? Yeah? 0:21:37.640 --> 0:21:41.240 I mean you know Don Mischer, who's a legendary executive 0:21:41.240 --> 0:21:45.000 producer and director, directed that show and he also directed 0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:49.280 The McCartney Show and with McCartney, like he knew every beat, 0:21:50.200 --> 0:21:53.080 but he was in the truck on where's Keith? There's Keith? Okay? 0:21:53.160 --> 0:21:55.240 Camera for like it was literally was like he was 0:21:55.280 --> 0:21:59.720 directing a football game, and uh, we were, yes in 0:21:59.760 --> 0:22:03.120 a situation where the Stones wanted to play two songs. 0:22:03.760 --> 0:22:05.840 Forget whether or not like you wanted to have a 0:22:05.960 --> 0:22:08.240 choir perform. You can't always get what you want or 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:11.480 you wanted to do like Ruby Tuesday or whatever whatever 0:22:11.520 --> 0:22:14.280 your favorite songs are, and it's always so difficult to 0:22:14.320 --> 0:22:17.439 decide on a set list. But they chose two songs, 0:22:17.440 --> 0:22:19.679 Start Me Up and a song from their new album, 0:22:19.760 --> 0:22:22.159 Rough Justice, which at the time was a bigger bang 0:22:22.400 --> 0:22:24.040 and it was their single and that's why they were 0:22:24.040 --> 0:22:26.920 doing the show. They wanted to sell records. And both 0:22:26.960 --> 0:22:29.360 of those songs had lyrics. You mentioned one of them, 0:22:29.400 --> 0:22:33.000 and Rough Justice there's a lyric in there and I 0:22:33.040 --> 0:22:35.120 won't say that lyric, and I wouldn't have even said 0:22:35.119 --> 0:22:37.280 the start re Up lyric, but it's your show, so 0:22:37.920 --> 0:22:43.199 um and uh. We would not permit them to sing that. 0:22:43.359 --> 0:22:46.840 And it got into a whole conversation about censorship, and 0:22:47.800 --> 0:22:49.600 we said to them, you're going to have to take 0:22:49.640 --> 0:22:53.720 out that audio yourself, and whatever they say, that's that's 0:22:53.760 --> 0:22:56.520 exactly what happened. They were in charge of their own audio, 0:22:56.600 --> 0:23:01.119 and they did a dropout on those two songs, the 0:23:01.119 --> 0:23:03.760