Bassist behind Usher @ Halftime Super Bowl 58

[bigdaddybass12]

The whole show is pre-recorded and will go on regardless..

yes on this,

 

[LowendG]

I believe the majority of the music for these is canned, but certain parts are still "real." The featured artist vocals are almost always live (Usher and Alicia Keys definitely were- his mic came up late at the beginning of the performance, and her first note was a nasty voice crack that surely would have been fixed in a recorded performance), and I think HER's guitar was live but I don't know for sure. Luda and Lil Jon probably were too, based on the amount of ad-lib they were doing.

In years past I know recent shows have been a blend of pre-recorded and live stuff- Bruno Mars notably had a live drum solo at the beginning of his performance, but most of the band was canned from rehearsals and tech week, the chili peppers didn't bother plugging in etc., but I think as technology for this stuff continues to improve and become extremely reliable they can get away with more and more live stuff on the broadcast. 20 years ago, before advances in wireless, digital boards etc, that was a lot harder.

Yes, I know some folks who've worked on this kinda stuff. With the tech we have now it can be any combination of backing tracks and live you can imagine, and, especially for something as razor's edge as the halftime show, you have redundancy for pretty much everything. If Usher suddenly can't sing, he's got a full pre-recorded backing track there ready to simply "unmute". Same with any element in the mix. And the whole shebang--the mix, all the automation, etc etc--often running in Ableton(though I'm not sure if they're using that here--possibly PT) has an exact mirrored backup running in parallel in case the first one hiccups.
I agree on the broadcast mix for this one--I thought it was pretty thin. Seemed like they leaned a bit too much on the live ambient stadium mics, at least for my taste.

 

[LowendG]

Pre-recorded or not, this year's show was WAY better than last year's.

I agree. But it couldn't touch 2022. That was impressive.

 

[Harper]

I just didn't get the third rate Micheal Jackson impersonator as a halftime show. At least Jackson had cool catchy music.

You're just old. Usher has been around for over 25 years and has tons of hits. It's not my thing, but he is massive to folks in their thirties.

 

[bgartist]

Nobody plays live on the Superbowl halftime show. Not Springsteen, not the Rolling Stones, not this year's lineup. The producers won't allow it.

Did you catch that wrong note when Alicia Keyes started to sing? I know most was lip synced but that was live.

 

[MCS4]

You're just old. Usher has been around for over 25 years and has tons of hits. It's not my thing, but he is massive to folks in their thirties.

And if you want to add in the objective component as well, from what I can tell, Usher has sold something like 30+ million albums in the US and significantly more when you add in international sales.

 

[FunkHead]

I wish they would get someone like Volbeat or System of a Down for the 1/2 time show.

 

[Wambemando]

Did you catch that wrong note when Alicia Keyes started to sing? I know most was lip synced but that was live.

I've always liked Alicia, but my wife and I heard that opening note and we looked at each other with "ewwwww!" faces.

 

[dalkowski]

 

[tb-player]

As soon as I saw the 'live' band in the background during the halftime show, I was like, "What kind of bass is that?" Then I thought, " No need to try & figure it out. There'll be a TalkBass thread about it tomorrow."

 

[Altitude]

I guess, since nobody has done it yet, I'll post a picture of Flea at the Superbowl with his bass not plugged in.

 

[VoodooJazz]

Did you catch that wrong note when Alicia Keyes started to sing? I know most was lip synced but that was live.

Alicia Keys earned HUGE respect in my book for not using Autotune. That one wrong note instantly got both my attention and respect for her artistry. She may have gained a fan.

 

[Altitude]

You're just old. Usher has been around for over 25 years and has tons of hits. It's not my thing, but he is massive to folks in their thirties.

I'm also too old to be an Usher fan, but I do have kids.

From the Wikipedia entry. And I do realize this is where the discussion usually turns to whether albums sold, Grammys won, #1 singles, and the like are or aren't evidence of quality. I just can't come up with anything else that isn't obviously opinion.

Usher has sold 33 million albums, 38.2 million digital songs in the United States. Internationally, he has sold 80 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. At the end of 2009, Billboard named him the second most successful artist of the decade, the number-one Hot 100 artist of the decade, and ranked Confessions as the top solo album of the decade. The same magazine placed him at number 6 on their list of "Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years". In 2023, Rolling Stone magazine named him the 97th greatest singer of all time. Usher has earned 9 number-one singles. Considered an iconand sex symbol, he has been inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, the Black Music and Entertainment Walk of Fame, SoundExchange Hall of Fame, and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Usher has won numerous awards and accolades including 8 Grammy Awards, 12 Soul Train Music Awards, 8 American Music Awards and 3 Guinness World Records. With 18 awards, Usher is the fifth-most awarded artist at the Billboard Music Awards​

 

[LowendG]

Admittedly, modern pop RnB is not really my jam, and I don't know Usher's music well at all, but all technical aspects aside, I feel like this show's music and some others have missed the mark for the context. It's the Super Bowl--it's sports! I wanna hear songs about power, strength, action, overcoming adversity, etc etc. Not baby-making music. Just my likely unenlightened 2 cents!

 

[Nightsprinter]

Did you catch that wrong note when Alicia Keyes started to sing? I know most was lip synced but that was live.

Alicia Off-Keys

 

[James Flowers]

You're just old. Usher has been around for over 25 years and has tons of hits. It's not my thing, but he is massive to folks in their thirties.

I know who Usher is, but his performance last night was horrible. It was a sad Micheal Jackson impersonation without the energy or precision.

 

[Altitude]

Alicia Keys earned HUGE respect in my book for not using Autotune. That one wrong note instantly got both my attention and respect for her artistry. She may have gained a fan.

She's a badass. Here she is at age 20, maybe a bit before she became who she is. Force of nature.

 

[Dynacord]

GK just posted this on their Facebook page:

 

[J Posega]

Zero interest in the Super Bowl or Half Time shows, but the amount of crap being slung at an incredibly talented artist for cracking one wrong note in front of millions of viewers is hilarious and sad. If any one of the critics in this thread got up on that stage, you probably wouldn't play a single correct note. Good thing you wouldn't be plugged in anyway.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

I've always liked Alicia, but my wife and I heard that opening note and we looked at each other with "ewwwww!" faces.

She looked so good in that red jumpsuit, I didn't care what she sounded like. I am an old man, 43 year old women look downright young to me!