Prince’s Super Bowl halftime show in 2007 has yet to be topped, and may never be topped. I’ve had arguments with friends, co-workers and family about left sharks and Michael Jacksons and Beyonces, but no one — no one — can come close to Prince’s performance. It was almost too perfect. Purple Rain in the rain. Those are five words that sum up Prince’s greatness. His perfection. It was more than just a commercial event, it was an important moment in music.
With Prince’s passing, a non-stop barrage of tales about Prince have finally been told, and the Super Bowl halftime show is no exception. Charles Coplin was the NFL Head of Programming for the 2007 show, and he relayed his extremely entertaining story about meeting Prince for The Daily Beast.
Here’s a choice snippet, from when he and Prince met up in Los Angeles, and Prince pitches his halftime show, blowing the executives away. Prince seemed to understand the concept of the Super Bowl halftime show better than anyone.
“I’ve watched prior shows and I realize we have to create a global, spiritual moment,” he said. After a few sentences he broke off his thought and said, “Rather than me continuing to talk why don’t we experience what I am referring to in the fifth dimension.” When we noticed a mixing board and concert-sized speakers at one end of the room we knew the fifth dimension was going to be loud.
We were not wrong. He pressed a button and off we went. There were two cracks of thunder followed by clapping and girls’ voices singing, “We will rock you.” We sat there for the next eleven minutes and fifty seconds taking it all in. Audio only. While we were listening, he wheeled around the suite doing this or that. Towards the end—when “Purple Rain” was playing—he wheeled back in carrying a box of tissues and, without a word or explanation, gave each of us one from the box. Taking our cues from him we all held our tissues aloft in our hands wondering what exactly was coming next.
The music ended and there was an awkward silence as no one was sure what to say. We looked at him and he stared back at us holding his own tissue, with a penetrating expression on his face. He placed the tissue up to his eye and it appeared he was starting to cry. Just as things couldn’t get more uncomfortable, he broke out in a very big smile and started to laugh. “It brings a tear to your eye,” he said.
In the weeks since the passing of Prince, it’s unforgettable stories like these that will keep the Purple One immortal. In fact, these stories, each as unique as the songs in his music catalogue, may be even better than some of his music. It’s as if he was meant to entertain. Each sentence, word, and letter was incredible.
(Via The Daily Beast)
