If Styx Played the Superbowl Halftime Show

[KWH17]

I was reading up on some comments about Bruce's Superbowl show, and someone made a comment about him being too old, and another saying that his music stunk.

Now this got me thinking of Styx, and what it would be like if THEY did the Superbowl halftime show. They sure would be considered old, and a lot of people either are not completely familiar with their music, or they don't even like it.

So just for fun tell me what you think it would be like if Styx actually played the halftime show. [Both how you would take to it, and how you think the rest of America would take to it.]

What conditions would have to be present for them to even have a shot of being considered to do the show?

Also, what songs do you think they would try to cram into the 12-minute segment that they'd get?

If they were actually given the chance to do the show, would it affect their overall success, or not?

Just a few ideas to get things started. I'll hold my comments until there are a few posts.

Let the discussion begin!

[weatherman90]

Dennis would have to be in the band for starters.

[stmonkeys]

they've performed at the superbowl twice already, but during the pre-show festivities. Not likely that they will ever be asked to do half-time. i'd say there's only a handful of acts i'd like to see performing in the half time show- maybe aerosmith, billy joel or u2. as for the younger generation- foo fighters or coldplay. hmm... did paul macartney ever play the superbowl? he'd be great too.

[StyxCollector]

I was reading up on some comments about Bruce's Superbowl show, and someone made a comment about him being too old, and another saying that his music stunk.

Now this got me thinking of Styx, and what it would be like if THEY did the Superbowl halftime show. They sure would be considered old, and a lot of people either are not completely familiar with their music, or they don't even like it.

So just for fun tell me what you think it would be like if Styx actually played the halftime show. [Both how you would take to it, and how you think the rest of America would take to it.]

What conditions would have to be present for them to even have a shot of being considered to do the show?

Also, what songs do you think they would try to cram into the 12-minute segment that they'd get?

If they were actually given the chance to do the show, would it affect their overall success, or not?

Just a few ideas to get things started. I'll hold my comments until there are a few posts.

Let the discussion begin!

Bruce is a known quantity whether you like his music or not - there's no disputing that. Styx wouldn't be a choice for a halftime show. They did one of the pregame things a year or two ago which wasn't televised. You're really delusional if you think they would ever get a shot. Rush has a shot before they do, and they're never going to play it. 'nuff said. If this was 1980 or 1981, they'd have a shot.

I agree - to do this DDY would need to be in the band, and they would have to do big hits. Renegade and Come Sail Away would be locks, The Best of Times would be in consideration but it may be too slow (but a huge, recognizable hit), and maybe Roboto. Love it or hate it, it's one of the songs which would resonate with a lot of people. It's upbeat and fun. Outside of those songs, it falls off fast. Blue Collar Man? No, not big enough. Fooling Yourself? Same deal. Rockin' the Paradise? Possibly - upbeat, but not as recogizable. Babe? No way. Everything else pretty much wouldn't work in this context where you've got 10 - 12 minutes to dazzle the world with songs they may know.

[StyxCollector]

they've performed at the superbowl twice already, but during the pre-show festivities. Not likely that they will ever be asked to do half-time. i'd say there's only a handful of acts i'd like to see performing in the half time show- maybe aerosmith, billy joel or u2. as for the younger generation- foo fighters or coldplay. hmm... did paul macartney ever play the superbowl? he'd be great too.

Macca did it the year after Boobie Bowl I believe, then it was Prince, and Petty the year after. Prince was the best I've seen in awhile. That man can rock, and when he did the Foos - whoo!

[stmonkeys]

they've performed at the superbowl twice already, but during the pre-show festivities. Not likely that they will ever be asked to do half-time. i'd say there's only a handful of acts i'd like to see performing in the half time show- maybe aerosmith, billy joel or u2. as for the younger generation- foo fighters or coldplay. hmm... did paul macartney ever play the superbowl? he'd be great too.

Macca did it the year after Boobie Bowl I believe, then it was Prince, and Petty the year after. Prince was the best I've seen in awhile. That man can rock, and when he did the Foos - whoo!

yeah.. i thought so. well then, how about elton? that would be fun. tom petty was a surprising choice, IMO. he's got a great catalog of songs, but is he that dynamic a performer to have up on stage during half time of the superbowl? and i agree with you on prince- he's a firecracker! not a huge fan of his, but the man can certainly play!

[StyxCollector]

yeah.. i thought so. well then, how about elton? that would be fun. tom petty was a surprising choice, IMO. he's got a great catalog of songs, but is he that dynamic a performer to have up on stage during half time of the superbowl? and i agree with you on prince- he's a firecracker! not a huge fan of his, but the man can certainly play!

The halftime show at this point is all about marquee acts. When Aerosmith did it a few years back (year before Janet?), I was unimpressed. Elton would be obvious, as would Billy. Petty is a pretty "safe" choice and some of his songs are well known and go over huge like "American Girl". After Boobie Bowl, the NFL and whoever is broadcasting won't leave anything to chance. Prince wasn't safe per se, but a great choice. Big business wants an easy win, and the network doesn't want you flipping to another channel even if it's some lingerie show.

The reality is that there are fewer and fewer marquee acts these days. Take Metallica for example - they can fill stadiums and arenas, but wouldn't go over for the majority of the audience. They need more middle of the road song friendly.

[KWH17]

I was reading up on some comments about Bruce's Superbowl show, and someone made a comment about him being too old, and another saying that his music stunk.

Now this got me thinking of Styx, and what it would be like if THEY did the Superbowl halftime show. They sure would be considered old, and a lot of people either are not completely familiar with their music, or they don't even like it.

So just for fun tell me what you think it would be like if Styx actually played the halftime show. [Both how you would take to it, and how you think the rest of America would take to it.]

What conditions would have to be present for them to even have a shot of being considered to do the show?

Also, what songs do you think they would try to cram into the 12-minute segment that they'd get?

If they were actually given the chance to do the show, would it affect their overall success, or not?

Just a few ideas to get things started. I'll hold my comments until there are a few posts.

Let the discussion begin!

Bruce is a known quantity whether you like his music or not - there's no disputing that. Styx wouldn't be a choice for a halftime show. They did one of the pregame things a year or two ago which wasn't televised. You're really delusional if you think they would ever get a shot. Rush has a shot before they do, and they're never going to play it. 'nuff said. If this was 1980 or 1981, they'd have a shot.

I agree - to do this DDY would need to be in the band, and they would have to do big hits. Renegade and Come Sail Away would be locks, The Best of Times would be in consideration but it may be too slow (but a huge, recognizable hit), and maybe Roboto. Love it or hate it, it's one of the songs which would resonate with a lot of people. It's upbeat and fun. Outside of those songs, it falls off fast. Blue Collar Man? No, not big enough. Fooling Yourself? Same deal. Rockin' the Paradise? Possibly - upbeat, but not as recogizable. Babe? No way. Everything else pretty much wouldn't work in this context where you've got 10 - 12 minutes to dazzle the world with songs they may know.

1. When you said "you" did you mean the person I was talking about who made the comment, or me directly? 'Cause I'm a big fan of Bruce's music.

2.I'm not delusional because I know they don't have a snowballs chance in hell of getting the half time show. I thought, for the hell of it, I'd create this discussion to see what people would have to say about it in the hypothetical situation that they did get to do the show.

I agree that Dennis would have to be apart of it, and I agree with the setlist as well.
Roboto would be a great intro, follow that up with renegade, and finish with Come Sail Away. The ending of CSA would be the perfect pump up for the second half!

[Toph]

I was reading up on some comments about Bruce's Superbowl show, and someone made a comment about him being too old, and another saying that his music stunk.

Now this got me thinking of Styx, and what it would be like if THEY did the Superbowl halftime show. They sure would be considered old, and a lot of people either are not completely familiar with their music, or they don't even like it.

So just for fun tell me what you think it would be like if Styx actually played the halftime show. [Both how you would take to it, and how you think the rest of America would take to it.]

What conditions would have to be present for them to even have a shot of being considered to do the show?

Also, what songs do you think they would try to cram into the 12-minute segment that they'd get?

If they were actually given the chance to do the show, would it affect their overall success, or not?

Just a few ideas to get things started. I'll hold my comments until there are a few posts.

Let the discussion begin!

Bruce is a known quantity whether you like his music or not - there's no disputing that. Styx wouldn't be a choice for a halftime show. They did one of the pregame things a year or two ago which wasn't televised. You're really delusional if you think they would ever get a shot. Rush has a shot before they do, and they're never going to play it. 'nuff said. If this was 1980 or 1981, they'd have a shot.

I agree - to do this DDY would need to be in the band, and they would have to do big hits. Renegade and Come Sail Away would be locks, The Best of Times would be in consideration but it may be too slow (but a huge, recognizable hit), and maybe Roboto. Love it or hate it, it's one of the songs which would resonate with a lot of people. It's upbeat and fun. Outside of those songs, it falls off fast. Blue Collar Man? No, not big enough. Fooling Yourself? Same deal. Rockin' the Paradise? Possibly - upbeat, but not as recogizable. Babe? No way. Everything else pretty much wouldn't work in this context where you've got 10 - 12 minutes to dazzle the world with songs they may know.

Grand Illusion? Is it big enough? TMTOMH? Probably could work. Lady? Big enough, but is it too slow?

Other songs that are big enough but are too slow include Show Me The Way and Don't Let It End

Could Journey (with Perry) pull off a Super Bowl apperance? Maybe!

[Rocker Chic]

I agree that Dennis would have to be involved. For any band to be called upon to do the half-time show, there would have to be major buzz of some sort and Bruce's was his new album.

As for the music I'd like to hear them do, it would be the medley that Todd came up with, to kick things off so that they would get the most bang out of those 12 minutes, then perhaps either a new song or a classic other than Babe or Come Sail Away. Remember this was my dream of what they should play.

[KWH17]

I agree - to do this DDY would need to be in the band, and they would have to do big hits. Renegade and Come Sail Away would be locks, The Best of Times would be in consideration but it may be too slow (but a huge, recognizable hit), and maybe Roboto. Love it or hate it, it's one of the songs which would resonate with a lot of people. It's upbeat and fun. Outside of those songs, it falls off fast. Blue Collar Man? No, not big enough. Fooling Yourself? Same deal. Rockin' the Paradise? Possibly - upbeat, but not as recogizable. Babe? No way. Everything else pretty much wouldn't work in this context where you've got 10 - 12 minutes to dazzle the world with songs they may know.

Grand Illusion? Is it big enough? TMTOMH? Probably could work. Lady? Big enough, but is it too slow?

Other songs that are big enough but are too slow include Show Me The Way and Don't Let It End

Could Journey (with Perry) pull off a Super Bowl apperance? Maybe!

TMTOMH could easily work, it is not as well known as Renegade, but I think it would still go over well.

I can see Lady's second half working well because of how grandiose it is, but the beginning would quickly throw off a lot of people, not worth the chance.

Maybe in addition to Dennis we could have Glen come back to sing Kiss Your Ass Goodbye. wait, that could actually work!

[fightingilliniJRNY]

i'd say there's only a handful of acts i'd like to see performing in the half time show- maybe aerosmith, billy joel or u2. as for the younger generation- foo fighters or coldplay. hmm... did paul macartney ever play the superbowl? he'd be great too.

Aerosmith, U2 and Paul McCartney have already done it.

[yogi]

The next time the Arizona Cardinals reach the Super Bowl, Styx and its surviving members( if there are any and they can remember their own lyrics & names) should be asked to play the Super Bowl Half Time Show.

Chances are none of us will be around to see that!!

[KWH17]

Or maybe the next time the Eagles actually get to the super bowl

[LordofDaRing]

Yeah then the Eagles (Don Henley and company) can play for the Eagles (Philadelphia)

[MCM]

Rush has a shot before they do,

I know this is all hypothetical discussion, but this struck me as quite funny. Not that I wouldn't love to see it, cause I think the world could always do with a little more Rush, but think about limiting a Rush gig to approx 12 minutes. I know, you're joking, but it would be spectacular. I'd want a ticket regardless of who's playing in the game.



Back to the topic at hand, I see the chances of Styx doing halftime about as good as DDY agreeing to perform it with them.

[KWH17]

Rush has a shot before they do,

I know this is all hypothetical discussion, but this struck me as quite funny. Not that I wouldn't love to see it, cause I think the world could always do with a little more Rush, but think about limiting a Rush gig to approx 12 minutes. I know, you're joking, but it would be spectacular. I'd want a ticket regardless of who's playing in the game.



Back to the topic at hand, I see the chances of Styx doing halftime about as good as DDY agreeing to perform it with them.

Dennis has said on occasion that he'd love to be back in the band, so I don't think there'd be a problem with getting him to join them, it would probably work the other way around.

Dennis has done quite a bit of touring, and since great promotion is what he needs for 100 years to sell as well here as it did in Canada, I don't think he'd mind playing to such a huge audience.

Styx has nothing to promote, and they [or at the very least JY] don't want to work with Dennis again, so that's where the problem would lie if they needed him in order to get the spot.

and btw, a Rush show would be awesome!

[Skates]

Thought Bruce was great...great.. great... and literally just had an argument with my brother on who played keys for Bruce. It was Paul Schaffer, one of the coolest dudes out there who did it as a favor for Bruce.

Styx playing halftime...that's a dream that I sadly think has sailed. But I would love to see them do the Anthem ON NATIONAL TELEVISION.

[KWH17]

who knows, maybe they'll get to do the anthem for the World Series. A big event, but not so big that they couldn't get an invite to do it.

[Jodes]

Dennis has done quite a bit of touring, and since great promotion is what he needs for 100 years to sell as well here as it did in Canada, I don't think he'd mind playing to such a huge audience.


That is sort of misleading. Actually the album did somewhat well in Quebec (might have sold 20,000 copies or so.. still nowhere near gold) but it sold MAYBE 10% of that number across the rest of Canada..

[sniper16]

styx would have a better chance of playing than rush.
although neither really stand a chance
van halen is the obvious choice for next year.