(Spoiler) Big Potential Super Bowl Halftime Show Secret Revealed
As with every year, the halftime show for tomorrow's Super Bowl, which will be held at the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, promises big surprises.
Hopefully our headline was enough to stop you if you didn't want to know this in advance - word is leaking out that Justin Timberlake's set will include a hologram to honor hometown hero Prince.
The news comes via TMZ, who don't say if this will mean Prince will appear in hologram form, or if it will be an image with which he is associated (purple raindrops, the Love Symbol, etc.). Their sources saw four run-throughs of Timberlake's performance, noting that one of them was filmed in case Timberlake has to cancel at the last minute for some reason. They added that there will be plenty of fireworks inside the stadium, but there will neither be a reunion with his former group NSYNC nor an appearance by Janet Jackson, whose halftime show performance with Timberlake in 2004 introduced the phrase "wardrobe malfunction" into the vernacular.
Prince's sister, Tyka Nelson, has discussed the idea of a Prince hologram as part of an exhibition of her brother's memorabilia that will take place in London this October. “A hologram could be done as long as it is of excellent quality," she said. "It would have to allow the fans to experience Prince in the way he allowed us to experience his music.”
Although 1991's Diamonds and Pearls featured a hologram of Prince on the cover, he said in 1998 that he was against the against the idea, calling the use of technology that would allow him to perform with deceased musicians "the most demonic thing imaginable. Everything is as it is, and it should be. If I was meant to jam with Duke Ellington, we would have lived in the same age. That whole virtual reality thing... it really is demonic. And I am not a demon. Also, what they did with that Beatles song ["Free as a Bird"], manipulating John Lennon's voice to have him singing from across the grave... that'll never happen to me. To prevent that kind of thing from happening is another reason why I want artistic control."
Holograms will not be used at a tribute concert to Prince that will scheduled for April 21, the second anniversary of his death, at Minneapolis' Target Center. Variety says that the Paisley Park Museum is putting on “Prince: Live on the Big Screen,” that will feature “newly remastered and never-before-released audio and video of Prince accompanied live on the Target Center stage by a super-group of musicians who performed alongside Prince throughout his legendary career." The show is part of a four-day celebration of Prince's life and music that will take place at Paisley Park from April 19-22.