Viva La Coldplay? Band Faces Post-Halftime Backlash

Following the death of Eagles singer/guitarist Glenn Frey on Jan. 18, along with the outpouring of shock and sympathy came an ugly backlash against the Eagles, the band Frey fronted for decades. One of the most successful rock acts of all time found themselves the target of haters, even as they were mourning the death of one of their own. Now it seems Coldplay are the new Eagles, as they are experiencing a similar backlash. Thankfully, nobody died this time, but the British group is under the glare of the spotlight after playing the world’s biggest stage – the Super Bowl halftime show – and inviting guests Bruno Mars and Beyoncé, who basically upstaged Coldplay at the band’s highest-profile show ever.

Like the Eagles, Coldplay specialize in light and inoffensive mainstream rock that’s far from the cutting -edge. Also, like Frey, Don Henley, and company, Coldplay were inspired by acts that took risks – in Coldplay’s case, specifically U2 (who are also the target of plenty of derision these days) and Radiohead – but they seemingly diluted the formula, making it more accessible and often more commercially successful. Indeed, the band is a commercial juggernaut that has sold more than 60 million records worldwide and will soon launch a concert tour of the planet’s biggest stadiums.

Perhaps giving more fuel to the Coldplay haters was frontman Chris Martin’s marriage and subsequent “conscious uncoupling” with actress/self-proclaimed lifestyle guru Gwyneth Paltrow, who has her own share of detractors. Then there’s Martin’s and Coldplay’s endless stream of superstar collaborations, which often come off as marketing stunts rather than legitimate creative endeavors.

Indeed, the addition of guest performers Bruno Mars and Beyoncé, who both have previous recent Super Bowl halftime performances under their belts, to Coldplay’s halftime concert seemed to fall into that category. Was the band and/or the NFL unsure that Martin and company could command the halftime stage on their own? It sure seemed that way. While Coldplay may have put on a perfectly serviceable performance of hits, including bits of “Yellow,” “Viva La Vida,” “Paradise,” “Adventure of a Lifetime,” and a closing medley of “Clocks,” “Fix You,” and “Up&Up,” their set lacked the fire and familiarity of Mars’s “Uptown Funk,” and lacked the risks and danger of Beyoncé’s decision to use her Super Bowl airtime to perform her Black Lives Matter-inspired “Formation” just a day after its much-hyped release.

Daniel Fienberg, a critic for The Hollywood Reporter, opened his review by writing: “Pepsi and the NFL set Coldplay up for failure during Sunday night’s Super Bowl 50 halftime show.” He added, “To begin with, they’re Coldplay. Nobody’s going to try saying that Coldplay isn’t one of the biggest rock acts in the world, but when you think of the best Super Bowl halftime shows, you think of either high-energy greatest hits excitement, Janet Jackson’s nipple or a wayward shark, while when you think of Coldplay, chances are good that you think of mournful montages set to ‘Fix You.’”

About the only positive thing Los Angeles Times critic Mikal Wood had to write about Coldplay’s Super Bowl show was its bravery for sharing the stage. “For a band that’s been called wimpy for the better part of two decades, Coldplay showed some remarkable chutzpah Sunday night in the halftime show at Super Bowl 50,” he wrote, adding that “Martin willingly elected to share the stage with someone he had to be certain would outshine him.”

USA Today’s Robert Bianco had a similar take. “There’s no question Beyoncé just stole that Super Bowl halftime show from its headline act, Coldplay. The only remaining question is, who didn’t see that coming?”

Others were considerably less charitable. “They appeared to be smiling nitwits in a sea of humanity that resembled nothing so much as Up With People, the lame, safe, halftime show the NFL used to employ, when musicians abhorred the rules and regulations of sports, when they were all about rejecting cultural norms as opposed to embracing them for profit,” wrote industry blogger Bob Lefsetz. “Chris Martin looked like a dork. And although the video stage was cool, he and his band’s music never lit up the joint. And the diversions looked like something from the June Taylor Dancers, but Jackie Gleason would want nothing to do with them. You could barely hear the vocals and you had the nincompoop teens running out to swarm the stage, even though they were barely conscious the last time the band had a hit. It was a celebration the audience was left out of. You could do nothing but sit there and wonder why anybody cared.”

On social media, fans had fun mocking how Coldplay was upstage by Beyoncé and Bruno Mars. Buzzfeed community manager/writer Spencer Althouse tweeted a brilliant meme with Katy Perry’s rhythm-challenged Left Shark photoshoped over Martin and flanked by Beyoncé and Bruno Mars with the caption, “Chris Martin was the Left Shark of this year’s halftime show.”

Huffpost editor Rebecca Zamon didn’t alter a photo, but still knocked Martin, tweeting a photo of him looking shocked alongside Beyoncé and Mars and noting, “Even Chris Martin can’t believe he’s allowed to perform with Beyoncé #SB50.”

Yahoo Music’s Wendy Geller also was no fan of Martin joining forces with Beyoncé and Bruno Mars, writing, “The party came to an unexpected halt when Martin joined onstage and belted out a few stanzas with the dynamic pair; a combination about as appealing as raw kale dumped on top of pepperoni pizza.” USA Today’s Bianco also thought Martin was mismatched, writing, “@hen he joined Beyoncé and Bruno Mars on 'Uptown Funk,’ it felt like the Super Bowl version of James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke.”

Others felt it was a misstep to include the footage from past Super Bowl halftime performers, including the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, and James Brown, with the L.A. Times’ Wood writing it was “a real buzzkill for anyone looking to Sunday’s show to say something about right now.”

Then there was the issue about anonymous nature of the other members of Coldplay. The Rolling Stones have Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. U2 have the Bono and the Edge. Coldplay… well, it’s just Chris Martin and those other guys. “Are the non-Chris Martin members of Coldplay always the same or do they get subbed out like Menudo?,” tweeted comedian Sarah Silverman.

Comedy writer Rob Izenberg had a similar take. “The guys in Coldplay who aren’t Chris Martin should form a band with the guys in Maroon 5 who aren’t Adam Levine called The What’s Their Names,” he posted on Facebook. Of course he was joking, but for some, including Empire star Taraji P. Henson, the confusion was real. In a since-deleted tweet, Henson wrote, “Maroon 5 is life to me! #SuperBowl50 #HappyCamper.” She later acknowledged her mistake with an apology tweet. “Oooooooopppps. Lmao! #Superbowl50” and later told Entertainment Tonight she “drank the Kool-Aid,” adding, “I’m human. I made a mistake. It happens!” Izenberg joked to us that perhaps “Cookie had too many hash cookies.”

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