The Who Booked for Super Bowl XLIV, Source Tells Rolling Stone

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The Who have agreed to play during halftime at Super Bowl XLIV, a source close to the performance confirms to Rolling Stone. "It's 100 percent the Who," the source says. "They signed a long time ago." (Update: Sources later clarified that while the official contract is still unsigned, a deal is expected to be finalized shortly.) The official announcement from the band and the NFL is expected on Thanksgiving Day, according to another source familiar with the deal. The game, which will take place February 7th in Miami, will be broadcast on CBS.

Photos: U2, Prince, the Rolling Stones and more memorable Super Bowl halftime performances.

The Who will become the latest classic-rock act to play football's big event, following Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Prince and Tom Petty. As Rolling Stone noted earlier today, the band has a solid relationship with CBS: three of the network's CSI series use Who tracks — "Who Are You," "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "Baba O' Riley" — as their theme songs.

Earlier this year, Rolling Stone's readers voted the Who their Number One pick for potential Super Bowl Halftime Performers, and RS predicted the band would score the big gig. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band delivered a "12-minute party" at Super Bowl XLIII, performing "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," "Born to Run," "Working on a Dream" and "Glory Days" before a crowd of millions.

Check out photos of Bruce Springsteen's Super Bowl party.

Follow Rolling Stone's ongoing Super Bowl coverage.

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• Bruce Springsteen Delivers on Super Bowl XLIII Party Promise

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Song Stories

“Everyday People”

Sly and the Family Stone | 1968

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.

More Song Stories entries »

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