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

Tweet

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.

Related Stories:
• A Short History of Rock Stars in Super Bowl Commercials
• After Bruce Springsteen, Who's Next for the Super Bowl?
• Bruce Springsteen Delivers on Super Bowl XLIII Party Promise

• 
  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
• 
  MOVIES 'This Is the End' Brings the Goods
• 
  TV The Women of 'Mad Men'
• 
  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“Karma Chameleon”

Culture Club | 1983

Boy George has said this song was about standing by what you believe in. However, at the time, he was involved in a secret affair with Culture Club drummer Jon Moss. "Now people can understand the songs better," he said. "They were written about my relationship with Jon, and they were also written about being a gay man in a homophobic world." The lines "If I listen to your lies, would you say/I'm a man without conviction/I'm a man who doesn't know how to sell a contradiction," described his life at the time, he said. "I was selling this big lie."

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter