Earlier Thursday (Dec. 3), Coldplay was confirmed as the lucky artist performing at Super Bowl 50. Not a bad start for their farewell tour, right? We don’t know the specific dates for the band’s alleged final run, but they will be hitting the stage Feb. 7, 2016, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.
Coldplay to Play 2016 Super Bowl Halftime Show
So what can we expect from their performance? They’ll obviously be supporting their new album A Head Full of Dreams, which conveniently drops Friday. Aside from that, past Super Bowl halftime shows suggest we should expect the unexpected.
We tackled a few pressing questions below…
Will Beyoncé Show Up?
If Beyoncé doesn’t come out, we may have to call in the Beygency. There is simply too much evidence pointing in the direction of a Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter appearance. She did the Super Bowl halftime show two years ago. She’s on Coldplay’s new song “Hymn for the Weekend.” And she has an endorsement deal with Pepsi, the Super Bowl halftime show’s sponsor. It all makes so much sense! But then again, Super Bowl halftime shows seldom follow this sort of straight-line logic. Remember when the Red Hot Chili Peppers came out with Bruno Mars? Or when Missy Elliott came out with Katy Perry?
If not Beyoncé, then who?
By now we’ve come to expect some guest appearance during the Super Bowl Halftime show (see above). So if that’s not Queen Bey, then who will it be? How about Rihanna to perform “Princess of China”? Or Jay-Z for “Lost!”? Or maybe even Kanye West for his Graduation Chris Martin-featuring track, “Homecoming”? Pulling from the band’s past and present collaborations, the options go on. Avicii, Noel Gallagher, Brian Eno and Gwyneth Paltrow all appear on A Head Full of Dreams. And of course there is the entire crew of other fellow all-star TIDAL co-owners to potentially pull from. After all, this is the Super Bowl’s gold anniversary, so it seems fair to set our expectations high.
What will they play?
Last year’s set squeezed eight Katy Perry hits into the alotted 12 minutes; Mars played seven tracks the year before; and Beyoncé with Destiny’s Child in 2013 played nine. Historically, sets haven’t always been so packed but the recent trend suggests the-more-the-merrier. So how will Coldplay fill its time? Will they play slow songs or stadium anthems? Will they get the world singing with more classic hits, or lean newer? Chances are it’ll be a mix of all, but good luck guessing how they’ll put that list together. “Paradise”? “Adventure of a Lifetime”? “Viva La Vida”? “Yellow”? There are a lot of ways to go with this one.
What kind of stage show will they bring?
Perry outdid herself with her halftime show last year, turning the stage into her own pop culture mishmash emporium, setting a new gold standard for design with the performance. So what will Coldplay deliver? Will the band bring its A Head Full of Dreams show to the big stage, or conjure up something altogether unique for the event? Let’s not forget this album is supposed to be their last, so there’s an added significance for the show’s 100 million viewers. Good thing the guys know a thing or two about big performances, often with a laser light show for “Clocks,” confetti raining down for “A Sky Full of Stars,” giant bouncy balls or balloons let loose in the crowd, and expertly disbursed neon jewelry.