When halftime hits during Super Bowl 50 in February, all eyes will turn to Coldplay. The British rock band is set to headline the much-anticipated show, according to Wall Street Journal sources.
The Super Bowl is typically the country’s most-watched TV event of the year, so booking a performance slot is a big deal. Last year’s audience was record-setting — 118.5 million people tuned in for the halftime show, which featured Katy Perry. Missy Elliot and Lenny Kravitz performed as special guests.
According to WSJ, musicians typically see a boost in tickets and sales after a Super Bowl performance, which makes the timing perfect for Coldplay. The band’s new album, A Head Full of Dreams, is set to drop on Friday, December 4. An announcement of a North American tour is expected to come after the event. Both Beyoncé and Bruno Mars made such announcements in the days after they headlined Super Bowls in 2013 and 2014, respectively.
Mars will join Coldplay as a guest during the upcoming show, which is sponsored by PepsiCo Inc., and Beyoncé is reportedly in talks to appear as well. The latter is fitting, given that she lent her vocals to the the band’s upcoming album, but it’s interesting that such recent performers would be recycled already. We won’t complain as long as the power stays on this time — there was famously a blackout mid-game of Beyoncé’s high-energy show.
Coldplay has never performed at a Super Bowl before, but the band was previously in consideration. According to a 2014 WSJ article, the NFL was seeking to some form of payment for the performance slot, even though that hasn’t traditionally been done. The reaction from the artists — Coldplay included — was reportedly “chilly.”
The NFL is slated to name one of the halftime acts on December 3 during the Thursday Night Football matchup between the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions, per the league’s website, so we’ll see if Coldplay is confirmed.
Super Bowl 50 will be played on February 7 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
