The sports world is delighted that Tom Brady reaches his 10th Super Bowl against Patrick Mahomes this Sunday. But when Brady, in search of his seventh ring in a foolproof Hall of Fame run, leaves the field at halftime, he’ll hand over the centerpiece to a man making the decisions for the 12th consecutive Super Bowl, and whose decisions are disputed. Discussed and maybe even mocked.
Regardless of the in-game action on the field, for many this weekend is all about The Weeknd. And the man who helped bring the pop megastar’s Super Bowl LV halftime show to life is a British television director named Hamish Hamilton.
Since the show headlining The Who in 2010, Hamilton, now 54, has been involved in showcasing musicians so famous we only know them under one name: Madonna! Beyoncé! Gagá !, or bands that made the soundtrack of a generation, such as Coldplay, Maroon 5 and Black Eyes Peas.
Global interest in the halftime show is nothing new, although 2021 marks the 30th anniversary of the NFL’s turnaround from traditional bands to contemporary music acts, and what a change that was.
Super Bowl XXV, also held in Tampa, kicked off with a sublime rendition of the Star Spangled Banner by Whitney Houston.
Halftime was billed as “A Little Worldwide Salute to 25 Years of the Special Bowl” with New Kids on the Block.
Operation Desert Storm resulted in the show being postponed until after the game with a news report about the Gulf War.
It was a turning point and the league never looked back, reserving such famous names as Michael Jackson, Diana Ross and Boyz II Men in the 1990s.
The Aughties witnessed U2’s cathartic post-9/11 performance, the infamous incident involving Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake, known as the “Nipplegate” of 2004, and Prince in 2007, often cited as the best rest of the season.
All these performances were pivotal moments before Hamilton took the reins in 2010.
Audiences have even shrunk audiences for the game itself at times: in 2015, Katy Perry and her colorful companions drew 118.5 million viewers, compared to the game’s average audience of 114.4 million.
For Hamilton, who grew up in the North of England in the 1970s, the idea of the Super Bowl was literally a very strange concept.
“I grew up in Blackpool,” Hamilton tells CNN in a rare interview. “These are the days before the internet, cell phones and global media exchange. My only knowledge of the sport was really my local football team, Blackpool, and many miles away in the great city of Liverpool, which dominated European football at the time. “
Hamilton caught America’s attention after directing numerous BRIT Awards, the British equivalent of the Grammys, and while he has the opening ceremony and Oscars of the London 2012 Olympics on his resume, leading the halftime show of the Super Bowl, well, the Super Bowl of your career when it comes to cultural influence.
“We always look across the Atlantic to this unknown land of opportunity and excellence,” he says. “Now, making these huge shows at the epicenter of American culture fills me with tremendous pride.”