Coldplay upstaged by 'Uptown' at Super Bowl spectacle

By any standard, Coldplay would have been an odd choice to headline a Super Bowl halftime show.

Most people tuning in to watch the game would be hard pressed to name a single Coldplay song. It's true, they've had their share of multi-platinum albums through the years here in the States, from the quadruple-platinum "A Rush of Blood to the Head" in 2002 to 2008's double-platinum."Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends."

But when it comes to hits? They clearly can't compete with last year's halftime entertainment, Katy Perry. And lest you think I'm talking trash on Coldplay, any number of my favorite artists through the years have never had a hit. That's why I wouldn't wish a halftime show on any of them.

That may be why they sent out for those hi-watt reinforcements in the form of Bruno Mars and Beyonce, two previous halftime show headliners.

Preceded by an ad declaring them "one of the world's most popular bands" with a catalog of hits, Coldplay rose to the challenge with a brief yet energetic medley of a handful of those hits. After setting the tone with a snippet of "Yellow," they hit their stride on the chart-topping "Viva La Vida," which featured a string section made up of kids, before following through with a spirited "Paradise," Chris Martin working the crowd with the boyish enthusiasm you'd expect.

They squeezed in one more song, "Adventure of a Lifetime," before an energetic Mars and a gaggle of dancers stole the show with a rousing performance of the biggest song in recent memory, "Uptown Funk," before ceding the spotlight to Beyonce, who owned her moment even if she was performing a song most people hadn't heard yet, the freshly released and much better on YouTube "Formation."

Was there lip-syncing involved? Hey, it's the Super Bowl. You want reality, try taking in a club show.

By the time Martin joined the two stars in the chanting of "Uptown funk you up," it was impossible not to just feel sorry for the man.

And as I sat there wondering how Coldplay could possibly hope to recapture the spotlight that should have been theirs, the whole thing turned into a tribute to Super Bowls past with Martin gamely belting out the chorus hooks to "Beautiful Day" and "Purple Rain," joining Beyonce and Mars in an overblown finale. It ended with Coldplay's "Fix You" and a gospel-flavored "Up & Up," on which the stars joined forces, singing, "We're gonna get it, get it together right now / Gonna get it, get it together somehow."

As the chorus swelled, the stage was overrun with extras, from Beyonce's dancers to the band kids from "Viva la Vida" in what came off as a nod to yet another old Super Bowl halftime tradition. Up With People.

What it felt like was the NFL regretting its decision and Martin doing as instructed in a valiant attempt at making the most of a bad situation. That's what happens when you program entertainment based on the ridiculous idea that it's possible to put a show together that could speak to everyone. It would have been much better if the NFL had just let Coldplay do their thing.