Townshend Talks About The Super Bowl
09:01 AM,
Monday 2/8/10
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More than 100 million viewers saw The Who tear through a 12-minute set during the Super Bowl halftime show at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens yesterday, but Pete Townshend says it was clear the band wasn’t the main event.
Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend rocking Super Bowl XLIV at Sun Life Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida.
February 7, 2010
(AP Photo)
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“You know, you could kind of tell from the stage the crowd is really here for the game,” Townshend said.
“It was nice for that reason. It was nice to feel a part of something and not having it all to be about us,” adding “We’re too far gone to care I think.”
Turns out yesterday’s Super Bowl was the first time Townshend or Who frontman Roger Daltrey had ever seen American football. For Townshend, it was all about the spectacle.
“It’s extraordinary,” said Townshend. “You forget how big sport is and how every week it happens ... I’m not trying to be humble but we felt like a very small piece of a huge team.”
During The Who's halftime performance at the Super Bowl.
February 7, 2010
(AP Photo)
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The guitarist also addressed the protests raised by some local children’s rights groups questioning his Super Bowl appearance because of his 2003 child pornography arrest.
Townshend, who was arrested for downloading one picture, always claimed he was researching the subject and that he himself was an abused child. Although e-mails between him and a children’s advocacy group confirmed his claims, he was forced to register as a sex offender.
Townshend called the protests “a bit of a cheap shot.”
Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend at the end of The Who's Super Bowl halftime performance.
February 7, 2010
(AP Photo)
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“I think if people don't believe, they fall on that side of the line, there's little I can do, but most people have been very kind, very understanding, and I know I did nothing wrong,” Townshend said.
--Jay Smith