Coldplay's Chris Martin Dishes on the Super Bowl Halftime Show
— -- Remember last year, when that goofy dancing "left shark" that was part of Katy Perry's Super Bowl halftime show became a viral sensation?
Well, Coldplay, who are playing halftime this year, is prepared to top that moment... and then some.
At a press conference Thursday in San Francisco, Coldplay's Chris Martin, displaying his British sense of humor, told reporters, "We’ve trained ‘em so well this year -- all of our sharks. We’ve got left shark, middle shark, front shark, back shark, two right sharks and a reserve shark in case one of the first sharks has a problem, in which case there’s gonna be a Pepsi logo flashed on screen."
Pepsi is the sponsor of the halftime show.
"Everything will shut down for two minutes while we replace whichever shark has messed up," Martin said. "There’s a delay on the timing so no viewer at home will have any shark-based trauma."
Turning more serious, the band told reporters that they were asked to honor the past, present and future with their Super Bowl 50 halftime show. The future will be represented by the members of a local youth orchestra, while the past will be represented by artists who've previously given memorable halftime performances, including Beyoncé.
"The way we’re sort of honoring the past is by asking some of the people whose halftime shows we really loved and Beyoncé’s of course is right up there," said Chris Martin. "I think most people would agree. And so we just felt like asking her would be appropriate. And the other person that’s coming out with us, same reason. And they’ve been great teachers to us and had great pearls of wisdom and it’s just been fun to make one giant band together."
It hasn't been confirmed who the "other person" is, but most believe it'll be Bruno Mars, who headlined in 2013. Other guests remain a mystery.
As for the inspiration for the show's feel and design, Coldplay drummer, Will Champion, said it came from the U.K.'s biggest and most prestigious music festival, Glastonbury. "We wanted to bring that sort of vibe to the Super Bowl halftime show," said Champion. "You know, we can’t compete in terms of amazing dance routines and all of that, so we have to try and do what comes naturally to us, which is to try and provide a bit of fun and a great atmosphere for people to come and be together and be communal and enjoy the general experience."
Of course, there's tremendous pressure to deliver a knockout of a performance, but Martin told reporters that they've avoided feeling stressed out by doing two things.
"One is we just spoke to each other about what we’d like to communicate in the halftime show, and we decided that we wanted to make it about togetherness and acceptance and the things we really believe in," he explained. "And then we called the right guests, so we know that we have great people joining us."
It's traditional to ask whoever is performing on the halftime show who they're rooting for and most artists refuse to take sides. At the press conference, Coldplay got a lot of laughs out of their complete lack of knowledge about football. But when a reporter informed them that Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton is a huge fan of theirs, they changed their tune.
"This changes things significantly!" joked Will Champion. "Plus they have a Scottish kicker as well, and Guy, our bass player, is Scottish...so we feel a certain affinity with the Scots so I think we’ll go Panthers."
"Yeah, I’m going with the Panthers!" added Martin.
When the reporter attempted to ask another question, Martin broke in. "Just to be clear, that’s the Denver Panthers that we definitely are rooting for, OK?" he said, as everyone laughed. "So put that in your paper!"
By the way, Martin didn't say if his ex-wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, would be watching, but he says he hoped their children Apple and Moses would. He also revealed that Moses designed two pairs of shoes for him: one to wear at the press conference and one to wear during the halftime show. Martin said of the kids, "They've been lovely about the whole thing."
