Liam Gallagher delivered a blunt critique of FIFA’s first World Cup final halftime show on X during Sunday’s (July 19) performance at New York-New Jersey Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. “This is like a bad trip,” the Oasis frontman wrote, followed by: “It’s a good job I’ve got my spiritual socks on or that halftime entertainment could have tipped me over the edge.”
The 11-and-a-half-minute show, curated by Coldplay’s Chris Martin, featured Madonna, BTS, Justin Bieber, Shakira, Burna Boy, conductor Gustavo Dudamel, the PS22 Chorus and the Muppets during the Spain-Argentina final. Madonna opened with “Music,” her 2000 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1, followed by performances from BTS (“Dynamite”), Bieber (acoustic “Everything Hallelujah”) and Shakira and Burna Boy (“Dai Dai,” the official World Cup song and current Billboard Global 200 chart-topper).
Dudamel conducted musicians from the New York Philharmonic and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela through The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army.” The show closed with the PS22 Chorus, Martin, Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy and returning performers forming a giant “LOVE” stage formation with fireworks.
The halftime show marked the first musical performance staged during a FIFA World Cup final, positioning FIFA closer to the entertainment model long associated with the Super Bowl.
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Source: Billboard
