Kendrick Lamar delivers excellence during Super Bowl LIX halftime show

The Super Bowl halftime show has come a long way. When the championship game started just after the Earth had dully cooled, marching bands and Up With People were many times the featured entertainment. That changed in the 1990s when the NFL realized they could do more in between halves of the game.

Of course, the NFL needed that, to be fair. Many times, the games themselves were blowouts, and the league needed to find a way to keep people from tuning out. Why not bring in a massive musical guest to keep us from wandering off to PBS or to the store? It was a wise move.

The 2025 Super Bowl halftime entertainment was Kendrick Lamar. He was expected to get some help from SZA, and boy...did he. More on that in a second. But of note is that Lamar was not completely new to the halftime show. He helped out a bit during Super Bowl LVI when Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Eminem were part of the show. But Lamar was ready for his featured turn.

Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl LIX halftime show as good as the game itself

Before we get into that, though. Let's just say the intro to the game was amazingly musically. Southern University's marching band (yes, one of those) was outstandingly good, and brought a lot of positive energy. So did New Orleans native Harry Connick, Jr. Think he was someone from the past? Think again. He was excellent in a limited fashion.

OK, so back to Lamar. He had Samuel L. Jackson as a guest as Uncle Sam (it seemed) and that was great. He had SZA, and that was awesome.

The truth is that what made Lamar's halftime show so good was that he did not try to do too much. There was none of Lada Gaga's theatrics because that would not have fit. Instead, he delivered body blow after blow of track, including a mix that included "DNA." which was marvelous.

One of the only issues is the way the halftime shows are filmed. They come across as pre-filmed which, of course, takes away from a live experience. The bit is live, and that makes it more impressive. The production makes it seem less so.

There was also nothing inventive. Some of the set pieces looked more like what the Weeknd did versus what the production team in charge of Lamar's show came up with. Still, the halftime show was worth it.

Why? Because of the strength of what Kendrick Lamar can produce. He has a feel for when to speed tunes up and when to slow them down for dramatic effect. "Humble" was a great example of what he is capable of and how entertaining he should be to a large audience. Even if one does not like rap, Lamar knows how to bring us something we enjoy.

Sure, his show was not Prince level, but it wasn't bad either. He also included "Not Like Us." Potential lawsuits be damned. Lamar was ready to bring the thunder and he did.

Kendrick Lamar's setlist

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