If you haven’t already caught on from all the talk, Super Bowl Weekend is like kind of a big a deal. And more than just an epic battle between two sports teams that involves shoulder pads and a weirdly shaped ball, it’s an opportunity for a week of fun leading up to the main event.
Which yes, is our not so indirect segue into talking about the opening night of the Bud Light Super Bowl Music Fest to celebrate this year’s NFL championship game. Halsey and Machine Gun Kelly co-headlined Day 1 of the 3-Day event running at the Crypto.com Arena. And while yes, the two of them is already exciting enough, the list of surprise guests only adds to it, so obviously we had to talk about it.
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For his set Kelly was joined Travis Barker (duh), WILLOW (also duh), and Trippie Redd. While Halsey didn’t invite anyone to share the stage, towards the end of his set, Kelly invited Halsey on stage to perform their track “Forget Me Too” from the MGK’s fifth studio album Tickets To My Downfall.
For their set, Halsey hit the stage to perform hits for their spanning discography. Including their latest album, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power including “I Am Not a Woman, I’m a God” to Manic‘s “Graveyard”, Badlands‘ “Colors” and Hopeless Fountain Kingdom‘s “Bad at Love,” which they actually revealed to have not performed since 2017.
Speaking of long awaited moments, Thursday’s show marked Halsey’s return to the stage since, in their words, having a “whole a** baby” in July 2021.
“Can you believe a baby came out of here? Sometimes I look at it while I’m in bed and think, ‘How did it fit?’” they said, bending over to take a proper look at their uterus. “Just kidding. Giving birth is, like, the most beautiful thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been on stage and I was really, really nervous today,” they continued. “I spent a couple years straight touring and I was f***ing arrogant as f***. Something happens when you tour your a** off, you just walk on stage like, ‘Can’t even tell me nothing.’ That’s not how I felt today. It’s been a long time and I’m so happy that we can be here together enjoying concerts because I didn’t know if we’d ever be able to do it again and I’m so happy.”
Now with Day 1 is done, the epic line-up of performers continues for the next two. Friday’s set features Gwen Stefani, Blake Shelton and Mickey Guyton (who is also singing the national anthem at Sunday’s Super Bowl). And for Saturday's entertainment it's Green Day and Miley Cyrus.
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