The Super Bowl XXX halftime show occurred on January 28, 1996, at the
Sun Devil Stadium
Sun Devil Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium in the southwestern United States, on the campus of Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe, Arizona. It is home to the ASU Sun Devils football team of the Pac-12 Conference. The s ...
in
Tempe, Arizona
, settlement_type = City
, named_for = Vale of Tempe
, image_skyline = Tempeskyline3.jpg
, imagesize = 260px
, image_caption = Tempe skyline as se ...
as part of
Super Bowl XXX
Super Bowl XXX was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...
and featured American entertainer
Diana Ross
Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups o ...
. The show was produced by
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplac ...
. The performance was entitled ''Take Me Higher: A Celebration of 30 years of the Super Bowl''.
Background
Ross had previously performed the national anthem at
Super Bowl XVI
Super Bowl XVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Cincinnati Bengals to decide the National Football League (NFL) champ ...
in 1983.
Development
Ross had developed a show which would last for a duration of thirteen-and-a-half minutes. Broadcaster
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
demanded that she shorten the performance to twelve minutes. After she pleaded with them to allow her to keep the performance unabbreviated, they relented to allow her a thirteen-and-a-half minute time slot.
Synopsis
The show featured a number of Ross' songs, both from her solo career and her time in
The Supremes
The Supremes were an American girl group and a premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s. Founded as the Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful ...
. The show made use of
pyrotechnics
Pyrotechnics is the science and craft of creating such things as fireworks, safety matches, oxygen candles, explosive bolts and other fasteners, parts of automotive airbags, as well as gas-pressure blasting in mining, quarrying, and demolition. ...
, special effects, and stadium card stunts.
Ross made many costume changes throughout the performance.
Ross started the performance standing on a crane, which lowered her onto the stage as sparklers were illuminated on the bottom of the crane, while singing "Stop In The Name of Love".
Hundreds of dancers occupied the field surrounding the stage. At the start of the performance they spelled out Ross' name.
[ Ross's initial outfit was a red mini dress.][
Ross then sang "You Keep Me Hangin' On", followed by "Baby Love", "You Can't Hurry Love", and "Why Do Fools Fall in Love".][
For the next song, "Chain Reaction", Ross made a costume change into an orange and purple colored dress.][ Chain reaction was followed by "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)".][
For the next song, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough",][ a yellow-robed choir joined her.][
This was followed by the song "I Will Survive".][
The show ended with Ross singing "]Take Me Higher
''Take Me Higher'' is the twenty-first studio album by American singer Diana Ross, released on September 5, 1995, by Motown Records. Ross' first regular studio release in four years, following '' The Force Behind the Power'' (1991) and the holida ...
" from her 1995 nineteenth studio album of the same name.[ Ross then looked to the sky and exclaimed, "Oh my, here comes my ride," as a ]helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
came into the stadium.[
]
Reception
Critical
Ross’ halftime performance has been ranked positively among Super Bowl halftime shows.[ Her performance was cited as ]The Weeknd
Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. Known for his sonic versatility and dark lyricism, his music explores escapism, Romance (love), ...
's favorite halftime performance; he would later go on to perform for the Super Bowl LV halftime show
The Super Bowl LV halftime show, officially known as the Pepsi Super Bowl LV Halftime Show, was the halftime entertainment of Super Bowl LV, and took place on February 7, 2021 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. It featured a performa ...
.
Commercial
In the week following her performance, Ross' newest album, Take Me Higher
''Take Me Higher'' is the twenty-first studio album by American singer Diana Ross, released on September 5, 1995, by Motown Records. Ross' first regular studio release in four years, following '' The Force Behind the Power'' (1991) and the holida ...
, saw a 74% increase in sales, selling 3,000 copies in the week following the performance.
Set list
# " Stop In The Name Of Love"You Keep Me Hangin' On
"You Keep Me Hangin' On" is a song written and composed by Holland–Dozier–Holland. It was first recorded in 1966 by American Motown girl group the Supremes, reaching number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. American rock band Vanilla Fudge ...
"[
# "]Baby Love
"Baby Love" is a song by American music group the Supremes from their second studio album, ''Where Did Our Love Go''. It was written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland and was released on September 17, 1964. ...
"[
# "]You Can't Hurry Love
"You Can't Hurry Love" is a 1966 song originally recorded by the Supremes on the Motown label. It was released on July 25 of 1966 as the second single from their studio album '' The Supremes A' Go-Go'' ( 1966).
Written and produced by Motown p ...
"[
# " Why Do Fools Fall in Love"][
# "]Chain Reaction
A chain reaction is a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions to take place. In a chain reaction, positive feedback leads to a self-amplifying chain of events.
Chain reactions are one way that syst ...
"[
# "]Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)
"Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)" is the debut solo single of singer Diana Ross, released in April 1970 as the first single from her solo self-titled debut 1970 album by Motown Records.
Background
Diana Ross, having just left The Suprem ...
"[
# "]Ain't No Mountain High Enough
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" is a song written by Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson in 1966 for the Tamla label, a division of Motown. The composition was first successful as a 1967 hit single recorded by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and ...
"[
# "]I Will Survive
"I Will Survive" is a song by American singer Gloria Gaynor, released in October 1978 as the second single from her sixth album, '' Love Tracks'' (1978). It was written by Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris. A top-selling song, it is a popular di ...
"[
# "]Take Me Higher
''Take Me Higher'' is the twenty-first studio album by American singer Diana Ross, released on September 5, 1995, by Motown Records. Ross' first regular studio release in four years, following '' The Force Behind the Power'' (1991) and the holida ...
"[
]
See also
* 1996 in American music
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
* 1996 in American television
The following is a list of events affecting American television during 1996. Events listed include television show debuts, finales, cancellations, and channel initiations, closures and rebrandings, as well as information about controversies and ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Super Bowl 030 halftime show
1996 in American music
1996 in American television
1996 in Arizona
Mass media in Tempe, Arizona
Diana Ross
030
Radio City Music Hall
January 1996 events in the United States