Potent, Ferocious. Brilliant song choices. Using a choir to enhance "Working on a Dream" and make it more viscerally exciting  than the recorded version. Altering "Glory Days" to make it applicable to football star instead of worn out out baseball pitcher. Showing off Bruce the Preacher. Reminding everyone that the core remains Bruce, the Big Man Clarence Clemons and Little Steven Van Zandt no matter how much their presence seems to dwindle with each recording. Remind America - and alert some for the first time - of the redemptive power of rock 'n roll. Great as "The Rising" was in D.C., that was hardly a fluke. "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" was elevated to a position of rock royalty, the kick-off tune for Springsteen's first Super Bowl performance. (In truth, "10th Avenue" never rates higher than middle of the pack in one of the Boss' marathon performances).  His half-time show was Springsteen giving yet another great performance, the sort that we expect from him, the type that makes us return time and time again to feel something that no other experience in our lives provides. No one delivers shows like this and he reminded us once again. Not Tom Petty. Not the Rolling Stones. Dylan was heard in a well-done Pepsi ad and part of me squirmed while the other half was appreciative of the fact that Bob was being exposed to people who don't know the genius of his words and music. Same thing with Bruce, but this was the artist at work, demonstrating why he sits atop a mountain that many are afraid to climb. 

He played one bona fide hit, "Born to Run," two songs that everyone knows and a new number. Who else does that at the Super Bowl? And on Monday, when tickets go on sale for the chance to experience the sort of rock 'n' roll show that exist only when Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are on tour, it will break records in terms of sell-outs. I have an avid love/hate relationship with the NFL - that's what happens when you're a Jets season ticket holder - but tonight all I can say is thank you, NFL, for bringing us Springsteen. He was as amazing as the 100-yard interception run back, Larry Fitzgerald Jr.'s run and the spectacular Rothlisberger-to-Holmes TD pass. Steeler Nation. Springsteen country. A perfect match.  

And to be a sports and music fan whose employment future is up in the air due to economic circumstances that have rendered my job expendable, I hear the words in "Born to Run" the way I did when I was a 17-year-old, the song was brand new and he was expressing something I had never heard from another songwriter:  
"Together we could break this trap
Well run till we drop, baby well never go back
Will you walk with me out on the wire
`cause baby Im just a scared and lonely rider
But I gotta find out how it feels
I want to know if love is wild, girl I want to know if love is real."

As if anyone needed reminding, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are the entertainment at halftime of Sunday's Super Bowl between the Patriots and the Giants, the day before tickets go on sale for Petty's summertime tour.
They are hardly alone in hitching their musical star to football's biggest game. (Prepare yourself for a lot of Bud Light ads).
Alicia Keys and ‘American Idol’ winner Jordin Sparks will perform at the stadium before the game, which Fox will televise. Keys sang in the pregame three years ago;Sparks becomes the first "AI" champ to sing the national anthem at a Super Bowl (For the record, Keys announced a U.S. tour Thursday that starts Feb. 25 in Miami).
Sara Evans, who dropped out of "Dancing With Stars" to deal with a divorce that had potential dirty laundry all over it, will perform at the NFL Tailgate Party. Evans and Willie Nelson will duet on “Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys,” which will be televised on the Fox pre-game show. (For the record, Nelson's new album was released Tuesday; Evans’ “Some Things Never Change,” the second single, from her recent "Greatest Hits" album was just released to country radio.)
Plans were scrapped for Paula Abdul to perform her single "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow" from Randy Jackson's upcoming album and instead a video will be shown of the former Laker Girl doing the song. Even when Abdul was "performing" "Straight Up" when it was a current hit, she stuck to lip synching. Hard as it is to believe, she was actually on a bill with Was (Not Was) and performing at a Connecticut amusement park when the CD player stuck in mid-song.
("Randy Jackson's Music Club, Vol. 1" will be released March 11 on his label, Dream Merchant 21, and distributed by the Concord Music Group.)
Rodrigo  y Gabriela will perform live  on  ESPN's "First  Take" from Scottsdale, Ariz., on  Friday and their music will be featured on ESPN's "Sunday NFL Countdown." (They start a U.S.
headlining tour on Thursday in Portland, Ore.)
Counting Crows and Boys Like Girls will perform a free show Saturday at Tempe Beach Park.Diddy, Ludacris and Snoop Dogg are also performing between today and Saturday in the Phoenix area.