Super Howl II: Who should rock the halftime show?

Word from the Super Bowl Host Committee’s communications team is that the music acts to perform the pregame and halftime shows on Feb. 5 will be announced in mid-December. And yes, rumor has it that Madonna will finally grace that stage with her “Madgesty’s” presence–and song catalog.

As expected, Peter Hartlaub, pop culture critic for the San Francisco Chronicle,  gets it right: “While we often hear a call for younger/more relevant acts playing during the Super Bowl, I’ve never felt that way. I look at the halftime show performance as a lifetime achievement thing—a chance to honor a band or artist that has stood the test of time, and still can knock out a strong live performance.”

That’s exactly what the one-time Material Girl would do, too. (Recall Prince’s turn in 2007.) Hartlaub lists a few acts that he’d tap for the halftime show, but none of them float my aural boat, save U2 and Aretha Franklin. And, as with The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, and The Who before them, the members of U2 aren’t American—and have themselves played that stage before, on the heels of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Now our previous Super Poll asked you which rumored halftime-show performer-to-be was most surprising.

The results:
Madonna – 27.%
Nicki Minaj – 22.%
M.I.A. – 25%
“Who are those two?” – 25%

We know the organizers—the NFL itself—will produce a smash hit (or a few). It remains to be seen from what decade those hits will hail.