GAME TIME

This year’s Super Bowl took place in Miami Gardens, Florida on February 2nd, a couple of months before the world shut down for the foreseeable future—and while most of the nine-figure audience were focused on the result of the game, a certain bassist was paying attention to the half-time show. Readers familiar with the annual football event won’t need to be told how massive it is, so much so in fact that the halftime performance has passed into popular culture as a celebratory event of its own. Name a stadium-sized band, and they’ve probably played the Super Bowl at some point.

This year the show featured two headliners, Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, and the musician entrusted with getting the music for their 15-minute performance right was Adam Blackstone, whose job as Shakira’s bassist was essentially his easiest role on the day. An accomplished MD with previous form at the Super Bowl with Justin Timberlake’s appearance in 2018, Blackstone was nominated for an Emmy