But What About the Halftime Show?

I enjoy sporting events precisely because they are sporting events, not excuses for what passes for entertainment or art to have the world stage for a few fleeting minutes. They're generally awful, anyway, and can't even be saved by the stray flash of tit here and there. So I tend to pass on things like the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies and focus on the competition itself. Thankfully, the World Cup has avoided such silliness, until 2006. FIFA is staging a grand opening ceremony, to take place before the first match in Germany.

While that sounds like a waste to me, I'm at least intrigued by their choice of artist to run the show: Peter Gabriel. If anybody can do a lavish visual spectacle that actually has some interesting musical bits, it's Gabriel. Hell, it would make the perfect stage for the much talked about Genesis reunion, wouldn't it? But aside from that, I can think of several tunes Gabriel could work into the show: a slightly reworked "Here Comes the Flood (of Goals);" depending on how the minnows are predicted to do, either "Downside Up" or "Mercy Street;" if Freddy Adu makes it into the US squad by Germany, maybe "Growing Up," unless he's having a spat with Bruce Arena, in which case "Come Talk to Me" would be more appropriate. And, of course, the whole thing must end with all the referees lined up for a rousing version of "In Your Eyes."

The soundtrack for the post was provided by, you guessed it, PG's very cool Growing Up Live DVD!