RIP Tina Turner; Remembering Her Super Bowl Pregame Show Before Rams' Win
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Super Bowl XXXIV began and ended with a big hit in Atlanta.
The Los Angeles Rams franchise's first Super Bowl victory, coming in their St. Louis identity after the 1999-00 season, is best remembered for Mike Jones' takedown of receiver Tennessee Titans Kevin Dyson one yard short of a potential game-tying or winning touchdown as time expired in the 23-16 victory. It was the completion of the Rams' unlikely championship run, a title trek headlined by offensive superstars Isaac Bruce, Marshall Faulk, Torry Holt, and NFL/Super Bowl MVP Kurt Warner.
Seeing as the Rams were the first to lift a Vince Lombardi Trophy in the new century, the accompanying musical acts featured just as much as St. Louis and Tennessee's lineups did, if not more.
Among the Rams and Titans, for example, stood a queen.
The prologue to the Rams' Super Bowl victory was a performance from multi-genre recording artist Tina Turner, who passed away this week from a long illness at the age of 83. Turner was the headliner of a Super Bowl pregame show entitled "The Great American Music of the 20th Century," belting her well-known singles "When the Heartache is Over" and "Proud Mary" prior to kickoff at the Georgia Dome.
Turner is one of the best-selling recording artists of all time and made her mark in the realms of music, film, and writing. She previously lived and worked in Los Angeles and, like the Rams, ironically built victorious endeavors in both Southern California and the Gateway City: she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1986 and St. Louis' equivalent in 1991, as the early stages of her singing career were spent in the latter city when she moved there from, in even further irony, her birth state of Tennessee.
Turner admitted in a pregame conference that he had to be "true to ... where (she) was raised" and thus pulled for the AFC champion Titans in the Big Game. Performing on one of the biggest stages in the world also afforded her a chance to express her gratitude and joy for the experience of playing in sold-out stadiums.
"I went from being a bit nervous to (excited)," Turner said. "I didn't know what it'd be like to work for so many people once I started to work the stadiums. When I entered the stage, there was such a welcome. It became fun because I felt like I wasn't there being criticized. They were actually there welcoming me, applauding me in some kind of way. As the years have gone by, it's really gotten be really exciting and kind of a reunion, my performances."
At the time, Turner was set to embark on the worldwide Twenty-Four Seven Tour, which was said to be her final headlining appearance though she returned eight years later with a 50th-anniversary tour.
Joining Turner on the Super Bowl stage was country singer Travis Tritt as well as the Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket Marching Band and the Georgia Mass Choir. Elsewhere in the musical proceedings, Faith Hill sang the national anthem before Christina Aguilera, Toni Braxton, Phil Collins, and Enrique Iglesias headlined a halftime show produced by Disney.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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