Its why I've always respected Elton John's work. He will not agree to perform at an event unless he plays live AND he is allowed to have his sound engineer run the boards and set up the equipment. He will not agree to backing tracks and lip syncing. His philosophy is people are paying hard earned money to see him and his band perform so its gonna be good and no corners cut!
Its why he was at one end of the stadium and not the center of the field when he played at the Super Bowl. You can't set up an entire band and get a decent sound if you have to roll everything on and off in under 20 minutes.
Say what you will but he is a professional performer and for that I respect him.
My bad that wasn’t a Super Bowl Halftime show but the Season Opener show in 2004 at Gillette Stadium.
He is exceptionally professional. I also saw Rod Stewart (another wife favorite) in July in Milwaukee, and even though like Elton John he's not a choice of mine, he's an excellent performer and professional. Did everything for the crowd. I was highly amused when at one point during the concert, Rod kicked what seemed like about 100 soccer balls into the audience.
Stevie Nicks, who is one of my favorites, performed before Stewart. Now here's what was really great about that concert. Both performers made short speeches to the audience where they begged the audience (to large applause) to support the troops. Nicks in particular said that since she has no children of her own, she's devoting much of her time to being a mother for service men and women. I do admit to getting choked up at that point.