Apparently the only live element of the performance was the Boss‘ vocals, while the music was laid down ahead of time.
“The Super Bowl performances are all on tape,” producer of Super Bowl pre-game entertainment Hank Neuberger told the Chicago Tribune.
“There is no way you can set up a full band in five minutes with microphones, get all the settings right, and expect to get quality sound,” he said. “The Super Bowl has been doing that for years with virtually all the bands.”
Yeah, I could tell the boss wasn’t really strumming the guitar in time with the music.
That said, who cares? He’s up there, he’s doing his thing after a cursory setup. Same thing with all the musicians in inauguration. They played the music previously and, as a musician I can vouch for this, it’s damn hard to sound good in the biting cold and a stiff breeze!