Bootylicious Super Bowl with Beyonce at Half Time

There's no doubt, after watching Beyonce's Super Bowl performance, that the half-time show is now the gay-time show. And that, despite a bit less grandeur of production, Beyonce's performance was more solid than Madonna's fabulous but flawed one in 2012. Still, gay-fave divas rule as far as I'm concerned, and bring a new consumerist audience in, at least for half-time.

It's just that I'm not that into American football; a big bore in my humble opinion. But it is distinctly a homoerotic sport as it's such a tactile one. All that huddling, the body slamming, the tackling, passing the ball between opened thighs and all those tight ends (as Destiny's Child would put it: "Bootylicious")! The closest thing you can get to gay porn in the world of sports, and we don't even have the locker room shots! I love the clinging pants but frown on the helmets and shoulder pads. As Joan Rivers said, "The Super Bowl reminds me of Dynasty. It’s a bunch of very wealthy people trying to outmaneuver each other in big shoulder pads." I also don't get the premise of getting a ball (not ball-shaped at all) from one part of the field to another. So what? Maybe they should play in the nude. Wouldn't that be fun! Then we could see who was really excited about his game. Also, isn't it kind of sexist -- and have you ever noticed -- that all the team members are men?

Divas were also brought to the fore, however, prior to the manly sport. Alicia Keys did a wonderful job singing the national anthem on piano, right after a very touching "America, the Beautiful" rendered by Jennifer Hudson and the kids from Sandy Hook Elementary School. And if that was a wise public relations move for the nation and proposed gun control, the half-time show was equally that for Beyonce in the wake of her lip-synch mini-scandal at the President's Inauguration.

Beyonce sung live and powerfully at Super Bowl, like her career and reputation depended on it. Which it did. She made her diva entrance to the stage on a rising platform amid a flurry of pyrotechnics, wearing a power outfit of black leather. The stage looked positively dangerous amid explosions, flares, smoke and flaming sculptures. This is when it pays to know your choreography and hit your mark or risk disaster (like fourth-degree burns).

The diva went through a medley of hits, including "Love on Top," "Crazy in Love," "Baby Boy" and "End of Time" with outstanding vocal intensity as she danced. Yes, she actually danced and sang live at the same time, just like in the old days!

She was later joined by her Destiny's Child co-divas, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams (equally in black, and leather-clad to one degree or another), for "Bootylicious," "Independent Women" and Beyone's single, "Single Ladies." They eschewed "Bills, Bills, Bills," perhaps because it wouldn't delight the American public during the current economy.

Beyonce closed solo with the ballad, "Halo" -- a wise choice to end on something soft and sweet. 

Before Super Bowl, a cheeky reporter (regarding the Inauguration) asked Beyonce: "Did any sound come out of your vocal cords?" Looking forward to her half-time show, the diva stated: "I will absolutely be singing live. I am well-rehearsed. This is what I was born to do."

And to think, the half-time show used to consist solely of some marching band from Wherever, USA. Well, dance-floor divas trump John Philip Sousa every time in 2013. And Beyonce trumped Madonna, too. Hoorah and siss-boom-bah for Super Bowl's gay half-time show!

Siss-boom-bahhhhhh!