Review: First-ever World Cup final halftime show is an outright winner

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The 2026 FIFA World Cup final halftime show could have been a world-class mess.

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There was just so much to balance — most notably, an overstocked lineup of megastars with accompanying mega-egos — in such a short amount of time. How in the world could organizers make this blockbuster event — with Madonna, BTS, Justin Bieber, Shakira and others — manage to feel cohesive and purposeful in just 11 minutes on Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Factor in that it had never been done before and the odds against pulling this off seemed to absolutely skyrocket.

And yet the first-ever World Cup Final Halftime Show turned out to be an absolute hit, easily clearing whatever reasonable bars one might have set for its success. The performance moved smoothly along at a breakneck pace, evenly showcasing each of the big stars, while still managing to feel like a cohesive performance as opposed to just a series of snippets sewn together.

Credit so much of that to making the right hire — Hamish Hamilton — who served as director for the show just like he has for every single Super Bowl halftime gig since 2010. He’s been in the captain’s seat for all the successes and failures of those halftime shows — which, besides the Olympics ceremonies, might be the only truly comparable events to what was seen on Sunday — and he knows what has scored or sailed wide right with fans of the “other football.”

Also, Chris Martin of Coldplay — who has heavily involved with the star-studded Super Bowl 50 Halftime Show at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara — reportedly oversaw the bookings and was able to help pull together a nice mix of musicians and styles. Sure, it would have been great to bring in another big-time Latin star, given the significance of the sport in Latin-speaking communities throughout North America. In that regard, I would have particularly liked to have seen a Mexican artist, given that some of these World Cup games were being played in that country. Yet, if you’re only going to book just one Latin artist then Shakira — the undisputed Queen of the World Cup — was definitely the right choice.

The 11-minute performance kicked off with the biggest icon of the bunch — Madonna — which felt like a highly appropriate choice given her nearly-unmatched status in pop music history. She was grooving out of sight of the crowd in attendance, alongside a DJ and some colorful dancers, before boarding a huge jeep-like vehicle — which looked right out of an apocalyptical “Mad Max” movie, only if it was being shot in Ibiza instead of the Australian Outback — as she belted out the 2000 dance-pop anthem “Music.”

Madonna eventually emerged from a tunnel in the stadium and out onto the field, flanked on each side by Brazilian soccer legends Ronaldo and Ronaldinho.

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From there, the hugely recognizable groove of the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” — which has been almost as big a part of professional sporting events over the last 20 years as overpriced nachos — boomed out to the crowd. Famed classical musical conductor Gustavo Dudamel — wearing a Dudamel 1 jersey — took the reigns, directing a large-scale musical ensemble that included the Muppets’ famed Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem Band.

And, as he often does, Animal pretty much stole the show on drums.

Then BTS, which sold out three nights at Stanford Stadium earlier this year, took over the field — to the delight of the millions of BTS Army members around the globe — and the K-pop superstars proceeded to dance and sing their way through an explosive “Dynamite.”

As BTS boogied to a close, it was now time to call in a true ace to the field. But who would be the right person to make the call on who to bring in? Better call Ted Lasso — aka, actor Jason Sudeikis, who is known for playing the title role as the soccer coach on the hit TV series “Ted Lasso.” Lasso — um, we mean, Sudeikis — made the call to bring in Justin Bieber for what would arguably be the best part of the show.

While everyone else championed upbeat, body-rocking dance music, the Biebs went the complete opposite director and managed to charm the tens of thousands in the house — as well an estimated global TV audience of 1.5 billion — with just his voice and acoustic guitar on the beautiful ballad “Everything Hallelujah.”

That left just the World Cup’s favorite artist — the one and only Shakira — to embrace the final spotlight. The Colombian powerhouse, who has now made a record-setting fourth appearance at this global tournament that happens every four years, was joined by Nigerian singer Burna Boy on a strong version of “Dai Dai” (translation: “Come on, come on”).

As the Shakira segment came to a close, the camera zoomed back to an all-star finale — featuring Coldplay’s Chris Martin, a children’s choir, most (if not all) of the stars who had already made an appearance and even more Muppets, including Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy. Dudamel was once again directing traffic as the voices joined together on a memorable closing rendition of Coldplay’s “Believe In Love.”

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