Maroon 5, Travis Scott and Big Boi rock out the Super Bowl LIII halftime show
This year's performance at the big game has courted controversy for months.
Maroon 5, Travis Scott and Atlanta native Big Boi rocked out the Mercedes Benz Stadium Sunday night during the Super Bowl LIII halftime show, performing a string of smash hits.
Maroon 5 opened the show with a mashup of some of their older fan-favorites including "Harder to Breathe" and "This Love."
With an introduction from the beloved animated character Spongebob, Travis Scott then took the stage, rocking out the stadium with his single "Sicko Mode."
Spongebob made a cameo at the Super Bowl this year after over 1 million people signed a change.org petition for "Sweet Victory," a song from the hit show, to be performed at the halftime show this year as a tribute to Stephen Hillenburg, the late creator of SpongeBob SquarePants who passed away late last year.
Big Boi eventually emerged, decked out in a fur coat, to perform his hit "The Way You Move" in his hometown.
The performance featured a drum line and at one point even a gospel choir.
When Maroon 5 performed their 2004 hit, "She Will Be Loved," audience members participated by letting lanterns loose in the stadium with messages of encouragement penned on the sides such as "Smile" and "Love."
Shortly after the performance, Maroon 5 posted on Instagram the entire list of words featured on the lanterns, which Levine said he penned himself.
"When we accepted the responsibility to perform at the SBHTS, I took out my pen and just wrote," the post stated. "Some of the words that came to me in that moment eventually made their way onto the incredible lanterns that flew high and low tonight. We thank the universe for this historic opportunity to play on the world’s biggest stage. We thank our fans for making our dreams possible. And we thank our critics for always pushing us to do better. One Love."
Maroon 5 eventually closed out the show with their hit, "Moves Like Jagger," during which the band's frontman Adam Levine ripped off his shirt to a roaring audience as flames emerged behind him.
Once a coveted gig by major musicians, this year's halftime show has courted controversy for months after many big acts reportedly turned down the opportunity to perform in protest over the NFL's handling of former player Colin Kaepernick.
Kaepernick, who was previously a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, protested racial injustice in the U.S. by kneeling during the national anthem before football games. He has not been signed to an NFL team since 2017. Kaepernick filed a grievance against the NFL in October of 2018, alleging that NFL team owners colluded to keep him out of the league because of his protests.
That case is still pending