Only want to see you laughing...

With all this Superbowl talk over the last week, I thought it might be a good time to share my favourite Superbowl performance - which, you will no doubt be shocked to learn, was in 2007 when Prince performed, 100% live, in the pouring rain.

I know it's cheating a little, because technically this was not a live event I attended, but, well, it's my blog and I make the rules :)

I love this performance because it demonstrates an artist truly playing to his audience - and a Superbowl audience is tricky for any performer, because the vast majority are there predominantly to watch football. The half-time show is generally just an added bonus.

So the demographic is broad enough in the stadium itself, let alone across the globe on TV and Internet.

In this performance, Prince mixed in some of his own songs with classics such as "Proud Mary" and "All Along The Watchtower", as well as the more contemporary Foo Fighters' hit, "Best Of You".

The finale was of course his signature song, "Purple Rain", made all the more poignant by the rain that was steadily coming down by the end.

As I understand it, the organisers had a contingency planned in case of rain, which involved making use of giant TV screens to display a pre-recorded show, but Prince wouldn't hear of it, so they all apparently put sandpaper on their shoes to stop from slipping on the famous symbol stage, fired up the lights and got on with the show...

...in the purple rain.