How would you like to see Van Halen play halftime at Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans?
Though we hadn't heard of any rumors of the rock legends doing the February 2013 game, frontman David Lee Roth was compelled to write an open letter to fans addressing the "now-rampant" talk.
"First of all let me say this -- be still my pigskin heart. That honor has not been bestowed upon us at this time though it is one we would accept in a NY minute," Roth wrote, via Rolling Stone.
"Van Halen's collective memories are -- and with all due respect to each and every one of these memories, teeming with been-theres and done-that's, but none include playing at the Super Bowl. Playing at the Super Bowl is a veritable holy grail of musical recognition, a highly prized rite of passage for (game-changing) artists. Not a spiritual rite with snake pits or Hebrew school or anything, but it's up there."
"We are not on Commissioner Goodell's dance card at this time, but we would be most honored to dance the halftime away in New Orleans."
Back in February, I broke down a list of candidates who could play the event. I dismissed Van Halen unless they proved they could make it through an upcoming reunion tour without killing each other. True to form, the band canceled an entire leg of shows amid rumors of in-fighting.
The NFL has gotten away from the classic-rock acts that dominated the century's first decade of halftime shows, with the Black Eyed Peas and Madonna playing the last two Super Bowls. Van Halen wouldn't exactly be well-received by the 30-and-under set, but there are worse things in life than Eddie Van Halen playing "Eruption" for 110 million people.
