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| Date | February 5, 2017 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Location | Houston, Texas | |||
| Venue | NRG Stadium | |||
| Headliner | Lady Gaga | |||
| Sponsor | Pepsi Zero Sugar | |||
| Director | Hamish Hamilton | |||
| Producer | Ricky Kirshner | |||
| Super Bowl halftime show chronology | ||||
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The Super Bowl LI Halftime show took place on February 5, 2017, at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, as part of Super Bowl LI. Lady Gaga headlined the show, with no special guests (the first overall solo-headlined show since the 2010 edition and the first female solo-headlined show without special guests since the 1996 edition), performing a medley of her songs, including material from her then-most recent studio album, Joanne (2016). It is currently the most nominated Super Bowl halftime show in Emmy Awards history, winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lighting Design / Lighting Direction for a Variety Special.
Gaga began rehearsing for the show in January 2017. Her sister gave her the idea of performing from atop the NRG Stadium; Gaga worked on the logistics behind it. She promoted the performance by uploading short clips on her social media accounts. Fashion house Versace created the wardrobe for the show, while designers Bruce Rodgers and LeRoy Bennett did the show's production work with lighting designer Bob Barnhart. The stage was created by All Access Staging & Productions, which had also created previous Super Bowl halftime stages. During the introduction scene, Gaga was accompanied by a fleet of 300 drones, which formed an image of the American flag behind her. It marked the first time the drones had been used as part of a television broadcast.
The show was noted for its acknowledgment of the LGBT community, the perceived political undertones, and the technical achievement of the use of drones. It received critical acclaim, with media outlets praising Gaga for demonstrating artistic and musical qualities while citing it as one of the top Super Bowl halftime performances ever. With 117.5 million television viewers, it was the fourth most-watched Super Bowl halftime show after the halftime shows during Super Bowl XLIX, Super Bowl LVII and Super Bowl LVIII, and had higher average viewership than the game itself. Gaga's music catalog benefited from the performance, with sales growth for all her records. The song "Million Reasons" from Joanne, which was part of the set list, consequently became her 14th top-ten single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.