While I was excited to see the Carolina Panthers outplay the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl last night (which, sadly didn’t come close to happening), there was something more important on my mind. Not food, not commercials, but none other than British alt-rock band Coldplay. To state the obvious, I’m a huge Coldplay fan, so I was excited to see the band perform a 13-minute mini concert during the halftime show for Super Bowl 50 alongside previous halftime performers Beyonce and Bruno Mars.

I wholeheartedly watched the halftime show — unlike the lackluster game — and waited for the end of it to check what Twitter had to say. I had already heard some criticism of Coldplay as a headlining choice in the weeks before the Super Bowl, so I wasn’t too shocked to see that the tweets on my timeline called the band almost every derivative of boring and uncool there is. (Some even compared Coldplay lead vocalist Chris Martin to Left Shark, whose out-of-step dancing famously upstaged Katy Perry at last year’s halftime show.) I was shocked, though, by those who said Beyonce stole the show with her minute-and-a-half performance of the newly released “Formation.”

Now, don’t get me wrong — I’m also a huge Beyonce fan. I think her self-titled album is one of the best post-2000 albums ever released. I don’t dispute the importance of “Formation,” both as a pop culture phenomenon and as a pro-black anthem. (The Black Panther outfits for Beyonce’s dancers were an especially nice touch in keeping with the song’s message.) And, I enjoyed her performance a lot.

But Coldplay.

Even though Beyonce and Bruno Mars — who performed a stellar rendition of “Uptown Funk,” one of the best songs of 2015, with Mark Ronson — completely brought it on stage, and gave the show some pop relevance, Coldplay did more than its job onstage and held the show together.

After the announcement that Coldplay would be headlining the halftime show, I wasn’t just excited about my favorite band playing on the biggest live TV event ever. I was also glad the halftime show was going back to the rock era of 2005-10. Coldplay, a rock band, seemed more fitting to play the halftime show of the largest American sporting event than a pop princess like Rihanna.

Throughout the performance, Coldplay didn’t need to add much spectacle, which was one of the beauties of its halftime show. It didn’t feel like performing at the Super Bowl was something too different for Coldplay — the show just seemed like an amped up Coldplay concert. The fans around the stage made it seem more live, the violinists added a nice performance aspect, and the lotus flowers created a colorful visual to go with the performance, but that was all the band really needed to shine.

The pre-Mars/Beyonce setlist was a smart move on Coldplay’s part, too, as the band reminded the audience of its relevance. I like to imagine a good amount of middle-aged men were stuck thinking, “Now, where have I heard that?” after Martin sang the opening lyrics to “Yellow” before launching into “Viva La Vida,” Coldplay’s most popular song.

The tribute that ensued after the dance-off between Beyonce and Mars led to the show’s highest point, though. After hearing Bruce Springsteen’s voice against the piano riff from “Clocks,” I had chills, and those continued throughout the next three minutes. The archived footage paid a nice tribute to past Super Bowl performers, especially the departed ones for whom Martin sang a beautiful medley of “Fix You,” U2’s “Beautiful Day” and Prince and The Revolution’s “Purple Rain.”

Then, I emotionally lost it. Beyonce and Mars rejoined Coldplay for a group rendition of “Up&Up,” the final track off “A Head Full of Dreams,” which could potentially be the last song Coldplay ever releases. The dynamic during the song was indescribable, and it had me feeling everything from happiness and joy to hope and excitement. I had to keep myself from crying in front of my father, over football nonetheless.

In the end, it doesn’t really matter if Coldplay can hold its own as a band (it can), if Beyonce stole the show with “Formation” (she was awesome and all, but no) or if Chris Martin doesn’t have the best posture (he can work on it). What matters is, Coldplay’s performance (hopefully) made you feel something positive. During a time of such social turmoil, particularly in the U.S., having a stadium full of people sing, “We’re going to get it, get it together right now” and colorfully spell out “Believe In Love” in the stands seemed to more important than football could ever be.

Senior Justin Curto is an avid music lover whose tastes range from alternative rock to dance pop. He enjoys supporting the Kansas City music scene by listening longer to 96.5 The Buzz, rocking out to local music and seeing artists live at his favorite venues in the area.