The Best Anthem And Halftime Performers

Coming up this weekend is the Big Game (you know the one). For football fanatics, it's one of the biggest days of the season, but you don't have to love football to enjoy the day.

This year may or may not be as exciting, especially without the over-the-top commercials or the fact the Packers aren’t playing it (#SorryNotSorry #ShamelessWisconsinitePlug), but for as long as the Big Game has been around, it's kicked off with a performance of the National Anthem and an epic musical performance halftime show. Did you know in the early days, both the national anthem and the halftime show were performed by marching bands? Since the late 80s, however, both the anthem and halftime show have been performed by bigger and bigger musical acts as part of the overall experience. 

And well, that got us thinking. Since we're known for our musical acts, how many Big Gig headliners have also performed at the Big Game?

Curiosity got the best of us, so we headed to the Summerfest Vault for the master-lineup document we use to keep track of all the artists that have played the festival. We spent one morning doing the tallying. According to our records, 22 National-Anthem-performing performers have also played Summerfest, and 43 different halftime performers have also played our festival. Talk about talent!

We’ve compiled a list below so you can see it for yourself. Artists that have been bolded are Summerfest headliners. You have to admit that this is pretty cool and these are some solid numbers.

Disclaimer: While we haven't had Beyoncé as a solo artist, she did play with Destiny's Child back in 1998 and 2001, so we're counting it.

How about you?
How many of these artists have you seen at Summerfest? Who’s been your favorite Big Game anthem performer? What about your favorite halftime show artist? Let us know, and check out some pictures of these past headliners on our social channels!