Noel Gallagher has criticized Kendrick Lamar’s Superbowl performance, calling it “absolute nonsense”. On Sunday, Kendrick became the first solo rapper to headline the prestigious halftime show. But Noel wasn’t a fan – in an interview with Talk Sport, he commented: “I had to switch it off. It was absolute nonsense.”
When hosts Andy Goldstein and Darren Bent asked what he didn’t like about Lamar’s set, Gallagher said: “I didn’t watch it all, I just switched it off. There was like 300 people getting out of a car in the first two minutes”.
He carried on, saying: “But no I don’t like the halftime nonsense, it’s usually artists I don’t like.” When asked about his favourite past Super Bowl Halftime performances, Gallagher voiced his aversion for the show, saying: “I never watch it, I’m not interested it.”
Noel has been known to have a patchy relationship with hip-hop – when Jay-Z was announced as a headliner for Glastonbury 2008, he staunchly stood against it, saying: “I’m not having hip-hop at Glastonbury, it’s wrong.” Jay-Z hilariously responded in his set at the Pyramid Stage, miming to the Oasis hit ‘Wonderwall’ as his introduction.
When Kanye West headlined the festival in 2015, Noel slightly changed his tune, saying what he saw of Kanye’s set was “f***ing amazing”. In the same interview with NME, he said “I thought for half an hour it was f**king outrageous. It looked amazing on my iPad, I have to say,”
He continued: “Then, like most hip-hop gigs, after 45 minutes you’re going, ‘I want something else now’. But for half an hour it was as f**king good as it gets.”
In a recent feature for Far Out magazine, he shared praise for old-school artists like LL Cool J, Eric B & Rakim and Public Enemy, who he called “inspirational”. He told Portland Mercury in 2012 that “Nobody will ever be as good as Public Enemy or the Beastie Boys.”
Kendrick’s Superbowl set saw him include songs from his latest album ‘GNX’ like ‘peekabo’ and ‘TV Off’, older hits like ‘HUMBLE’, and his famed diss track for Drake, ‘Not Like Us’. He also brought some guests with him – SZA joined to sing ‘All The Stars’ and ‘Luther’, while Samuel L Jackson made a cameo as ‘Uncle Sam’ and Serena Williams was seen crip-walking on a podium.
@now Did you notice the call out? Because we did #kendrick #kendricklamar #kendricklamaredit #kendricklamarfan #notlikeus #notlikeuskendrick #sza #szasos #szaedit #allthestars #superbowlhalftimeshow #halftimeshow #halftimeshow2025 #superbowlhalftimeshow2025 #samuelljackson ♬ original sound – NOW
Critics have given high praise to the Superbowl performance, while some reviewers and fans haven’t shared the hype for Lamar’s show, slamming it as “boring”. The Guardian called it an “uneven but ambitious set that was arguably the most esoteric in the Super Bowl’s history, perhaps at the expense of landing a knockout blow.”
Surely Kendrick won’t mind the mixed opinions – since the performance, his streaming numbers have taken a big boost. His Spotify streams have seen an overall jump by 175 percent, with ‘Not Like Us’ seeing a massive increase in streams, by 430 percent. He’s also set a new milestone as the rapper with the highest monthly listeners in Spotify history – a record previously held by rival, Drake.
Both Kendrick Lamar and SZA are setting out on tour this year, and recently announced UK and European dates that will see them take over stadiums in cities like Glasgow, Cardiff, Birmingham, London and more. Tickets can be accessed here.
