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Don't bet on Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl, says her producer Terry Lewis

The Grammy-winning producer-songwriter also explains the non-Minnesota acts at Super Bowl Live.

January 29, 2018 at 8:46PM
Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam announced the acts for Super Bowl Live on Dec. 1 of last year.
Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam announced the acts for Super Bowl Live on Dec. 1 of last year. (Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam announced the acts for Super Bowl Live on Dec. 1 of last year.
Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam (Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Will we see Janet Jackson in Minneapolis during Super Bowl festivities?

After all, Minneapolis is her adopted second hometown because of all the time she spent here writing and recording with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. And Jam and Lewis are here helming Super Bowl Live on the Nicollet Mall.

And Justin Timberlake will be here, doing the halftime show at the Super Bowl. Maybe Jackson will want to do a make-good for their wardrobe malfunction mishap at the 2004 Super Bowl.

Will Janet be here?

"I wouldn't bet on it," says Lewis. "I don't know if she likes football that much. But you never know when she's going to stop by."

Lewis also talked about Super Bowl Live, the daily series of outdoor concerts.

"We were originally supposed to get eight acts," he said. "We ended up with like 40. We wanted to make it richer."

The approach of Jam and Lewis was to book acts with Minnesota connections. They booked everyone from the Jayhawks to the Jets plus many Prince-associated acts including Sheila E., Andre Cymone and the Revolution. The performers span a wide range of genres from hip-hop and punk to country and gospel.

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The Super Bowl Live lineup includes a handful of artists not connected to the Twin Cities, namely Skylar Grey, X Ambassadors and Rae Sremmurd.

Said Lewis: "They were brought to the table by Verizon," the corporate sponsor for the stage for Super Bowl Live concerts.

Speaking of the stage, it's rather small, which makes it a challenge when promoters are presenting multiple acts per day. The stage has no depth, meaning there is no space to stack the musical equipment for the next band. Hence, changing over from band to band can be time-consuming.

Said Lewis: "We just booked the acts."

about the writer

about the writer

Jon Bream

Critic / Reporter

Jon Bream has been a music critic at the Star Tribune since 1975, making him the longest tenured pop critic at a U.S. daily newspaper. He has attended more than 8,000 concerts and written four books (on Prince, Led Zeppelin, Neil Diamond and Bob Dylan). Thus far, he has ignored readers’ suggestions that he take a music-appreciation class.

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