Wrapping up their huge Elevation tour in Miami this past weekend (the same city they kicked it off in, several months back), the four gentlemen in U2 have enjoyed huge success this year. Re-earning their rep as the World’s Biggest Band by virtually selling out every single one of their 100+ shows, save a couple US dates at the end, only some sort of magical wizard (or an accountant) could estimate just how many people the band has played in front of this year.

Still, despite packing in stadiums and filling in fields, Spin Magazine’s Band Of The Year has yet to ever play a show of truly epic proportions, a gig so gargantuan that the viewing audience is larger than the combined national populations of entire geographical regions. They’ve had big shows in the past, sure — but they’ve never rocked an entire continent at one time…

Giving more fuel to legions of cynically jaded U2 fans who claim the band has sold out their sociopolitical ideals and fiery passion for the almighty dollar, it has just been announced that the Dublinners will be playing the most commercial of holy grails: the Super Bowl half-time show.

Super Bowl XXXVI will be taking place on Sunday, February 3 from New Orleans’ Louisiana Superdome and is, of course, the highest-rated television show of the year south of the border. It’s estimated that the game will draw an audience of 130 million viewers in the US and some 800 million viewers around the globe.

"800 million viewers around the globe." Think about that.

Presented by the fine folks at E*Trade, the annual Super Bowl half-time shows are often nearly as legendary as the game itself. Last year saw a collaborative performance between Aerosmith, *NSYNC, Britney Spears, Nelly and Mary J. Blige, reportedly causing music critics throughout North America to experience chest pains, nausea and mental anguish. Hopefully, that won’t be the case this year, although no word has surfaced on what sort of set the band will be able to play given time constraints. Look for flag-clutching, triumphant anthems and Bono asking us all to love each other. Just a hunch.

—Erik Missio