Kelly Rowland
In a revealing black leather jacket and miniskirt combination, Beyonce was surrounded by bursts of fire, smoke and silhouettes as she performed at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. More than 100-million television viewers were tuned in to the NFL championship game between the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens.
The singer called out to the crowd several times during her first songs, Love on Top, Crazy in Love, End of Time and Baby Boy, which emphasised that she was singing live.
On Thursday, Beyonce admitted she sang along with a pre-recorded track of the national anthem at President Barack Obama's inauguration last month.
The lip-synching controversy threatened to derail the pop singer's crafted comeback after giving birth to her first child with rapper and husband Jay-Z in January 2012. Beyonce will also premiere her self-directed documentary, Life is But a Dream, on HBO on February 16.
During Sunday's half-time show, the 31-year-old singer stomped and shook her hips and torso, while a video of her dancing was projected alongside her to give the appearance of a choreographed routine.
Reunited
Beyonce rolled through four songs before Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, the rest of the members from former group Destiny's Child, ascended through trap doors in the stage to sing hits Bootylicious and Independent Woman.
It was the trio's first public performance since 2006. Clad in black leather outfits designed by Rubin Singer, they performed three songs, including Beyonce's hit Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).
Last month, the group released Nuclear, their first song in about a decade.
Beyonce finished with Halo from her 2008 album I Am … Sasha Fierce.
Last year's Super Bowl attracted 111.3-million US viewers, the largest audience for a single TV broadcast in the United States.
Before Sunday's kickoff, singers Alicia Keys and Jennifer Hudson performed.
Hudson performed America the Beautiful with the chorus from Sandy Hook Elementary School, the site of December's mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty children and six adults wtere killed in the massacre.
Keys, wearing a sleeveless maroon dress, played a stripped-down rendition of the Star Spangled Banner at a silver piano atop a small stage at midfield. – Reuters