Before Super Bowl LIX, a look back on halftime shows with Lancaster County ties

This year, Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar will perform the Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show.

But before Lamar takes the stage, take a look back at halftime performances — and their local connections — of years past. 

Two Lancaster County-based companies, Tait in Lititz and Atomic in Warwick Township, have worked behind the scenes for previous Super Bowls.

Both are live entertainment companies that aid in planning, coordinating and executing plans for events of all sizes.

Tori Hartman, global marketing manager with Tait, says that Tait won't be helping with the Super Bowl this year. Atomic did not respond to inquiries about the Super Bowl.

Here are previous Super Bowl events that Lancaster County-based companies have had a hand in.

READ: 7 projects Tait worked on in 2024, from Sabrina Carpenter's latest tour to LA Lakers' pre-show

2023: Rihanna

In 2023, pop superstar Rihanna sang while suspended on floating platforms. She was the first performer to headline the Super Bowl halftime show while pregnant.

Workers at Tait built the floating platforms and coordinated the rigging to keep the platforms in place. Tait also assisted with two cameras, which showed the opening of the halftime show, as well as the fireworks after Rihanna's closing song, "Diamonds."

Rock Lititz-based companies Clair Global and 4Wall Entertainment also worked on the Super Bowl, according to previous reporting from LNP|LancasterOnline.

2022: A tribute to Compton

Many rap and hip-hop performers, such as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar (who is coming to Hershey this summer) and Eminem, performed for the Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show.

Atomic, an entertainment design company based in Warwick Township, was responsible for getting the football field to look like a nighttime aerial view of Compton with LED lights.

They used more than 31,000 square feet of printed fabric to create a field cover. Atomic's team then sewed more than 16,000 individually controlled LED lights into the fabric, says James Rogers, Atomic's program manager, in an interview with LNP | LancasterOnline.

In addition to the on-screen entertainment, Greg Swartz, a director from central Pennsylvania who lived much of his life in Lancaster, directed The Botanist gin's first television commercial, which premiered during Super Bowl LVI.

2021: The Weeknd

The Super Bowl LV halftime show featured a performance from pop/R&B singer-songwriter The Weeknd.

Tait created "17 custom-built 3D buildings, designed to integrate with 2D light boxes to give the impression of a living, breathing city The Weeknd could walk through," says Tori Hartman, global marketing manager for Tait.

Atomic and Tait collaborated for the paints and textures for the buildings, too.

Tait also worked with All Access, an entertainment company based out of Los Angeles, to make a "breathtaking mirrored infinity room," with Tait providing LED signing, Hartman says.

Honorable mention 

While it wasn't a Super Bowl halftime show, Tait did have a hand in the NFL GameDay event on Christmas Day, featuring a performance from Beyonce. The superstar performed at halftime during the  Houston Texans vs. Baltimore Ravens game.

When Beyonce and Post Malone sang "Levii's Jeans," there was a jean-covered truck in the background. Tait's Lititz team sewed the jeans for the truck, which in a social media post it playfully called the "jruck."

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