Funk legend Bootsy Collins will take the stage on Sunday (Jan. 15) night time to cheer on the Cincinnati Bengals for a halftime efficiency throughout his hometown crew’s battle in opposition to the Baltimore Ravens within the first spherical of the NFL playoffs.
Marking the funketeer’s first public reside efficiency since 2019, the halftime set will characteristic the debut of his new monitor, “The Ickey Shuffle.” The thumping tune is a tribute to legendary Bengals working again Ickey Woods — a beloved late Nineteen Eighties-early Nineties fan favourite finest identified for his iconic finish zone dance of the identical identify — and it showcases Collins’ tune, Ouiwey Collins, on vocals and is accompanied by a high-energy video starring Woods, the Ben-Gals cheerleaders and a few digital tigers.
Collins will unveil the tune at halftime of the sport that begins on NBC at 8:15 p.m. ET, with members of close by Dayton, Ohio’s The Ohio Gamers (“Fireplace,” “Love Rollercoaster”) becoming a member of in on the jam; the efficiency was initially slated to happen through the ill-fated Jan. 2 sport between the Bengals and Buffalo Payments, throughout which Payments participant Damar Hamlin collapsed on the sphere after struggling cardiac arrest.
“We was able to funk it out with the Bengals Who-Dey Child and one thing simply wasn’t proper, every part simply went chaotic,” Collins mentioned of the scotched efficiency in a press release. “I instantly began watching the monitor in my dressing room and seen that stunning younger man on the bottom. Patti my spouse instantly checked out me and I mentioned ‘Patti, God is attempting to inform us that all of us must be On The One proper now’ and she or he agreed. Bless that younger man.” Collins can even play his Bengals pump-up anthem “Worry Da Tiger” throughout halftime.
Bengals followers are invited to create their very own model of the Shuffle, with partial proceeds from the monitor going to the Jovante Woods Basis in honor of Ickey and Chandra Woods’ 16-year-old tune, Jovante, who died in 2010 from problems of an bronchial asthma assault.
Earlier than Woods takes it to the stage, the sport will open with a efficiency of the Nationwide Anthem by a member of the Stranger Issues household. The Bengals announced that Aidan Fisher, the guitar physique double for Joseph Quinn’s Metallica-shredding character Eddie Munson, will shred the Anthem to kick off the wild card sport that marks the third battle between the Ravens and Bengals this season and the follow-up to final week’s Cincinnati victory.
Watch the “Ickey Shuffle” video under.
