Miking the World Cup Halftime Show

East Rutherford, NJ (August 5, 2026)—When the World Cup concluded last month with a riveting game between Spain and Argentina at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, it broke with tradition—or started a new one—by holding its first half-time show.

The entertainment lineup reflected the game’s international reach as viewers were treated to performances by artists from around the world, like Madonna, BTS, Burna Boy, Justin Bieber, Coldplay’s Chris Martin and even actor Jason Sudeikis in character as Ted Lasso.

Miking up many of the acts were a bundle of mics and technologies from Shure, as Axient Digital, Axient Digital PSM, ShowLink, and the DCA901 broadcast microphone array were all put to use during the halftime broadcast.

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Supporting the show was Professional Wireless Systems (PWS), which fielded a dozen channels of Shure Axient Digital PSM Digital IEM Systems, as well as ADX microphone transmitters and AD4Q Digital Wireless receivers with Quadversity technology.

The audio team also used eight channels in Quadversity with a Shure ANX4 scalable wireless receiver. The broadcast audio team also used the Shure DCA901 broadcast microphone array to capture immersive stadium audio for the live telecast.

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Tom Holmes, production audio mixer, confirmed, “I used the Shure DCA901 at the Halftime Show, and it gave me eight isolated audio channels from a single microphone location, with steerable lobes that let me remotely shape pickup zones in real time without moving gear around,.”