Courtesy of Marco Rocabado

Who would have thought being a bush was such a coveted role?

Bad Bunny’s halftime performance at the Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara was widely praised for being a cultural milestone but also led to criticism for being in Spanish with a focus on Puerto Rican culture. It was watched by roughly 128 million people worldwide.

Playing a small part in it was senior Marco Rocabado. His role: He was one of the bushes featured in the show, as part of the set, that were actually people. 

Rocabado said he heard about the opportunity from a friend and decided to audition.

“I’m a huge fan of Bad Bunny,” he told The Falcon. “Especially this past year, I really got into him. I’m proud to say I was a top 0.5% listener on Spotify last year.” 

Rocabado admits that if it wasn’t for Bad Bunny, he probably wouldn’t have auditioned to be part of the performance. 

The requirements for those who wanted to audition was to be between 5 feet 7 inches and 6 feet tall, 18 to 24 years old and to have marching band experience. 

Rocabado wrote in his application about his experience pushing large instruments into stadiums, such as at the SoFi Stadium and the University of Dayton arena as part of the front ensemble in percussion. Despite being 17, he applied anyway and still got the part.

Rocabado had no idea what he was signing up for and had actually thought that he was going to be moving equipment. The performers weren’t told what they were going to do until the second rehearsal.

“In the first rehearsal, we were joking, ‘What if we’re trees?’ The director was being very secretive but it ended up being true,” Rocabado said.

The process was extremely secretive, and Rocabado was required to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Phones were put in pouches during rehearsals and some members were dismissed for posting about being in the show on social media.

The seven rehearsals took place sporadically over the course of two weeks on the soccer field next to Levi’s Stadium under a big tent. Just like marching band rehearsals, these rehearsals often lasted around eight hours or more. 

“I got barely any homework done that week,” he said. “I had a lot of late nights and I still had winter percussion. I did have to miss some winter percussion rehearsals and a performance, but luckily, it wasn’t a competition.” 

Rocabado was paid minimum wage, $16.90 per hour, but he noted that most of the time was spent waiting for people to get fitted and getting to their positions. Wearing the costume ended up being one of the hardest parts of the job. Rocabado described the bush costume as being 40 pounds, with the weight falling on performers’ shoulders. As such, they only did a few run-throughs in costume. 

On the day of the game, they had to arrive at 8:30 a.m. and a bus took them to the stadium from San Jose State University. 

One of the coolest parts of being a part of the halftime show for Rocabado was being able to see behind the scenes — watching creative directors blocking the camera movement and getting to hear the radio cues. He recalls seeing the iconic Bay Area band Green Day warm up in the days before the Super Bowl (they played before the game). Unfortunately, Rocabado didn’t get to interact with the singer himself, as a friend of Bad Bunny was the stand in during rehearsals rather than the star himself.

“[The whole process] was kind of surreal. I think the best part wasn’t even the actual show,” Rocabado said. “It was the rehearsals, especially like the first rehearsal, when Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin were there. The first time [Ricky Martin] sang that part, I got chills because it was kind of crazy.”

Despite the time commitment, Rocabado said, “I would do it again if it was another artist that I really loved. Maybe in college, if I have more of a flexible schedule.”