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Lance Bass Recalls 'N Sync's 2001 Super Bowl Performance & Scary Near Death Experience

By Alyssa Ray Jan 22, 2020 7:38 PMTags

The Super Bowl is less than two weeks away!

So, it wasn't surprising when Lance Bass got nostalgic about his own Super Bowl halftime performance during his Wednesday morning visit to Pop of the Morning. As E! readers surely recall, Bass participated in the 2001 halftime show alongside his then-boy band 'N Sync, Aerosmith and notable guest stars.

"I mean, as an artist, it's your dream. You know?" Bass reflected to Pop of the Morning co-hosts Lilliana Vazquez and Scott Tweedie. "There's those stages that you want to hit and Super Bowl is the ultimate, because there's billions of people watching you around the world."

In fact, as the "Bye Bye Bye" artist noted, the Super Bowl halftime show has the ability to "explode someone's career."

"You think your career is at a certain level, but then you do the Super Bowl and then it just becomes another ginormous…It's insane!" Bass added.

Of course, it helped that the '01 halftime show had so many big names onstage. We're, obviously, talking about Britney Spears, Nelly and Mary J. Blige's guest appearances.

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"I think that might've been, maybe, the first time they did that with so many artists," the chart topper reflected. "You know, it was the first year that MTV took over and did the halftime show. So, they had the idea of putting 'N Sync and Aerosmith together—'cause, of course, we're exactly the same type of band."

Nonetheless, Bass said he had been "excited about" performing alongside Aerosmith as they're his "favorite band of all time." Still, the performance was rounded out by the addition of Spears, Nelly and Blige.

"I thought it was just so epic," Bass expressed.

Watch: Lance Bass & Michael Turchin's Plan For Their First Child

Per Bass, the famed boy band and the rock legends "probably put this together in a couple of days." While Bass assured Vazquez and Tweedie that they already knew the choreography, he made it known that the performance wasn't without some hiccups.

Apparently, during one rehearsal, some poorly timed pyrotechnics almost took out the beloved boybander.

"So, I'm being trampled by all the fans and then I get up to the stage, and they use a lot of pyro. The pyro blows up right in front of me. It almost blew me up," the "Tearin' Up My Heart" singer detailed. "I had like singed hair and everything…I was on stage in rehearsal and I didn't even do a dance move, I was so upset."

To be fair, as Bass said himself, they almost "killed" him.

For all of this and more, including Bass' predictions for the Super Bowl LIV halftime show, be sure to watch the clip above!

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