Monday 13 August 2012

London 2012 Closing Ceremony

After an amazing sixteen days, London 2012 closed emphatically with a three hour closing ceremony which was opened by Emeli Sande singing 'Read all about it' leading to a montage of tabloid-clad dancers and Timothy Spall reciting Tempest as Winston Churchill leading to an electric by Madness  (Our House, Parklife) followed by the Pet Shop Boys and One Direction with all accompanied by theatre group Stomp.

Ray Davies appeared next singing 'Waterloo Sunset' linking to Emeli Sande to continue 'Read
All About it'. The procession of flag bearers filed into the stadium to a rapturous fanfare with the athletes popping through the crowd as Ben Ainslie brings in the Union Flag to the sound of 'Open Arms' by Elbow.

The procession continued to the sound of Elbow singing One Day Like This' with the opening songs on repeat until the end of the procession. 303 blocks were placed in the stadium to represent the 303 events in the games which were accompanied by highlights of some of the events accompanied by Kate Bush.

The final medal ceremony of the games and a long tradition, the Men's Marathon won by Steven Kiprotich (Ugn) with Abel Kirui (Ken) taking the silver and Wilson Kiprotich (Ken) the bronze.

The Medallists depart the podium and 'Imagine' is sung by a choir with a video of the legendary John Lennon singing, really spine-tingling to see and a great way to open the 'Symphony of British Music'

The seats transform into a piano as 'Freedom' is performed by George Michael, nice to see him back  and he ends with 'White Light' as Kaiser Chiefs enter on UK themed motorbikes and singing 'Pinball Wizard' followed by a tribute to British Fashion to the tune of David Bowie's 'Fashion'

Annie Lennox sings 'Little Bird' in what looks like a replica of  Viking Longboat and leaves the stage to rapturous applause while Ed Sheeran appears centre stage singing Pink Floyd's hit 'Wish You Were Here'

Russell Brand as Willy Wonka enters the stage and sings 'Pure Imagination followed by 'I Am The Walrus'. Fatboy Slim's 'Right Here Right Now' plays as the man himself (Norman Cook appears out of a bubble in the Wonkamobile and begins a DJ session of 'Rockerfeller Skank'.

 The bubble seems to have formed into an Octopus and as the music slows down Jessie J appears to sing 'Price Tag' in a 'nude' body stocking and joined by Tinie Tempah who sings 'Written In The Stars' a song which always reminds me of Super Sunday on Sky Sports.

Taio Cruz enters with 'Dynamite and the trio of Jessie, Tinie and Taio sing the Bee Gees classic 'You Should Be Dancing' Surely all male eyes are drawn to Jessie J, the eye candy of the show so far.

Five cabs enter the stadium and out pop the Spice Girls looking as amazing as they sing 'Spice Up Your Life' and really get the crowd going then out pops Liam Gallagher singing the classic 'Wonderwall' accompanied by Beady Eye. The classics keep on coming with Electric Light Orchestra (ELO)'s Mr Blue Sky pumping through the stadium while a cyclist equipped with a propeller rides around the stage and flies off.

A large cannon is lit and 3,2,1, off goes the humans cannonball, or not whoops a misfire as Eric Idle appears to be the poor fella and sings possibly one of the best classics ' Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life' with whimsical whistling and winged nuns. The nuns depart and Legions appear fronted by a Bollywood style dancing crew to send Eric Idle into confusion and to then break into the Robot and get a face full of dust to then resume' Bright Side Of Life' do do do do do do do do which ends with a human cannonball across the stadium safely in the net.

Muse on the piano with 'Survival before bursting into an electric guitar solo which lights up the crowd and a Freddy Mercury video screen appears with him encouraging the crowd making them ready for the legend that is Brian May making amazing sound on the guitar to lead into 'Brighton Rock' and 'We Will Rock You' as Roger Taylor joins to form the Queen duo and the stunning Jessie J reappears to sing and the crowd do their bit to match the superb sound of her voice as she shows why she was chosen to end the 'Symphony of Music'

The concert ends and the serious stuff begins as the Greek anthem plays and the London Welsh Male Voice choir perform the Olympic anthem. The dignitaries appear on stage with Jacques Rogge,Boris Johnson (Mayor of London) and Eduardo Paes (Mayor of Rio) to exchange the Olympic flag and declare Rio the next host city and the Brazilian anthem plays, not one many will know unless you are an F1 fan, Ayrton Senna made it famous for me of course and just like that Brazil becomes the first South American host of the Olympic Games and presents its carnival for the world which to be fair was mediocre.

Jacques Rogge and Lord Coe both give inspiring speeches and hopefully London 2012 will 'inspire a generation'. The Cauldron splits as Take That sing 'Rule The World' and the phoenix above the flame is joined by Darcey Bussell who flies down in her own phoenix to join 200 fellow ballerina and produce a toe-tapping routine as the Olympic flame begins to be extinguished and after three hours finally its THE WHO!

Best way to finish what has been an amazng two weeks with 'Baba O’Riley', 'See Me, Feel Me' 'Listening to You' and the very apt 'My Generation' as the stadium erupts and the fireworks set off.

Paralympics on the 29th next and hopefully it will come close to the history made in these last two weeks.










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