yela

yela
click here

MY MUSIC

Olympics Closing Ceremony: Spice Girls, George Michael + More

With a little British pomp and a lot of British pop, London brought the curtain down on a glorious Olympic Games on Sunday in a spectacular, technicolor pageant of landmarks, lightshows and lots of fun. The closing ceremony offered a ...sensory blast including rock 'n' roll rickshaws, dustbin percussionists, an exploding yellow car and a marching band in red tunics and bearskin hats.
It was all delivered in a psychedelic mashup that had 80,000 fans at Olympic Stadium stomping, cheering and singing along. Organizers estimated 300 million or more were watching around the world. The fun, festive and fast-moving show opened with pop bands Madness, Pet Shop Boys and One Direction, not to mention a shout-out to Winston Churchill and the Union Jack.
There were also monochrome recreations of London landmarks covered in newsprint, from Big Ben's clocktower and Tower Bridge to the London Eye ferris wheel and the chubby highrise known as the Gherkin.
It all spread out across an Olympic Stadium floor arranged to resemble the British flag. Street percussion group Stomp built the noise into a frenzy, and dancers brandished brooms, in a nod to the spontaneous popular movement to clean up London after riots shook neighborhoods not far from Olympic Stadium just a year ago. And there was more to come.
The reunited Spice Girls met in the middle of the stage as passengers in different taxi cabs came together for renditions of "Wannabe" and "Spice Up Your Life." During the latter song, each of the five Spices performed while standing on top of their respective cabs, gripping metal rails for support.
Earlier, Jessie J, Tinie Tempah and Taio Cruz linked up after performing their own respective hit singles ("Price Tag," "Written in the Stars" and "Dynamite") to cover the Bee Gees' classic "You Should Be Dancing." Other highlights included the Kaiser Chiefs covering the Who's "Pinball Wizard," Monty Python comedian Eric Idle trotting out his happy-go-lucky anthem "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life," and Beady Eye, led by former Oasis singer Liam Gallagher, performing that band's 90s touchstone "Wonderwall."
Prince William's wife, Kate, and Prince Harry took seats next to Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee. They sang along to "God Save the Queen."
 But perhaps the best seats in the house were for the 10,800 athletes, who marched in as one, rather than with their nations, symbolizing the harmony and friendship inspired by the games.
As the crowd cheered their heroes and flashbulbs rippled through the stadium, the Olympians cheered back, some carrying national flags, others snapping photographs with smartphones and cameras.
They held hands, embraced and carried each other on their shoulders, finally forming a human mosh pit on the field. The ceremony had something for everyone, from tween girls to 1960s hippies. The face of John Lennon appeared on the stadium floor, assembled by 101 fragments of sculpture, and just as quickly gave way to George Michael.
Muse, Fatboy Slim, and Annie Lennox all performed as well -- the latter while riding aboard a giant wooden ship that glided gracefully across the stage. Queen Elizabeth II, who made a memorable mock parachute entrance at the July 27 opening ceremony, was expected to be on hand.
Eight minutes were turned over to Brazil, host of the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, which promises an explosion of samba, sequins and Latin cool. Following tradition, the mayor of London handed off the Olympic flag off to his Rio counterpart.
 There were also to be speeches by Rogge and London organizing committee chief Sebastian Coe, and the extinguishing of the Olympic flame.
 What a way to end a games far more successful than many Londoners expected. Security woes were overcome, and traffic nightmares never materialized. The weather held up, more or less, and British athletes overachieved.
It all came at a price tag of $14 billion, three times the original estimate. But nobody wanted to spoil the fun with such mundane concerns, at least not on this night.

No comments:

Post a Comment