Highlights: The Who; Queen; Fat Boy Slim's Inflatable Octopus; Stomp; The Kaiser Chiefs; Eric Idle; The LED display.
Lowlights: Pet Shop Boys; That woman with the blonde hair who inexplicably got two songs early on; Ray Davies - Should have gone for something more upbeat than WS; the Brazilians; Ballet bores; The Kate Bush number; having the opening songs played twice; and worst of all Madness - Not only can Suggs not sing a note he couldn't even mumble in tune, it was embarrassing, shocking and a dare say for many people a turn-off.
Things that puzzled me: The Newspaper stuff; Origami hats; The Suffragettes (again).
Thought we might see: David Bowie; Elton John; Rolling Stones; Some famous opera singer I've never heard of; a bright young indie band.
Didn't enjoy that anywhere near as much as the opener, although The Who saved it for me. Didn't have the honesty and integrity. George Michael should not be anywhere near it, and neither should the Kaiser Chiefs, they've done nothing recently. And Liam and Noel should have been told, this is the Olympics, both of you play, or you can eff off. Never mind. It's been brilliant. Been here for a week, way way beyond my highest expectations.
Some good some WTF and who the f++k is that? Strange that Sir Elton or The Rolling stones werent there? even a track etc. They said it would be a "sing-along" to great British music ---not sure that it was.
agree could about the Ukrainin girls could have watched them for a good deal longer and some of the "escorts" to the flag bearers were mor-ish.
The Who as ever were great, Madness were truely awful, don't get Muse at all the guitar player looked like a geography teacher who had been at the dressing up box and last of all will somebody please NEVER EVER allow f*****g Jessie J near Queen again! How much does that girl love herself?
Brilliant Olympics, shame about the closing ceremony, thought they missed a few tricks, agree shame no Rolling Stone, no doubt a reason for that but what a closing session that would have made, especially with the Who. Agree about the Jessie J how she was allowed on I don't know, and as for Fat Boy Slim well I must be to old to appreciate that.
Predictable moaning from many on here, a lot of which came within the first ten minutes or so by looks of it!
Think of it as though you are from another country. A tiny nation like ours' can go and showcase John Lennon, Queen, The Who, Muse, The Kinks, Take That, Bee Gees - all legendary acts.
Some of the 'flavor of the month' stuff like Jessie J and Taio Cruz was the only thing that put a little downer on it for me. In five, ten, twenty years time we won't be looking back on those artists like we do those stated above.
Oh, and by the way.......How incredible is it that Freddie Mercury has been dead 21 years and can still have an audience eating out the palm of his hand?
It's a tough gig to organise, you have to please older people watching on tv, but also have to gear up the acts for the competitors, most of which are in their 20s, and probably are more into One Direction and Taio Cruz than say The Who. They also wanted acts who could use the whole arena, and hour of bands all playing down the far end wouldn't have been much of a spectacle, the Annie Lennox song was an odd choice, but at least the staging was spectacular.
That Muse song was the official song of the Olympics, and was played at every event with a short film of Olympic action, so it was fitting they played.
Annoying that the BBC commentators woffled over Elbow though.
There was a long section during which time the athletes were brought into the stadium....it took the best part of 15 minutes.....during which time some rather bland and for the most part previously unheard of music was played (at least it was previously unheard of to me).....it was very uninspiring and I think the show lost it's way and the attention span of many viewers at a critical time. Proud to say that my boys The Who saved the day....yet another 60's band coming up with the real deal.......the band I've probably watched live more than any other...and it only used to cost me 25p max to see them!! Up the Mods!!!!
I thought it was very good, had something to appeal to all ages - including all you oldies on here! Liam G and Mel C should never attempt to 'sing' again, my ears were bleeding. Thought Eric Idle was great fun, very British. Had it recording and forwarded through the speeches etc. so can't comment on them. Hope the Paralympics are just as good :-)
On reflection, the morning after.... You know when you're busting for a dump, eventually find a toilet, then all you manage is a queeky fart? Yup, that kind of disappointment.
No I couldn't have done better, it's not what I do.
For research purposes, did anyone notice the change of lyrics in BABA O'REILLY from "Don't raise your eyes, it's only teenage wasteland" to "Raise your eyes, there's more than teenage wasteland"?
I think it was a success overall with some parts working better than others. The problem with George Michael is that he has some great songs but prefers to sing his less accesable ones. The Queen and Jessie J bit worked well as did the Spice Girls. Liked the Eric Idle bit to inject some comedy - The songs that really seemed to work best were the more pop ones. Think the opening pipped the closing but I would imagine the closing one was not too expensive with acts performing for the honour rather than money, so if it looked more expensive than it was (which I don't know - just speculating) then well done for the concept.
Slightly weirdly you have all seen much more of the ceremony than I did having been turfed out after finishing our little section (the opening/shit part... delete as appropriate). I know some were less than complimentary about it, yes it was not half as spectacular as some parts of the Opening Ceremony but the budget was essentially whatever change Danny Boyle left over (which is not a criticism by the way) and as Muttley was correct in the motives of most bands!
For those who say the choreography wasn't all that, just remember not one of us on those trucks were professional dancers at all, and the pros (such as they were) were mostly students at local theatre schools etc, not exactly veterans. Trying to get over a thousand people to learn a dance routine is not easy at all, we were still trying to perfect it up until Monday!
Those who did enjoy it, glad to hear it. I personally am very glad I did it and won't be forgetting it any time soon!
Great stuff newbie - don't you worry about the moaning critics on here, all opinions are worthless except yours and those of the people you . We thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing - the fact that 4,000 volunteers put in their own time for free, had fun and brought enjoyment to countless millions wasn't missed on us. You must be buzzing from being part of it - if you need a DVD of it PM me and I can try to burn a copy. Well done and thank you for participating and sharing your view with those of us who were frustrated armchair viewers.
Highlights - Eric Idle singing "life's a piece of shit..."
A bizarre evening - the opening ceremony was great, fun, subversive and very eccentically British. The closing ceremony a mish-mash, like someone had stolen a playlist off of Radio One and thought this'll work if we add a few names in, so Ed Sheeran mullering Wish You Were Here, but where was Roger Walters or David Gilmour? No Rolling Stones, a David Bowie montage thingy with the fashion models which went over everyone's heads, no Elton John but One Direction, Taio Cruz etc, eh? WTF...
Also...where was the Queen? Right at the beginning Harry was announced as representing her - no sign of older brother William, his father or various uncles and aunts and he mumbled his way through GSTQ. Maybe pushing her out of helicopter a couple of weeks ago wasn't such a wise move after all...
Thought it was fantastic overall and it must have been great to have been a part of it, newbie. Well done!
Some things I noticed:
1. At the beginning, the old acts bravely sang live which must have been difficult given how out of practice they were (some of them did sound a bit ropey) and then the reality TV boy band, who do nothing but 'sing' come out and mime. Badly. 2. Thought it was all about to go wrong when Brian May appeared to forget where he was and go off on one - things lost a lot of momentum. Followed by Spinal Tap moment when Queen drummer sits behind massive drum kit with random timpani added on, then plays a song where he just has to hit the snare repetitively, but then leaps onto timpani at the end and plays them with no seeming relevance whatsoever. I at least thought they would have played 'we are the champions' - surely that would have brought the house down? 3. Muse went up to 11; they should have been after Queen with their pedestrian 'We will rock you' which slowed everything down again. Saw the irony of them being followed by Queen though, given that they seem to be slowly morphing into them! 4. Very disappointed with the cover of 'Wish you were here'; there were many other artists that could have done it justice, but we ended up with some no talent wally making it into a soporific, passionless lowlight. 5. Fatboy Slim raised the tempo well, but looked a bit daft showboating and then doing the tricky job of turning a nob slightly further to the left/right! 6. Can't stand Take That, but fair play to Barlow for performing. 7. Loved Eric Idle - they played it well so everyone thought we wouldn't get the 'life's a piece of shit...' line, which is the best line in the song. The randomness of all of that was typically British, with us laughing at ourselves as we do - it was good to see as it represents an important part of our national character. 8. The Who - sheer class at the end, a great way to finish. 9. Given all the volunteers doing the dancing, I thought they did a fantastic job pulling it all together.
Given the diversity of the performers and the fact that we had everything from rap to dub-step, pop, rock and MOR dinosaurs (I'm looking at you Lennox).; I've got a feeling that everyone will be sick of Samba after two weeks of the Rio Olympics - I thought it was starting to drag towards the end of Rio's showcase, so I'm not relishing the thought of three hours of the same in the opening ceremony!
Comments
Lowlights: Pet Shop Boys; That woman with the blonde hair who inexplicably got two songs early on; Ray Davies - Should have gone for something more upbeat than WS; the Brazilians; Ballet bores; The Kate Bush number; having the opening songs played twice; and worst of all Madness - Not only can Suggs not sing a note he couldn't even mumble in tune, it was embarrassing, shocking and a dare say for many people a turn-off.
Things that puzzled me: The Newspaper stuff; Origami hats; The Suffragettes (again).
Thought we might see: David Bowie; Elton John; Rolling Stones; Some famous opera singer I've never heard of; a bright young indie band.
Never mind. It's been brilliant. Been here for a week, way way beyond my highest expectations.
Closing ceremony 6.5/10. Danny Boyle must have been cringing.
Strange that Sir Elton or The Rolling stones werent there? even a track etc.
They said it would be a "sing-along" to great British music ---not sure that it was.
agree could about the Ukrainin girls could have watched them for a good deal longer and some of the "escorts" to the flag bearers were mor-ish.
Think of it as though you are from another country. A tiny nation like ours' can go and showcase John Lennon, Queen, The Who, Muse, The Kinks, Take That, Bee Gees - all legendary acts.
Some of the 'flavor of the month' stuff like Jessie J and Taio Cruz was the only thing that put a little downer on it for me. In five, ten, twenty years time we won't be looking back on those artists like we do those stated above.
Oh, and by the way.......How incredible is it that Freddie Mercury has been dead 21 years and can still have an audience eating out the palm of his hand?
That Muse song was the official song of the Olympics, and was played at every event with a short film of Olympic action, so it was fitting they played.
Annoying that the BBC commentators woffled over Elbow though.
Proud to say that my boys The Who saved the day....yet another 60's band coming up with the real deal.......the band I've probably watched live more than any other...and it only used to cost me 25p max to see them!!
Up the Mods!!!!
No I couldn't have done better, it's not what I do.
The rest was amazing though. Well done all.
I love Queen but my god they let anyone sing with them these days.
For those who say the choreography wasn't all that, just remember not one of us on those trucks were professional dancers at all, and the pros (such as they were) were mostly students at local theatre schools etc, not exactly veterans. Trying to get over a thousand people to learn a dance routine is not easy at all, we were still trying to perfect it up until Monday!
Those who did enjoy it, glad to hear it. I personally am very glad I did it and won't be forgetting it any time soon!
We thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing - the fact that 4,000 volunteers put in their own time for free, had fun and brought enjoyment to countless millions wasn't missed on us.
You must be buzzing from being part of it - if you need a DVD of it PM me and I can try to burn a copy.
Well done and thank you for participating and sharing your view with those of us who were frustrated armchair viewers.
A bizarre evening - the opening ceremony was great, fun, subversive and very eccentically British. The closing ceremony a mish-mash, like someone had stolen a playlist off of Radio One and thought this'll work if we add a few names in, so Ed Sheeran mullering Wish You Were Here, but where was Roger Walters or David Gilmour? No Rolling Stones, a David Bowie montage thingy with the fashion models which went over everyone's heads, no Elton John but One Direction, Taio Cruz etc, eh? WTF...
Also...where was the Queen? Right at the beginning Harry was announced as representing her - no sign of older brother William, his father or various uncles and aunts and he mumbled his way through GSTQ. Maybe pushing her out of helicopter a couple of weeks ago wasn't such a wise move after all...
Some things I noticed:
1. At the beginning, the old acts bravely sang live which must have been difficult given how out of practice they were (some of them did sound a bit ropey) and then the reality TV boy band, who do nothing but 'sing' come out and mime. Badly.
2. Thought it was all about to go wrong when Brian May appeared to forget where he was and go off on one - things lost a lot of momentum. Followed by Spinal Tap moment when Queen drummer sits behind massive drum kit with random timpani added on, then plays a song where he just has to hit the snare repetitively, but then leaps onto timpani at the end and plays them with no seeming relevance whatsoever. I at least thought they would have played 'we are the champions' - surely that would have brought the house down?
3. Muse went up to 11; they should have been after Queen with their pedestrian 'We will rock you' which slowed everything down again. Saw the irony of them being followed by Queen though, given that they seem to be slowly morphing into them!
4. Very disappointed with the cover of 'Wish you were here'; there were many other artists that could have done it justice, but we ended up with some no talent wally making it into a soporific, passionless lowlight.
5. Fatboy Slim raised the tempo well, but looked a bit daft showboating and then doing the tricky job of turning a nob slightly further to the left/right!
6. Can't stand Take That, but fair play to Barlow for performing.
7. Loved Eric Idle - they played it well so everyone thought we wouldn't get the 'life's a piece of shit...' line, which is the best line in the song. The randomness of all of that was typically British, with us laughing at ourselves as we do - it was good to see as it represents an important part of our national character.
8. The Who - sheer class at the end, a great way to finish.
9. Given all the volunteers doing the dancing, I thought they did a fantastic job pulling it all together.
Given the diversity of the performers and the fact that we had everything from rap to dub-step, pop, rock and MOR dinosaurs (I'm looking at you Lennox).; I've got a feeling that everyone will be sick of Samba after two weeks of the Rio Olympics - I thought it was starting to drag towards the end of Rio's showcase, so I'm not relishing the thought of three hours of the same in the opening ceremony!