Closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics

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A scene from the 2012 Summer Games closing ceremony

The closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London took place on August 12, 2012 in the Olympic Stadium. It was under the motto A Symphony of British Music ("A Symphony of British Music"). Kim Gavin was the creative director and choreographer of the celebration . The main designer was Es Devlin , and David Arnold was the musical director . The set was designed by the British artist Damien Hirst .

Patrick Woodroffe was in charge of lighting. As at the opening ceremony, the producer was theater and film director Stephen Daldry .

Around 4,100 performers, including 3,500 adults and 380 school children from the six host boroughs of London, all of whom were volunteers, and 250 professional actors took part. For the volunteer performers , around 15 rehearsals took place in the Three Mills Studios, later on a full-scale practice area in the middle of the Ford automobile plant in Dagenham .

As usual, an integral part of the program was a ceremonial handover to the venue for the next Olympic Games in 2016 , Rio de Janeiro .

procedure

According to the motto, internationally successful British artists were asked for the show program, including both young talents and established musicians. The first part of the event was accompanied by the percussion band Stomp .

Emeli Sandé started with Read All About It , then Julian Lloyd Webber appeared, followed by a show called "Rush Hour". For this purpose, the morning rush hour traffic in downtown London was recreated - against the backdrop of Big Ben and the Parliament, cars and buses wrapped in oversized newspaper clippings drove through the stadium on streets in the shape of the Union Jack . Prince Harry then entered the stadium with Jacques Rogge and the British national anthem was played. This was followed by performances by Madness ( Our House ), the Pet Shop Boys ( West End Girls ), One Direction ( What Makes You Beautiful ), Spelbound , Ray Davies ( The Kinks ) with Waterloo Sunset and again Emeli Sandé with Read All About It , while pictures of emotional moments from the past Olympic Games were shown.

Then the standard-bearers marched in first , then that of the other athletes, during which u. a. Elbow appeared with Open Arms and in turn played Our House , West End Girls and What Makes You Beautiful .

After the invasion ended, a pyramid of 302 cubes was built and some exciting moments from the Olympics were shown while Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush ran. The award ceremony for the men's marathon followed . Some representatives of the volunteers of the games were honored under the title Here Comes the Sun. Then John Lennon was honored with a recording in which he sings Imagine . It was followed by George Michael with Freedom! '90 and White Light . The Kaiser Chiefs played pinball wizard . While models like Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss presented fashion by British designers, the song Fashion by David Bowie was played as background music.

It was followed by Annie Lennox with Little Bird and Ed Sheeran , Nick Mason ( Pink Floyd ), Richard Jones ( The Feeling ) and Mike Rutherford ( Genesis ) with Wish You Were Here . Russell Brand sang the Beatles hit I Am the Walrus , accompanied by the British-Australian classic crossover string quartet bond . Fatboy Slim occurred and Jessie J gave Price Tag for the best. Tinie Tempah sang together with Jessie J Written in the Stars , Taio Cruz sang Dynamite , and finally the three sang You Should Be Dancing from the Bee Gees together .

Excerpt from the appearance of the Spice Girls

After the Spice Girls reunited for one evening , who performed with Wannabe and Spice Up Your Life , Beady Eye played the Oasis classic Wonderwall with lead singer Liam Gallagher . Next came the song Mr. Blue Sky by the Electric Light Orchestra , then Eric Idle appeared with Always Look on the Bright Side of Life , the band Muse performed the official song of the Olympic Games, Survival . Another recording was Freddie Mercury honored, whereupon Roger Taylor and Brian May of Queen together with Jessie J intoned We Will Rock You .

At the beginning of the formal part, the Greek national anthem and the Olympic anthem were played. This was followed by the handover of the Olympic flag by the London Mayor Boris Johnson to the Mayor of Rio de Janeiro Eduardo Paes and the Brazilian national anthem was played. This was followed by the presentation of Rio de Janeiro as part of a show in which Pelé also appeared. Sebastian Coe , the President of the LOCOG , addressed a few words to the world, followed by the IOC President Jacques Rogge , who officially declared the Games over.

The formal ceremony ended with the going out of the Olympic flame, accompanied by Take That with Rule the World ( Barlow , Owen , Donald and Orange only ; Williams stayed with his heavily pregnant wife in the US). The finale delivered finally The Who with a medley of Baba O'Riley , See Me, Feel Me and My Generation .

Web links

Commons : Closing Ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Damien Hirst designs flag for the london 2012 olympic closing ceremony. Retrieved August 28, 2012 .
  2. Profile: Kim Gavin, director of Olympic closing ceremony. British Broadcasting Corporation , August 10, 2012, accessed August 12, 2012 .
  3. London 2012: Closing ceremony director Stephen Daldry vows best party ever. The Independent , August 12, 2012, accessed August 12, 2012 .
  4. Closing ceremony promises 'cheeky, cheesy' end to the London 2012 Olympics. The Independent, August 12, 2012, accessed August 14, 2012 .
  5. a b BBC News: Olympic closing ceremony 'includes Muse and Michael' . BBC News. August 8, 2012. Retrieved August 8, 2010.
  6. ^ Sheeran set for Olympics closing . BBC News. August 2, 2012. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
  7. Britain's Biggest Artists Rock The London 2012 Closing Ceremony Including Liam Gallagher's Beady Eye, The Who, Queen, Muse, Pink Floyd And More
  8. ^ London 2012 Closing Ceremony: here come the Spice Girls . Telegraph. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
  9. LONDON 2012: Show goes on for brave Gary Barlow at closing ceremony . HelloMagazine.com on August 13, 2012. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  10. ^ Sarah Deen: The Who and Take That booked to play London 2012 Olympics closing ceremony . Metro.co.uk. June 9, 2012. Retrieved June 27, 2012.