Subject: RE: BS: Olympics closing ceremony
From:
TopcatBanjo
Date: 13 Aug 12 - 08:03 AM
I thought it was a real mish-mash, mostly disappointing and showed nowhere near the creativity of the opening ceremony. We did have a good laugh watching it though. I thought that the selection of acts to showcase the best of British music was, frankly, odd. FAR too much miming being used, shockingly so. But then some of those who performed live made me wish they had been miming!
Emeli Sande got far too much of a share of the evening, given she's already been on the opening ceremony (two spots, plus used in the BBC montage with her version of Imagine) and seemed completely out of tune. I thought her "Abide with Me" in the opening ceremony was good but last night she was dreadful. Liam Gallagher - dire! I know he divides opinion anyway but here he was totally out of tune! It's Noel's song - why didn't he sing it?
George Michael - when he started I thought "at last, a good singer" (and I am NO GM fan) and apart from his awful dad dancing, he and his excellent backing singers delivered a good version of "Freedom". But then - oh no - he was allowed to do his crap, tuneless new single (?). WTF? Annie Lennox miming and mugging away on a ghost ship (?). I really couldn't understand the point of this presentation and a singer like her should really have been singing live. The whole "fashion" segment - yuk, especially including cocaine snorter Kate Moss. I'm not going to even bother mentioning Take That, One Direction etc - I suppose that sort of thing had to be included to please "the kids".
On the up side, despite being part of the appalling Simon Cowellesque scene which has taken over British pop music, Jessie J did at least prove in the Queen segment that she has a powerful singing voice. That bit was pretty good (if cheesy) as were The Who. I was pleasantly surprised that Daltrey could make the notes as his voice has not been the best when The Who have been wheeled out in recent decades.
The Eric Idle segment was entertaining, including the bhangra break (although it would have been funnier if had turned out to be able to do the dance perfectly), the cycling nuns and the human cannonball. I was also waiting to see whether he would include the best line of the song, and he did!
The tightrope walker was part of a tableau referring to Pink Floyd - check out the Wish You Were Here album cover artwork - and I thought that was very impressive. The rendition of the song, with Ed Sheeran singing, was a bit underwhelming.
The London Welsh Male Voice Choir (why does that not get translated into French?) were excellent, a relief after all the miming. At least, I do hope that was live singing!
Also on the upside, and in contrast to much of the actual content, the very impressive display of technical skills that we still have in this country when it comes to sound, lighting, event staging, filming, editing and so on. The whole massive presentation was seamless with only a couple of tiny glitches in evidence.
So all in all, a mixed bag and not as good as it should have been, IMHO. For me, this in no way overshadows the superb opening ceremony or the fabulous display on show during the two weeks of the Games themselves. Whether we can actually afford it, and whether there will really be any long term benefits, is another matter.
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sj
