Olympics Closing Ceremony

Which songs did Elbow perform ?

Where is the man with the key to the power supply from the Springsteen gig when you need him?

Not sure what you guys had but the coverage we had here in NZ, it sounded like they used an ambient mic in the stadium and not a direct feed/mix from the sound desk/s ;(

Either that or the mix between ambient and direct was far too much of the ambient.

I'm sure it sounded great in the venue but at home here....rather disappointing.

Still, best 'lympics ever. Well done UK...and Team GB.

I hope the buzz remains with you well into the future.

Gave up as soon as Beady Eye started.

We had representation of the Beatles, Who, Bowie, Kinks but nothing about probably the best London band period, The Rolling Stones! Apart that is for Mick's daughter in the ill conceived 'Fashion" segment. 

With all the talk of legacy and role models for the young there was a bit of a contradiction here with George Michael, Kate Moss and Russell Brand taking part. I thought Eric Idle, Darcy Bussell's entrance and The Who were my highlights. 

Overall, I think it was a great show! Visually, very impressive,

colorful...great use of lights...inflatable octopus...fab.

And congrats to Team GB for 29 Golds and 65 medals overall!

The Games were sensational and very well organised.

There will always be disagreement about the selection of music,

but for me:  never liked Oasis, not impressed with Elbow and

why was Jessie, 6'3", J everywhere?  No other singers around?

She definitely can sing, but give her a spot and move on.  They

played Bowie's songs, but it would have been great if he had

been there.  Roger Daltry sounded good and I always like

George Michael, but he shouldn't have sung a new song.  I

wasn't keen on Spice Girls being there, but their songs still

sound good.  The big surprise for me was Eric Idle!  That song

was one of the highlights, with a real feel-good factor.  Also

glad to see Lennon and Mercury on screen.

Just my thoughts,

California Jim

I thought it was a bit hit and miss and went to bed shortly after George Michael was given the opportunity to plug his new single. Was that his fee for doing the gig?

Great lighting effects though, the idea of the lighting units on each seat has been genius. Some of the greatest images were from the air.

I'll catch up with the second half later but it lacked the narrative drama and wit of the opening ceremony for me.

Bruce

Far too many old men. One of the wonderful things about the opening ceremony was the way the 'old guard' - Steve Redgrave, Kelly Holmes etc. handed over the torch to some up and coming youngsters and then stepped back into the shadows of history, instead of hogging the limelight. Would've been nice if we'd done the same musically, instead of digging out the same old same old old old old stars - more than one of whom were so old they were actually dead! The dancing looked brilliant though.

Because the new stuff generally is crap, as demonstrated, thank heaven for the old guard. 

Not a patch on the opening ceremony. Thought it was a mess, but not in a good way. Musically it was a bit shite, especially people like Ed Sheeran and the now well-past-their-sell-by-date Spice Girls.

The lights were nice though.

Jim, Bowie has now pretty much retired for health reasons and to spend time with his young daughter. It is unlikely he will ever perform again, or make another album. He isn't even active on his website any more. A pity really but there you go.

We thought it was mostly kind of $h!+. One good thing that came out of it however, was that it confirmed to me that Muse are pack of pompous ****s, and I should continue to ignore their music.

Who was that guy singing Wish You Were Here. Not a terribly impressive performance, but what a great song. The tightrope bit was a bit odd, but well-intentioned, I guess. I enjoyed that song.

Why celebrate traffic jams? Naturally, I thought the whole car-worship theme was stupid.

Brian May could have been good, but the whole fake/synching thing really got to me. Why even pretend?

Agree that the lighting effects were often good.

Yes. What the f%$# was THAT all about?

Britains fashion industry (so I read) is worth £21 billion a year to the british economy, encourages spending in other industries of over £16 billion and contributed over £13 billion to the national exchequer in 2009. There's money in them there frocks!

Ah. Now I get it. It is about the money. Wait, that's what I've been saying all along.

Whilst on fashion, can anyone explain the concept of "sustainable fashion" or "eco-conscious fashion". Isn't the whole purpose of fashion to make you throw out otherwise perfectly good stuff because there is a new style?

Most of the early part was pretty uninspiring I thought or just plain dull - Elbow, Tinie Tempah, Santa Cruz (or whatever his name is), Fatboy Slim, Jessie J, even the Kaiser Chiefs (who I usually like) in particular. I'm a huge Muse fan but I thought their performance was curiously uninvolving. And what was Brian May wearing? Eric Idle was brilliant and definitely the high point.

Will watch part 2 later this evening.

steve

We had the option of choosing a feed with no commentary which I did and I suspect that made a difference.

Good to see that nice young man singing Imagine had grown Wiggo side-burns for the occasion. Not keen on opening/closing ceremoniesa rule rule and the first hour and bit did nothing to change my mind. Oddly enough it seemed to get a bit better when the Spice girls came on but in general extremely disjointed as a show. The lighting by contrast was fantastic throughout.

The film director Julien Temple described it most amusingly on Newsnight earlier: "rather like a bad night at the Brits" [Brit Awards].

What is classed as the old guard now day's?

Stu.

I gave up when fat George coke crash your range rover into your local shop Wham did two songs and seemed to bring the whole buzz down.

like at a club when a wrong song used to get played by a DJ and it would clear the floor.

Stayed with the show until the end though.

Didn't have a lot of choice,Couldn't get out of it .

Stu.

Too long by about an hour.

Gee, tough room!

Talent choices and their respective performances aside, given the scale of the event and the amount of scene changes and effects, the tightness of the production was simply outstanding.  

I'm curious to know if the LED panels mounted to every seat in the house are a permanent fixture?

Imagine the time and effort in getting those installed... Just awesome.

I think a few people took the panels with them when they left..

Shame because i think they might need them for the Para's when they start.

Stu.

The Rolling Stones would never do anything for free ...

Mick and whole family were there Sunday night in the cheap seats to see his daughter do the model  part of the show though.

Stu.