London Olympics Closing Ceremony: Giant ‘After Party’ To Feature 20+ Music Acts
Some new details have emerged surrounding Sunday’s Olympics Closing Ceremony while speculation as to the content continues to swirl. Following Danny Boyle’s corker of an opener that scored ratings highs in the US and UK, music director David Arnold told The Telegraph, “To me this should be the greatest after party in the world.” A tribute to British design, fashion, fine art, poetry, playwriting and pop music, the show is titled A Symphony Of British Music. Over 4,100 performers will kick off the event at 9 PM local time on Sunday. But once again, it looks like folks in the US will have to wait at least 3 hours to catch the festivities as NBC will broadcast the ceremony starting at 7 PM local time, according to current schedules. Among the performers tipped are The Who, Paul McCartney, Elton John, the Rolling Stones, George Michael, Paul Weller, the Spice Girls, Adele, Ray Davies, Liam Gallagher, Annie Lennox, Madness, the Pet Shop Boys, Take That, Muse, One Direction and members of Queen. Over 10,000 athletes and flagbearers are expected to march with the men’s marathon medal ceremony a feature. Stephen Daldry is exec producer of the ceremonies. Arnold, the composer who has handled scores for recent Bond films Quantum Of Solace and Casino Royale and TV shows including Sherlock and Little Britain USA, says he’s been working for two years to put together the show and was forced to turn down scoring Skyfall because of his Olympic duties.
And how many of the musical acts will NBC truncate or cut completely?
Probably all the ones who haven’t sold millions in America. Paul Weller’s great but only a smidgeon of USA folks know who he is.
There’s a lot of positive vibe here, about that ridiculous Opening Ceremony. I think that the Closing, can only be an improvement.
James Bond jumped out of a helicopter with The Queen. Where else are you going to see that?
Talk about an all-star lineup. This should be great!
No Radiohead? lame.
No. Radiohead lame.
WTF is there no RADIOHEAD at the closing ceremony at the London Olympics!!!
I totally agree!!!! WTF!!
The “after party”, if it airs at all on NBC, probably will be relegated to late-night, after the late local news, the way similar events at the Beijing and Vancouver Games were pushed into late-night.
“Corker”? I don’t think that means what you think it means. Sure the opening got good ratings and had a few highlights but the response to it seemed to be fairly negative. Seriously, a tribute to the national health service?
Frankly if the closing is as bad as the opening, I wouldn’t mind if NBC cuts much of it, that could be an improvement.
Why no Julie Andrews? MARY POPPINS (plural) were in the opening. How’s about THE “real” Mary Poppins for the closing.
Julie Andrew’s voice was ruined by a botched surgery to remove nodules from her Larynx.
“Corker” means delightfully smashing! And it was, people here in the UK loved it, the great majority did, anyway. The moaners were mostly on about it costing too much money when infrastructure and other services are lacking. Most of the ‘negative’ responses were in the States, from people who just wanted flash and sports excitement (which anyone could have done), whilst Danny Boyle knew to go way beyond that. I loved the ‘scenes’ which were perfect for a movie director, and showed the amazing background of the UK. Looking forward to a corker of a closing ceremony, and only wish I could get a ticket!
I want to see Freddie coming out in his crown and robe as they sing God Save the Queen. Freddie, we miss you.
Where is the Doctor from Doctor Who seriously I think he is a big part of British culture right now so the show should be shown some how in the ceramonies