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Who knew that all it would take to get the
Spice Girls
to reunite was for the Olympics to come back to London? The famous
five-piece girl group strapped back on their heels yesterday and climbed
atop some taxis to help draw the 2012 London Olympics to a close. But
they weren’t the only ones: A huge slew of British musicians, including
One Direction, The Who,
Ed Sheeran, The Pet Shop Boys, George Michael and
Muse, came together to celebrate the close of the Games.
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The Closing Ceremony, which took place on a stage made of a giant
Damian Hirst painting, was theatrical and bright – and no less surreal
than the Opening Ceremony. Newspaper-wrapped cars and dozens of dancers
accompanied the musicians, who offered a variety of stylized
performances in what was called “Symphony of British Music.” Most
notable, of course, was the Spice Girls, who appeared later in the
celebrations. But there were numerous other moments that either made you
wish you were there or made you glad you had DVRed this thing. Here are
the highlights and the bizarre moments.
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Awesome
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Following The Pet Shop Boys’ strange performance, One Direction
emerged on a moving truck flatbed. The performance wasn’t necessarily
notable, but when the NBC announcer said with confusion, “Have you heard
of One Direction? This is their global smash…” we knew they were doing
something right.
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Beady Eye, the new
group fronted by ex-Oasis singer Liam Gallagher, performed Oasis’
beloved smash “Wonderwall.” This tune could be played anywhere at any
time and crowds would love it, but here it became a grandiose sing-along
accompanied by a symphony orchestra. Somewhere Noel Gallagher is
throwing bottles at a wall.
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A children’s choir sang John Lennon’s “Imagine” along with a video
screen of the deceased singer after the Olympic athletes marched into
the stadium together rather than by country. This sentiment was actually
quite moving and one of the Ceremony’s more thoughtful moments. This
was immediately followed by George Michael’s hit song “Freedom ‘90.”
This performance was especially rousing and the entire crowd appeared to
know all the words.
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Oh hey remember
Fatboy Slim? Here he is DJing from inside an inflatable octopus. Your move,
Skrillex.
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The Who closed out the Ceremony with their famous number “My
Generation,” which was pretty awesome. It’s nice that the organizers had
an elder statesman, so to speak, be the finale.
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But, really, we can all confirm that the highlight – and perhaps
underlying reason for this event – was the Spice Girls, who performed
“Wannabe” and “Spice Up Your Life.” Amazing.
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WTF
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Everyone seems to agree: Having
Jessie J
stand in as the frontwoman of legendary rock band Queen was a seriously
error on the part of the organizers. J appeared with the surviving
members of the group and performed “We Will Rock You” while every viewer
simultaneously muttered, “Hey U.K. stop trying to make Jessie J
happen.”
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We didn’t know Russell Brand was a singer. The comedian and actor
offered up a “cover” of The Beatles’ “I Am The Walrus” and we’re not
even really sure what our reaction should be, particularly as his
microphone was a megaphone. Either way, Brand looked pleased with
himself.
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Since The Who were tapped to close the evening we’re confused by
Kaiser Chiefs
elected to perform the band’s tune “Pinball Wizard.” If there real band
is there why cover it? Pretty cool that they rode to the stage on
motorcycles though.
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This could belong in either category but we’re going to stick it
here: Eurythmics singer Annie Lennox wailed out “Little Bird” while
riding on what can only be described as a ghost ship. The NBC announcer
called this one “odd” and “gothic.” Yep.
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The models who walked during the ceremony’s salute to British
fashion, including Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell, looked intimidated by
the length of runway they were require to trot. Maybe we could have
shorted that? These ladies don’t have the endurance of the athletes,
especially in giant heels.
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Where was
Adele? We
had hoped that rumors of her making an appearance would come to fruition
but not so. Same goes for Paul McCartney, Elton John and The Rolling
Stones. Speaking of, thanks for the David Bowie montage but we really
needed to see Ziggy Stardust himself. Fail.
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NBC made sure that American viewers missed some of the best
performances of the evening by cropping them out in the delayed
broadcast. These included Kate Bush’s much-anticipated performance of
“Running Up That Hill” and Muse
rolling through their Olympic theme
“Survival.” Why did NBC crop these out? We have no idea. Who can explain
why NBC did anything during the Olympics? But at least now our Twitter
feed will be free of people endlessly complaining about them. You can
watch Bush’s performance
here.
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What did you think of the finale of the 2012 Olympics? All in all,
we’d say it was a success. But let’s all agree to have less Jessie J in
the future. Tell us your thoughts in the comments.
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