Spice Girls, One Direction Close Out 2012 London Olympics
By
Emily Zemler
•
12 minutes ago
Getty Images
.
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.
.
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.
.
Awesome
.
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.
.
Getty Images
.
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.
.
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.
.
Oh hey remember Fatboy Slim? Here he is DJing from inside an inflatable octopus. Your move, Skrillex.
.
Getty Images
.
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.
.
Getty Images
.
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.
.
WTF
.
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.”
.
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.
.
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.
.
Getty Images
.
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.
.
Getty Images
.
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.
.
Getty Images
.
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.
.
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.
.
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.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment