Closing Ceremony & Olympic Inspiration

[Nexus]

I found the same, I loved the Opening Ceremony and while I didn't not enjoy the Closing Ceremony, I felt it could be better.

I think what was a shame was that it was billed as being a celebration of British music and given what a huge influence music from our nation has had on the world, it didn't quite live up to it. I didn't understand why Bowie got an entire section devoted to him, yet he wasn't there performing. Kate Bush got a dramatic remix, yet she wasn't there. I thought we would see more of our big known stars of the past being rolled out, for example I thought The Rolling Stones were about to start 'Sympathy for the Devil' but it was the intro to George Michael which sounds the same! George Michael's unknown track was also quite shameful for a big event. I was also surprised that they didn't have Adele in there given what a global success she has been.

I suppose I just thought that given its a celebration of British music and such a huge event for the country, seen by the world, that British stars would be thriving to be part of it.

Some of the feedback I've seen from other nations is that their commentary teams had to do a lot of talking to explain who artists were, especially Japan. That doesn't really show that its the best of British that is known around the world, while I do see that its good to promote up and comers, Emeli Sande is one of those, having got tracks in both ceremonies. I think Jessie J got too much billing, I saw lots of comments that the 5 version of 'We Will Rock You' might have been better. Poorest part for me though was Russell Brand, he's not a singer, he's an idiot and while he has moved to the US and forged a career over there, he isn't our best export. I think it was misplaced having him sing a classic. Finally I didn't get the Annie Lennox 'Pirate Hooker' part until Hew Edwards explained it as being from the film 'Bram Stoker's Dracula'.... a film that is 20 years old, so I'm glad they kept things current!

 

[Flibster]

Sent shivers down my spine listening to a live crowd reply to Freddie, must have been a very emotional moment for the band.

Last time that happened must have been during his tribute gig, I really hope Freddie was watching down on us cause we still love and miss him

They run a version of that at pretty much every live gig they do as Queen.

They even use bits of Queen @ Wembley for the live version of Bohemian Rhapsody now. With Paul Rogers it almost turned into a duet with him and Freddie.

Still the best front man any band has ever had ever!

 

[Firestar_3x]

They run a version of that at pretty much every live gig they do as Queen.

They even use bits of Queen @ Wembley for the live version of Bohemian Rhapsody now. With Paul Rogers it almost turned into a duet with him and Freddie.

Still the best front man any band has ever had ever!

Ah cool, i only watch the classic queen gigs, might have to watch a newer one.

 

[Morba]

Too much Jessie J. Should have left her out.

 

[Yas786]

Bit surprised that they didnt get the Rolling Stones in as well, would have loved to see them do their song 'start me up', which ive seen a few times on TV for the olympics.

Have to say im a bit sad its all over but then equally on the other hand, im glad its over as my journey to and from work on the tube was pretty brutal at times. Especially Stratford, where the olympic park is...at times the station was absolutely heaving with the amount of people going through there.

Also ill be glad when all this spazzfest over Team GB dies down...im getting fed up of hearing, listening or seeing it on TV. Yes i know we done really well and im proud that we done so well, best medal haul for us ever but thats what kinda happens when your hosting the olympics. The host nation tends to do very well at the olympics ie Australia is a prime example, since the 2000 olympics they have steadily declined in taking medals. So will be interesting to see how GB does in the Brazil olympics in the 4 yrs time, i hope we go on to get even more golds and medals but wouldnt be surprised if we dont do that well in 4 yrs time.

But i thought personally the opening ceremony was much much better than the closing one, although at first i didnt like the openingbut it soon grew on me. Why they had Victoria Beckham, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell there is beyond me really. Really it could have been better the closing ceremony but i did enjoy the fireworks, which was about the best part of the closing ceremony. Thought Brazils little bit was retarded in all honesty.

 

[Morba]

I can understand the fashion bit, but was Stella McCartney left out? Given she designed the kit it would be surprising if she wasn't mentioned.

 

[Squark]

Australia have gone downhill because phelps took all their swimming medals and we took all their cycling medals!

Victoria Beckham is part of Spice Girls, that's why she was there, lol.

 

[mmj_uk]

I was disappointed with the Queen part, thought they were going to show Freddy singing We Are The Champions or something epic... then we get Brian May and Jessie J (who we'd already seen enough of) murdering We Will Rock You.

I thought the opening ceremony was a lot better and that was primarily down to the more unique music (Underworld/Mike Oldfield/Chariots of Fire)

 

[Flibster]

Ah cool, i only watch the classic queen gigs, might have to watch a newer one.

To be honest, they're not bad shows. It's just that without Freddie, something huge is missing.

Interestingly, Brian and Roger to take to the front more without him and do pretty good jobs. But they should do, as they have toured as individuals in the past.

 

[Mr Jones]

Did anyone think Emlie looks like a midget in her second song?

 

[lemonkettaz]

Wonder if we do "inspire a generation"?

What can be done to become even better in Rio, or at least keep on the same level?

How come the USA are always the best or 2nd, Is it our "PE" lessons in school, I definitely think that sport in school was a sham, I left school in 2003 so things might be different now, but PE was never a serious lesson, it was more a case of do your own thing, 99% of the time that meant getting out a football.

Should there be some national school sporting structure where all the school compete, I don't know exactly how it works in the USA but I know they take sport in school/college very seriously, if not the same level as pro sport, so is that a model we could follow?

I definitely think fitness/sport/competitive sport should be a serious aspect of school, if not just to keep young uns in a good physical state.

Im not saying adopt this but being in the armed forces PT is a pretty serious thing, well structured and obviously you need to maintain a certain standard (judged by regular fitness tests) maybe something like this could be brought into secondary schools, obviously not as strict but a way of giving students a general level of fitness, which also would help competition, i.e. nobody wants to be the worst in the end, this would filter through to actual sports being played too, once someone gets a competitive bug they don't want to ever be last/rubbish.

I was never that fussed on being competitive at school because It was never put across to me from the school cirriculum, however now I am much more fussed on winning/losing just from the structured PT I am involved in.

If I was like this in school I'd of taken sport much more seriously and ultimately enjoyed it more.

 

[LiE]

Perhaps it's their athletic scholarship program?

 

[lemonkettaz]

Don't know how that works.

To be fair, we came 3rd, behind 2 massive nations. So we have done something right getting to this...

Whether it would be even possible to beat China or USA ... regardless of what we do

 

[Guerrilla]

Their immense population also helps, they have their fair share of lazy fatties too

 

[V F]

Wonder if we do "inspire a generation"?

What can be done to become even better in Rio, or at least keep on the same level?

How come the USA are always the best or 2nd, Is it our "PE" lessons in school, I definitely think that sport in school was a sham, I left school in 2003 so things might be different now, but PE was never a serious lesson, it was more a case of do your own thing, 99% of the time that meant getting out a football.

Thats frightening then. Sounds nothing has changed since I left school in 96. The teaching was horrid.

 

[lemonkettaz]

Yeh, plus PE was optional after year9, like I said it will be different now, this was 9yr ago.

Sport/PE should not be optional and it should be once a day. Why not

 

[Hagar]

Yeh, plus PE was optional after year9, like I said it will be different now, this was 9yr ago.

Sport/PE should not be optional and it should be once a day. Why not

I went to public school in the sixties and classes ended at 2.30-3pm every day followed by 2 hours of sport. cross country, athletics, rugby or cricket dependant on the season. We did have Saturday morning classes though.

 

[Swagger187]

Why they had Victoria Beckham, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell there is beyond me really. .

Do you not realise that she is part of the Spice Girls and they performed last night?

 

[Yas786]

Do you not realise that she is part of the Spice Girls and they performed last night?

Yes i know she was part of the spice girls but i was talking more about her being some sort of fashion icon as thats when she made her first appearance. Moss and Campbell werent part of the spice girls so i also wonder why they were there. One is a coke snorting junkie and the other has some serious anger management issues.

 

[pokerking]

Yorkshire alone got 7 golds, more than australia as a whole. We as a country should be so proud and happy for what we have done. Maybe they should come down and limit people per sport like they did with us in the cycling. China and America have a huge pool of people to pick from. We are a tiny nation compared to them.