Urban75 Home About Offline BrixtonBuzz Contact

The Closing Ceremony

If I had any fucking money right now, I might have tried to get some paralympics tickets.

They're really inexpensive, and well worth it. And I'd put myself out a bit more to support the paralympic athletes, over the regular athletes who are all on their scholarships at Stanford, and looking at media contracts later on. The paralympic athletes have none of that. To me, they are what the real spirit of this thing is meant to be about.

If you go to some paralympic events, you'll enjoy it, and you'll feel good about yourself, because when you go, you realize how much it means to these athletes to have people come out and support them.

I'd urge anyone who's able, to go.
 
I don't think the closing ceremonies can ever be as good. You bring a sense of anticipation to the opening ceremonies; to the closing, you bring almost a sense of sadness, of something good coming to an end.
 
I don't think the closing ceremonies can ever be as good. You bring a sense of anticipation to the opening ceremonies; to the closing, you bring almost a sense of sadness, of something good coming to an end.

It wasn't so much that. People think of the closing ceremony as a party, and the UK has a history of great music, but the crap that was wheeled out tonight... ffs, plenty of good bands alive, but they had to resort to two dead musicians :D
 
It wasn't so much that. People think of the closing ceremony as a party, and the UK has a history of great music, but the crap that was wheeled out tonight... ffs, plenty of good bands alive, but they had to resort to two dead musicians :D
I had no problem with the inclusion of Freddie and John. My problem was with the rest of the stuff they picked, and shit like letting the kaiser chiefs play, but only if they played pinball wizard... and that daft twat singing I am the walrus, particularly when they had Liam Gallagher around who actually made a bit of a speciality of singing that track on Oasis live shows.

ffs let's celebrate who we are now, not base the entire show around 40 year old music... and then there was the totally unprofessional repeating of the first segment to soundtrack the athletes coming out. A golden rule of DJing / sound tracking anything ever is that you never ever ever repeat the same track more than once, and certainly not 4 tracks immediately after you've just played them. Whoever did that needs to never be allowed near a mixer ever again IMO, and should be publicly named and shamed.
 
  • Like
Reactions: han
It was fine that the concept of it wasn't spectacular - it was about winding down, not getting people going - but most of the music choices were beyond bland and it just didn't look good on screen. Here's another overplayed song and here's some choreography that is too small from a distance and too disconnected close up.

Having a film director devise the opening ceremony was definitely a good idea, since most people will see it on screen. The bit of the closing ceremony that worked best was the cauldron that was in the opening ceremony.
 
It was fine that the concept of it wasn't spectacular - it was about winding down, not getting people going - but most of the music choices were beyond bland and it just didn't look good on screen. Here's another overplayed song and here's some choreography that is too small from a distance and too disconnected close up.

Having a film director devise the opening ceremony was definitely a good idea, since most people will see it on screen. The bit of the closing ceremony that worked best was the cauldron that was in the opening ceremony.

Something I couldn't understand: why choose songs where you can't get the originals, and in the end, have to go with a cover band? If you can't get Oasis, why choose Wonderwall?
 
May be a bit of a thread bump here, but I'm watching it again for the second time right now - trying to be less grumpy and cynical - because I think this has been a great games all round (pure congrats Team GB :cool:)

I'm on the West Coast, live went out 1pm PDT today till about 4pm; we get a rebroadcast during tonight's dinner hour.

I'm going to try this again with eyes and ears wide open. And did I mention...congrats Team GB :)
 
A golden rule of DJing / sound tracking anything ever is that you never ever ever repeat the same track more than once,more than once, and certainly not 4 tracks immediately after you've just played them.

Larry Levan, arguably one of the world's most talented ever DJs, when breaking something the crowd didn't respond to would sometimes just play it again and again until by the end people were going wild to it
 
Something I couldn't understand: why choose songs where you can't get the originals, and in the end, have to go with a cover band? If you can't get Oasis, why choose Wonderwall?

It was Liam Gallagher, you know the guy that used to be in Oasis. Pity really, a covers band would have sung it better!

edited to hide a blonde moment!
 
Ginger Spice (Geri Halliwell), the one famous for the union jack dress

Right: Ginger.

I was watching, and I said to my wife: why are there five spice girls? There's only four. She said, no, there's five. I said, Baby, Scary, Posh and Sporty: who's the fifth>?

She couldn't tell me.

She'll be pleased to hear that she's right, even if her memory just happens to be going in different ways.:(
 
So she's walking by right now. I say 'Ginger'. She says 'what?' I say Ginger. She says, 'what'? I say 'Ginger'.

She just looks at me, and says, what are you talking about?

I say, the fifth spice girl.

She says 'oh, right - how terribly British!':D

I love that girl. :)
 
It was shit, it was like a corporate advert for a company who do awards evenings in holiday inns or something.

I felt more like that in the second half of the Brazilian bit. I liked the first part; but then these singers who are probably really famous in Brazil, but unknown anywhere else in the world except maybe the Azores, come out and start congratulating each other. At least Pele was there.

In spite of that, I want to go to the Rio Olympics. That'll be a fucking party, too. :D
 
I had no problem with the inclusion of Freddie and John. My problem was with the rest of the stuff they picked, and shit like letting the kaiser chiefs play, but only if they played pinball wizard... and that daft twat singing I am the walrus, particularly when they had Liam Gallagher around who actually made a bit of a speciality of singing that track on Oasis live shows.

Good post.
 
Back
Top Bottom