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London: The sometimes
spectacular, and often quirky and surprising opening ceremony of
the Olympic Games had been matched for craziness and bizarre
sights in the closing ceremony at the Olympic Stadium, but with
one big difference -- it was even more madly bonkers.
Thousands of athletes Sunday night took the opportunity to party
like mad, to a soundtrack supplied by top British artists.
The five-strong girl-band 'The Spice Girls' reformed for the
evening and were seen whizzing around the stadium on the top of
black London taxis, belting out one of their hits, reports Xinhua.
The most surreal moment of a truly mad evening was the appearance
of Monty Python star Eric Idle singing 'Always Look on the Bright
Side of Life' -- often sung by defeated sports fans to cheer
themselves up -- complete with roller-skating nuns, morris
dancers, dancing Roman centurions, frantic Indian Bhangra dancers
and a kilted-bagpipe band.
The athletes flooded into the stadium from all sides to fill up
parts of a giant union flag on the stadium floor, designed by
British artist Damien Hirst.
They partied to a 'Symphony of British Music', showcasing an hour
of great British hits, starting with film of John Lennon, the
Beatle murdered in New York in 1980, singing his idealistic hit
'Imagine' as a giant replica of his face was created in the center
of the stadium.
The music brought out not just the breadth of British music, but
also an underlying surreality, particularly with a Beatle's track
'Magical Mystery Tour' featuring dancing walruses and eggmen (from
the lyrics of the song), and D J Fatboy Slim whose appearance also
heralded the arrival of the world's largest transparent plastic
octopus, and whose eight limbs twitched disturbingly to the music.
Earlier, Stomp, the physical theater group whose show has been
running in the West End for 20 years, using giant models of London
sights such as the London Eye, Tower Bridge, as percussion
instruments.
Hundreds of lycra-clad children and teenagers pulled themselves
into unlikely poses as the Beatles hit 'A Day in the Life' played.
Then the audience in the stadium and millions watching on TV and
the Internet, saw an actor playing Sir Winston Churchill pop out
of the peeled top of the Big Ben tower, quoting the Shakespeare
lines from 'The Tempest' heard in the opening ceremony, "Be not
afeard, this isle is full of noises".
Music in this early segment (and also later in the show) was, in
effect, the world's most expensive karaoke concert, with the
audience in the stadium -- mostly Brits -- knowing the words to
the songs and joining in.
The bands and artists had created the hit music, an eclectic and
very British mix of pop and rock tunes from the past 50 years.
More precisely it was not just British but very London, with music
by artists from London -- like the 1980s ska band Madness -- or
songs about London -- like the Pet Shop Boys with their hit 'West
End Girls'.
Madness reprised 'Our House', which they had performed just two
months earlier on top of Buckingham Palace as part of the concert
to mark Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee.
They were followed by the surrealistic sight of the Band of the
Brigade of Guards -- the Queen's personal 'i-pod' -- playing
Blur's 'Parklife', a 90s Britpop hit whose ironic and droll humour
is a world away from the apparent formality of the scarlet-tunic
clad musicians.
In the more formal, and more sane, parts of the evening Jacques
Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
presented the winners medals for the men's marathon, and later
took possession of the Olympic flag from London Mayor Boris
Johnson to then hand it over to Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes.
A segment from the 2016 Olympic Games host city Rio de Janeiro
showcased its rich blend of cultures and dance, and climaxed with
the appearance of legendary footballer Pele.
In a final speech, London Organising Committee for the Olympic
Games (LOCOG) Chairman Lord Sebastian Coe said: "Today sees the
closing of a wonderful Games in a wonderful city. We lit the flame
and we lit up the world, for the third time in its history London
was granted the trust of the Olympic movement and once again we
have shown ourselves worthy of that trust."
To conclude the evening IOC President Rogge praised London's
spectators and the Olympic volunteers.
He added, "You have earned the respect and admiration of a global
audience. Through your commitment to fair play and your respect
for opponents and grace in defeat as well as victory, you have
earned the right to be called Olympians. These were happy and
glorious Games."
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