Beautiful, epic & funny. The London 2012 Olympic games got off to a flying start last night (that featured no huge technical faults!) with a brilliantly British opening ceremony.
It was fairly dull to begin with, however. We saw a bunch of people standing about in fields for a while which eventually lead us on to a massive set change too, because there's nothing more majestic than watching a large woman lug a shed off into the distance. But, once that was all out of the way, things really began to hot up!
The video footage was stupendously exciting, with zooming cameras all over London and the way this was mixed with real, live, events was pretty darn clever! The transformations of the performance space were clearly well rehearsed and by the time the queen parachuted out of a helicopter, there wasn't any of the 'English countryside' set left behind. It was onto the NHS, boundy beds, JK Rowling, a giant Voldemort and Mary Poppins... It's at this point you began to realise just how many people must have been in that one space all at the same time. You've got the audience, the technical folks, the performers and dancers, the film crew, the stewards, all the sportsmen and women - it boggles the mind. It must have been a hectic, crazy mess backstage! But nothing seemed rushed or confused or botched. It all went swimmingly. Again - it boggles the mind.
After a fabulously funny sketch from the marvellous Rowan Atkinson, the 'modern day' section grew a little tiresome - computerised messages appearing on screen which were apparently texts and Facebook messages and shit loads of music - yeah, yeah. After a while it looked as if Britain was simply playing a mixtape to the rest of the world, which was a strange move considering the opening ceremony's main focus should surely be spectacle. That said, it was a splendid touch that this all, eventually, linked into an appearance by the creator of the internet, Sir Tim Berners-Lee. The less said about Dizzee Rascal the better.
A heartfelt slowing of the pace by Emile Sandé allowed us to spend a moment remembering those who were lost in the London bombings, and then it was onto the teams and their flags and the never ending list of countries you never even knew existed - each, importantly, bringing a little copper shell with them. Then, before you knew it (what was it, four hours?) Team GB marched out into the stadium. Very proud moment. This is us, we are throwing this party and we're bloody good at it. We're also going to win lots of gold, hopefully!
An unpredictable appearance from the Arctic Monkeys lead us onto a visually orgasmic flying dove moment, and then a speech from Sebastien Coe who told us we all rocked and that the rest of the world knows it. By then, The Queen had finished filing her nails so reluctantly decided to stand up and officially declare the games as 'open' for business! Then a huge bunch of fireworks lit up the sky while a lucky group of young athletes 'inspired a generation' as they set a bleedin' wonderful olympic torch alight - it really was the most amazing thing. All those shells, brought in by every single country, came together in one magnificent display of peace and sportsmanship.
Let the games begin! Na-na-nah, etc.
Roo