The cream of the British music industry — including The Spice Girls, The Who, and the teaming of pop goddess Jesse J with the remaining members of Queen — rocked Olympic Stadium to close the London 2012 Games in a spectacular, joyful ceremony.<\/p>\n
The dazzling, psychedelic celebration took spectators on a journey through the swinging sixties of Carnaby Street into 1980s new wave and onto the power ballads of the nineties before closing with rap and pop tracks that rule today\u2019s U.K. charts. Sunday\u2019s ceremony, titled \u201cA Symphony of British Music,\u201d was set against an ever-changing physical and digital backdrop.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe lit the flame, and we lit up the world,\u201d London organizing committee chief Sebastian Coe said. \u201cWhen our time came, Britain, we did it right.\u201d<\/p>\n
The often tongue-in-cheek performances began with replicas of famed London landmarks Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, and the London Eye being stripped of newspaper wrappings to reveal a bustling, technicolor representation of a metropolis in motion. <\/p>\n
The soundtrack? \u201cOur House,\u201d sung live by 80s\u2019 chart-toppers Madness, as well as Blur\u2019s \u201cPark Life,\u201d and the Pet Shop Boys\u2019 \u201cWest End Girls.\u201d Singer Ray Davies later arrived via black cab to perform the Kink\u2019s 1967 classic \u201cWaterloo Sunset.\u201d<\/p>\n
Members of Stomp, the ageless, trash-can-pounding West End musical really got the 80,000 revelers in attendance cheering the city, the athletes and the volunteers that made these Games such a success.<\/p>\n
Along with the greats of the British music scene, more than 4,100 participants including 3,500 adult volunteers and 380 schoolchildren from the six east London host boroughs participated in the event according to the official London 2012 website.<\/p>\n
The audience first rose to their feet in unison as the march of the athletes began with flag-bearers entering the stadium in single file. In a surprise twist, the more than 10,000 participants from 204 countries arrived via many entry points, including through the rows of seated spectators who cheered and offered back-slaps to the competitors as they took their places around a giant Union Jack shaped stage that covered the arena floor.<\/p>\n
In contrast to the opening ceremony athletes marched together, not by nationality, thus allowing them to be free to enjoy the festivities as a united group. <\/p>\n
This tradition began in Melbourne, Australia at the 1956 Games and is seen as bringing the global athletes together as one nation.<\/p>\n
Prince Harry, the Duchess of Cambridge and other members of the Royal Family were in attendance to watch the flag handover ceremony. <\/p>\n
The Queen released a statement thanking the volunteers but did not attend as there was no official role for the head of state, according to Buckingham Palace. Prince William had to return to his post as a helicopter search-and-rescue pilot for the Royal Air Force in advance of the evening\u2019s entertainment.<\/p>\n
And it wouldn\u2019t have been a celebration of English quirk without a nod to the country\u2019s great tradition of comedy. Monty Python alum Eric Idle almost stole the show as he enlisted everyone in a sing-along version of \u201cAlways Look on the Bright Side of Life\u201d from 1979s \u201cLife of Brian.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other entertainers on the night included celebrated \u201cRight Here, Right Now\u201d deejay Fat Boy Slim, singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran who joined members of Pink Floyd for a version of \u201cWish You Were Here,\u201d Annie Lennox in full 1980s goth-get-up belting out \u201cLittle Bird\u201d and comedian Russell Brand who made his entrance via a psychedelic bus and then proceeded to shout \u201cI Am the Walrus.\u201d <\/p>\n
Prima ballerina Darcy Bussell and 300 dancers took to the stage as embodiments of the dying flames of the Olympic Cauldron. As their dance played out, a giant red Phoenix rose above the fire that at its extinguishing, signaled the official end of the London 2012 Games.<\/p>\n
The celebration allowed competitors to let down their hair, mingle and momentarily forget sporting battles won and lost. It also provided host country Great Britain a final opportunity to show off its artistic accomplishments before handing the Olympic reigns to Sochi, Russia, the tourist resort area on the southwest coast of the Black Sea that will host the 2014 Winter Games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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