Olympic ceremony music!

Talismanis

Senior Member
Who caught the opening ceremony? What did ya think of the music?

I thought Evelyn Glennie was superb, she just sounded so powerful with all the volunteer drummers.

Arctic Monkeys were absolutely great imo.

I can't remember who else played but I thought Paul McCartney was pretty.. well, crap. The guy can't sing, there was that weird vocal backing track thing before he started singing (did anyone else hear that?) and the sound was mixed horribly for him. But everyone looked like they were having fun so I can't be too miserable about it haha.
 
I thought why Hey Jude and then of course the ending with everyone singing along - it made sense. There was so much music, Muse, Bowie, Queen and Pink Floyd at the end with the fireworks was genius.

Fab

Davo
 
I thought the opening industrial revolution scene was stunning, & overall, I think the opening ceremony was very well conceived, especially considering the budget difference compared to Beijing. I'm not too sure the global audience would have got some of the content, but certainly some of the modern references such as Bond & Bean.

I thought Evelyn Glennie was superb, she just sounded so powerful with all the volunteer drummers.
Yes, drummers got a good slice of the public consciousness pie there, & Evelyn was great :)

Arctic Monkeys were absolutely great imo.
You're joking, right? :) Pitchy vocals, terrible guitar work, benign original material with zero international resonance. Of all the great musicians this country has produced, was that really the best we could put forward? Given the magnitude & global nature of the event, that was a terrible booking decision.

Abe Laboriel Jr. nailed it big time :)
 
You're joking, right? :) Pitchy vocals, terrible guitar work, benign original material with zero international resonance. Of all the great musicians this country has produced, was that really the best we could put forward? Given the magnitude & global nature of the event, that was a terrible booking decision.

Macca's drummer nailed it big time :)

I'm being serious man! To me they sounded like a good live rock band. I'm judging their performance, which I thought was great (and their drummer was going a bit mental in the background, he was eating his drum stick at one point haha). I like their music as well, but each to their own :).
Macca was just.. I don't know. The mixing was awful, he couldn't stay in key and his random wails at the end were iffy at best, the mini bass solo sounded out of place to me, and I don't know what it is but I'm certain I heard vocals on Hey June before he even started singing. The drummer was very very good, but unfortunately he was way too loud in the mix and compressed to death; not his own fault, but the fault of whatever numpty was in charge of sound. I was left thinking that the whole thing was AMAZING, except for at the end a washed up celebrity who was only there because he's a beatle popped up because hey he's british and successful so why the hell not tag him on the end? I dunno, I was really expecting better from someone of his magnitude at the bloody OLYMPICS.
 
Macca was just.. I don't know. The mixing was awful, he couldn't stay in key and his random wails at the end were iffy at best, the mini bass solo sounded out of place to me, and I don't know what it is but I'm certain I heard vocals on Hey June before he even started singing. The drummer was good, but unfortunately he was way too loud in the mix and compressed to death; not his own fault, but the fault of whatever numpty was in charge of sound. I was left thinking that the whole thing was AMAZING, except for at the end a washed up celebrity who was only there because he's a beatle popped up because hey he's british and successful so why the hell not tag him on the end? I dunno, I was really expecting better from someone of his magnitude at the bloody OLYMPICS.
Overall, I'd agree with that.
 
Like I said, everyone at the stadium looked like they loved it, and it probably sounded different to the people who were actually there. I have a feeling I might be being too anal and grumpy about the whole thing but if people agree with me then there you go haha. I didn't watch the Jubilee concert so I don't necessarily speak truth here, but I've heard he wasn't so hot there either.
 
Again with Let It Be? Aw, man...

Well, I'll just switch over to the Braves game.

Hey, did you check out the Queen? She looked quite pissed off at the whole thing. Screw the lot of 'em, I say!
 
Cracking opening ceremony!

As for the blip at the beginning of Hey Jude... entirely McCartney's fault! He started singing a good bar or so too early and Abe did everything he could to correct him before the backing track kicked in... As soon as it did, the band gave him a bar or two to see if he was going to join the same planet as everyone else on stage and when they realised he was just going to carry on a bar ahead of the backing track, the keyboard player quickly reset everything, killed the backing track, and they had to play the rest of the show without it, which explains why it was all drum kit and a weak, out of tune vocal!! Nothing to do with the sound engineer and, credit where credit's due, a professional and speedy recovery by McCartney's band - which is why they're getting a gig of that magnitude. Just a shame with so much talent on the stage that they needed the backing track in the first place... I guess we all just found out who the least talented performer on the stage was!

In my opinion, Danny Boyle did us proud and it was only right to end the London 2012 Olympics with a Beatles legend.
 
Two things:

1. I'm very happy to see Mike Oldfield get so much time and so much of his music played.

2. I'm also happy that Mike now owns all of his music, which means Richard Branson won't get a dime of the royalties that will come from this event being seen and heard by millions of people.
 
I liked and enjoyed the bits & pieces of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, Pretty Vacant by The Sex Pistols, The Rolling Stones - I Can't Get No...Satisfaction! It was good enough for me.

Don't care that much for the Queen herself. The volunteer drummers all around the pitch...was unique...Overall - Well done Brits! :´)
 
Cracking opening ceremony!

As for the blip at the beginning of Hey Jude... entirely McCartney's fault! He started singing a good bar or so too early and Abe did everything he could to correct him before the backing track kicked in... As soon as it did, the band gave him a bar or two to see if he was going to join the same planet as everyone else on stage and when they realised he was just going to carry on a bar ahead of the backing track, the keyboard player quickly reset everything, killed the backing track, and they had to play the rest of the show without it, which explains why it was all drum kit and a weak, out of tune vocal!! Nothing to do with the sound engineer and, credit where credit's due, a professional and speedy recovery by McCartney's band - which is why they're getting a gig of that magnitude. Just a shame with so much talent on the stage that they needed the backing track in the first place... I guess we all just found out who the least talented performer on the stage was!

In my opinion, Danny Boyle did us proud and it was only right to end the London 2012 Olympics with a Beatles legend.

You joined this forum only to say that? Wait! Are you Danny Boyle?
 
Caught the end of it and I'm currently watching the replay now to catch up on what I missed.

My thoughts on what I've seen so far? As a spectacular....spot on. A great showcase. Fireworks over old London town were just the bomb. Old Blighty looks like it's really gonna turn it on!!

Agreed, given such a rich musical history I thought the Arctic Monkeys an odd choice too. But as a whole, well done England......even Macca. No idea WTF happened at the beginning, but I only had to look at the reaction of those there to know that it worked regardless.

I get totally hooked every 4 years. So looking forward to the next couple of weeks.

Hey, did you check out the Queen? She looked quite pissed off at the whole thing.

My first thought too Jay. Really looked like she'd rather be any place but, to me. It's been a big year and I wondered if it was just one event too many.......then again, maybe she was just recovering from the free fall.
 
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Screw who exactly Jay? I hope you're not referring to us as a nation.

Apart from some of the music related details, that frankly, only us saddo musicians would bother to analyse, I thought is was a superb show. I was very proud of my fellow countrymen last night.

I was referring to the royals. During the fours years I lived in England I witnessed a lot of outrageously selfish behavior from that lot. I really grew to not like them at all.

But I love England. My wife is British. We're going to go back to live there once she finishes her master's degree. She wants to get back into the NHS, and I just want to go back to my second home, back to Sussex and the green hills and the sea, and back to London.

Of course you should be proud! Myself, I don't go in for all the theatrics, and I was completely lost by the girl losing her phone segment, but my wife loved it, as I knew she would.
 
I was referring to the royals. During the fours years I lived in England I witnessed a lot of outrageously selfish behavior from that lot. I really grew to not like them at all.

But I love England. My wife is British. We're going to go back to live there once she finishes her master's degree. She wants to get back into the NHS, and I just want to go back to my second home, back to Sussex and the green hills and the sea, and back to London.

Of course you should be proud! Myself, I don't go in for all the theatrics, and I was completely lost by the girl losing her phone segment, but my wife loved it, as I knew she would.
Thanks for the clarification Jay, & when you do eventually land here, would be great to hook up :)
 
There was a time early in Paul McCartney's solo career where he refused to do "Let it Be", basically stating he'd never perform that song live - ever. Now he does every show.

He'd be best to do a little solo tour, with guitar and piano, doing deep album cuts.
 
I know what Happened to Paul McCartney at Olympics. I mean I know hes old, but his voice even in the last month has never been THAT bad. I love Macca.. people are telling me after there was a cock up he lost his nerves. so anyway:

Similarly to the failing microphone on "Let It Be" during Live Aid back in 1985, McCartney's appearance on the opening of the olympics had issues. McCartney was supposed to partially mime his performance. His live vocals were the ones that would be heard in the stadium, while his pre-recorded studio-perfect vocals were to accompany the television broadcast. 'The End' went great: the 3 lines were lipsynched perfectly. The live vocals could be heard in the stadium, and his pre-recorded vocals was on TV. Then drummer Abe Jr. started counting off with his hi-hat, very likely hearing the click-track provided by musical director of the band and keyboard player Paul "Wix" Wickens in his ears. McCartney may also had in-ear monitors with the click-track for this occasion, it would make sense since he had to start the song, and he immediately realized what was going on. Then trouble began: McCartney started one bar and a half too soon with playing, resulting in hearing the audio on television as planned: just like on 'The End' no 'live' direct feed from the stage with only the stadium atmosphere microphones on, pre-recorded audio on full. But since those were out-of-sync because of McCartney missing the cue, you could hear a disastrous mix of them playing 'Hey Jude' in the stadium, with a bit later the pre-recorded version. Quickly the television audio crew turned off the backing track, and turned on the live band and vocals. If you look at the band members during the very first seconds of the song, notice Wix possibly trying to save something by skipping the backing track a bar and a half, which is technically possible. So that's what we heard at the live worldwide broadcast. Of course, for the tape-delayed butchered NBC version on the American television, this was 'fixed' by muting the pre-recorded 'backing track' from the very start. This resulted in hearing McCartney noticeable laughing about the huge mess-up, because he undoubtedly knew what happened.
 
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