LONDON — Short on narrative twists, but long on spectacle, the closing ceremony for the 2012 Olympics, themed “A Symphony of British Music,” chronicled the contributions made by British artists since the 1960s. Along with the parade of British performers, the lighting, video and pyro design all worked with the stage design as a unified whole — with the converging stripes of the Union Jack symbolizing the Olympian ideal of unity amid diversity.
Performers included The Who’s Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend, Annie Lennox, Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor, Jessie J, The Spice Girls, Ray Davies of The Kinks, George Michael, Liam Gallagher, the Pet Shop Boys, Muse, Madness, the Kaiser Chiefs, Elbow’s Guy Garvey, Fatboy Slim, Tinie Tempah and One Direction, among others.
Rock icons John Lennon and Freddy Mercury were represented as well, in the form of large, sculptural puzzle pieces (forming a giant likeness of Lennon’s face, to the tune of “Imagine”) and moving video screens featuring footage of Freddy Mercury performing at Wembley Stadium in 1986.
British actors, comedians and fashion models were on hand, including Monty Python’s Eric Idle (singing “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,” as stuntmen prepared to launch themselves from a cannon), Russell Brand (who performed the Beatles’ “I Am the Walrus”), Timothy Spall (performing as Winston Churchill atop a miniature-Big Ben), and supermodels wearing British designer clothing.
Along with mini-Big Ben, stage elements included a giant inflatable octopus (for Fatboy Slim), a replica of the London Eye Ferris wheel, LED video-clad London taxicabs (for the Spice Girls), a Gothic sailboat (for Annie Lennox) along with flying bicycles, representations of the Phoenix emerging from the Olympic flame, plus various high wire acts.
Close to 3,500 volunteers brought the total number of performers to 4,100, bathed in a holistic sea of color-changing light amid the flashes of fireworks from the stadium’s rim.
