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Closing ceremony brings London 2012 Olympics to an end, soundtrack goes on sale

By | Published on Monday 13 August 2012

A Symphony Of British Music

So, after two weeks of sporting highs, kicked off by Danny Boyles’ amazing opening ceremony, last night the London Olympics came to an end with a celebration of all things British – road rage, drilling, the Kaiser Chiefs and Stomp.

As had been rumoured, Ed Sheeran did perform Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here’ with the band’s drummer Nick Mason and “some other people” (they being Mike Rutherford from Genesis and The Feeling’s Richard Jones), though sadly Stephane Grappelli failed to appear, as Sheeran had suggested he would, on account of him having been dead since 1997 (as one of our readers duly pointed out when that claim was first reported).

Other rumours also came true: The Spice Girls sang from the tops of black cabs, George Michael wowed the crowd with a rendition of ‘Freedom’ and then lost them by inexplicably singing a new track, Muse performed the worst song of all time, and Beady Eye covered Oasis’s ‘Wonderwall’. However, Kate Bush was a no show, despite ‘Running Up That Hill’ being played – David Bowie was similarly replaced by Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Lily Cole standing around for a bit.

As well as that, Elbow performed their official BBC Olympics theme and ‘One Day Like This’ as all the athletes shuffled into the stadium, Emeli Sandé sang 700 times, Jessie J informed the crowd that it wasn’t about the money money money from the back of a convertible Rolls Royce and did ‘We Will Rock You’ with Brian May and Roger Taylor (although Freddie Mercury did appear via some footage from Queen’s 1986 Wembley Stadium show via not quite a hologram but several big screens), Fatboy Slim pretended to DJ atop a traditional British inflatable octopus, and the Kaiser Chiefs covered The Who (presumably not realising that the actual Who were booked to close the show).

Also, Take That, The Pet Shop Boys, Ray Davies, One Direction, Madness, Tinie Tempah, Annie Lennox, Taio Cruz, Eric Idle and Russell Brand were all in attendance.

And, as with the opening ceremony, this whole soundtrack is now available to buy. That’s right, you can own recordings of Russell Brand singing ‘I Am The Walrus’ and The Kaiser Chiefs’ version of ‘Pinball Wizard’ for all eternity.

The Artistic Director of the closing ceremony, Kim Gavin, said: “I was lucky because Seb Coe basically just asked me to put on a party, a celebration of London and the UK. To me the sport was always the main event, and I wanted to create a great after show party for the athletes, the volunteers, the spectators and people watching around the world. My approach, just like any party, was to start with the music. We wanted the ceremony to reflect on UK music and how good and global British music is”.

Here’s the full tracklisting for the compilation:

CD 1:
Urban Voices Collective – Because
Julian Lloyd Webber, LSO, Stomp feat Timothy Spall – Salut d’Amour
Madness – Our House
Massed Bands Of The Household Division – Parklife
Pet Shop Boys – West End Girls
Ray Davies, Urban Voices Collective, LSO – Waterloo Sunset
Emeli Sandé – Read All About It
David Arnold – Parade Of Athletes
Elbow, LSO, Urban Voices Collective – Open Arms
Elbow, LSO, Urban Voices Collective – One Day Like This
Kate Bush – Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God Remix)
Toby Pitman, David Arnold, Pete Lockett, Rahda Meta, Prabhat Rao, Varun Verma, Bilwa Iyer, Urban Voices Collective, Eos Chater, Tania Davis, Elspeth Hanson, Gay-Yee Westerhoff – Here Comes The Sun
David Arnold – Medal Ceremony
Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody (Excerpt)

CD 2:
John Lennon, Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Choir – Imagine
George Michael – White Light
Kaiser Chiefs – Pinball Wizard
David Bowie – Fashion
Annie Lennox – Little Bird
Ed Sheeran, Nick Mason, Mike Rutherford, Richard Jones, David Arnold – Wish You Were Here
Russell Brand, LSO – Pure Imagination
Russell Brand, Bond – I Am The Walrus
Fatboy Slim – Right Here, Right Now
Fatboy Slim – The Rockafeller Skank
Jessie J, Tinie Tempah, Taio Cruz – Medley: Price Tag / Written In The Stars / Dynamite
The Bee Gees feat Jessie J, Tinie Tempah, Taio Cruz – You Should Be Dancing
The Spice Girls – Medley: Wannabe / Spice Up Your Life
Eric Idle – Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life
Muse – Survival
Queen – Queen Medley: Day-O / Brighton Rock
Queen and Jessie J – We Will Rock You
The London Welsh Male Voice Choir, The London Welsh Rugby Club Choir, LSO – Olympic Anthem
LSO – Extinguishing The Flame
Take That – Rule The World
David Arnold – Spirit Of The Flame
The Who – Baba O’Riley
The Who – See Me Feel Me / Listen To Me
The Who – My Generation



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