On Wednesday evening this week, a lucky few of us attended the
rehearsal of tonight’s London 2012 opening ceremony in the “fresh
out of the box” Olympic stadium.
I don’t want to spoil the surprise for you and I won’t. The real
thing will be a glorious visual and aural feast that will make the
country proud, I’m confident of that.
At the rehearsal, despite having significant sections of the
show “blacked out” to keep tonight’s proceedings under wraps, the
mood of the crowd, and the thousands of performers was incredibly
infectious. Everyone wanted to have a good time, and a good time we
had.
Without giving the game away, how would I sum it up?
It’s a glorious mash-up of the wonderful ingredients of our
country, some of which may appear from the outside to be esoteric
at best and unappealing at worst. I don't know if our global
audiences will get every reference, but you can’t cater for
absolutely everyone, otherwise you would turn something unique into
something bland.
The world will see and experience our past, present, and
possibilities. We the citizens of a country given to criticism and
self-deprecation will, I think, re-connect with a greatness
within.
This is for everyone, welcoming the world to the greatest show
on Earth. But this is also, powerfully, for me.