Commonwealth Games - Closing Ceremony

Sunday night, Emma, Dad, Heather and I went to the Closing Ceremony for the Commonwealth Games. It was brilliant. I loved every moment from the warm-up act, the Scared Weird Little Guys, to the finale with John Farnham.

The 'Scaredies' came on around 20:00 and had the 80,000 strong crowd in stitches from the get-go. One of the many highlights of their set was when they decided to get the crowd to do a Mexican Wave with camera flashes! I honestly didn't think they would be able to pull it off, but somehow they did. It looked fantabulous.

I nearly didn't bother putting the 'Mexican Flash' photos in but hope they give you an idea of how the wave went anti-clockwise around the stadium. These photos are captured from a little video I took which looked simply stunning.

The boys also performed a few songs, including a couple of Stump the Scaredies (Old McDonald had a farm to Nirvana's Smells like teen spirit - hi-larious!). The other job they had was to take us through a few of the 'audience participation' tasks that lay ahead for us throughout the show. The show proper started with a tribute to Aussie Rules Football and the huge part it plays in Melbourne culture. (Notice I didn't say sporting culture). It was very fitting and uniquely Melbourne. I loved the run-through banner - it's just Melbourne.

The cast included Official Supporter Club members from each AFL Team and even a few AFL players.

Next came the icons of Melbourne - Flinders Street Station, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne Cup, Arts Centre Spire, Luna Park, Skipping Girl and Federation Square.

These icons were really lovely and were shown off whilst Paul Kelly performed Leaps and Bounds. Seriously, could there be a more fitting song? - "I'm high on the hill, Looking over the bridge, To the M.C.G. And way up on high, The clock on the silo, Says eleven degrees...". Ben Lee followed with a performance of We're all in this together. Nice sentiment, but repetitive - I'm so not a Ben Lee fan - but the visuals were great. The 'Sweetheart' dancers created a gigantic "I {love heart} M" in the middle of the arena. How could you not love Melbourne?

Next up was a wonderful tribute to all the Volunteers who helped out with the Games. Mum wasn't actually in the Closing Ceremony but she was helping out behind the scenes and since I don't have any great photos of the Volunteers from the closing I thought it was appropriate Mum be posted here.

At this point it started to snow... The tribute was done in the form of a poem with the last line being something like "rain, hail or snow..." Hmm, I think the snow was meant to be a dig at Melbourne's unpredictable weather. Some chick then came out and sang Don't Dream It's Over.

The formalities for the evening came next. There were thank you speeches ("...Melbourne Lord Mayor, John So" Yay!), congratulation speeches ("...Melbourne Lord Mayor, John So" Yay!), more thank you and congratulations speeches ("...Melbourne Lord Mayor, John So" Yay!), handing over of the Commonwealth Games Flag to the next host city (Melbourne Lord Mayor, John So, is given the flag. Yay!). That John So is one popular dude. Every time his name was mentioned the crowd went crazy. It also happened at the Opening but to a much lesser extent. The response for him at the Closing was phenomenal. It seems John So is everyone's bro at the minute. Good for him.

As is tradition the next city to host the games always prepares a little something. A sneak preview of sorts. Delhi did this in style - Bollywood style that is. Most impressive.

Formalities continued on, including the official closing of the Games by Prince Eddie and the official thank you to the athletes, before Michael Klim was 'rudely' interrupted by Dame Edna Everage on the BIG screen. What followed was umm... astonishing?

Dame Edna performed for us a lovely little ditty she/he had written all about our wonderful city and was supported by 1000 Commonwealth Dames. 1000 little Ednas each with their own glowing gladioli. It was quite the sight.

And then - The Finale. Who else but Melbourne boy John Farnham. I think I was the only person in the stadium who had no idea that he was performing... And I call myself a fan! John was great but how he managed to stuff up the words to You're the Voice I will never know. LOL! As John was singing the athletes were 'let lose' to come party on the arena floor surrounding the centre platform where John and his band were. John (first name basis here... It has been almost 20 years) belted out four or five songs, with the most apt being Playing to Win. Such a great song and always one of my favourites live. This last part was a real treat for me.

And then it was all over - After only 12 Days. It's been fun and I am so thankful that I allowed myself to get caught up in the moments that did indeed unite us. Besides both ceremonies being a blast and the competitions being extremely exciting Melbourne somehow seemed brighter. People were out enjoying themselves not just rushing to the office, people were friendlier and happier, you know. More relaxed.

I sure noticed a difference on Monday. Southbank was empty, there were no longer people wearing the bright blue volunteer uniform, there were no tourists and even the fish were being dismantled. Is it too late to extend the Games?

I did get one last Games moment at lunchtime on Monday. There was a 'Thank You' parade through the CBD for the athletes and the volunteers. Of course, I couldn't miss that... Mum was marching.

Well, as they say in the classics: "So long, and thanks for all the fish."