My Story: London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony (Part 3)

This follows...
http://travelhappinesslife.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/my-story-london-2012-olympic-opening_29.html


With time running out until the big day, our rehearsals became more frequent. We were at the stadium for long days and did four days straight between Wednesday 18th and Saturday 21st July, the Saturday being our first full dress rehearsal. While there was a lot of hanging around, my friends and I never complained, we knew what an amazing experience this would be. It was always nice to have a sit down in the middle of the magnificent stadium if we got the chance...but only when it wasn't raining. 

A lot of the things we worked on as drummers were coming down the stairs in time with each other, avoiding the 'traffic' with the workers humping large bits of scenery and turf and our standing positions toward the end of the piece. One day I was particularly excited as my group were instructed to drum from the Tor - the large grass mound. Alas, that was the only day I got on there. We also got to see parts of the other scenes in the ceremony, I remember us drummers giving the dancers a standing ovation after seeing some of their scene. Support for the other groups was amazing, everybody clapped and cheered each other through the rehearsals, and onto the big nights.

Final Week: Monday 23rd, Wednesday 25th, Friday 27th July 

There was a great deal of excitement in the final week, particularly watching the audience arrive in the park and start taking their seats. We had to get to the stadium early and there was a lot of hanging around.

Before & After:

  













For all three performances, due to being furthest away, my group had a call time of 8.15pm, just as the pre show was starting. With our sticks and straps we headed to the 'drum' compound, collected our bins and headed to our entrance, just above the lower seating on the podium level. 

Team 49!

And then it was showtime!


The following pics were taken by my wife who attended the Wednesday dress rehearsal. 

Laura and Mum 25/7/12

Here are some more from a different perspective - in the stands above my pitch position.

Look carefully I am the bald guy at the back of the drummers.

And then onto the night itself. We had a lovely surprise on the way in when we were given one of the official opening ceremony programmes which had our names in it and many of our faces.

For our Industrial revolution scene we were so well drilled it seemed to go like a dream. I loved returning back up the stairs we descended to applause and some high fives. As with the other nights, it was a quick change into our marshalling gear and ready to do the athletes parade. the big difference on the night however was that we had never done this with athletes or to a full house. Steve Boyd, our mass choreography leader came out with some classic instructions on the night including "Can you get the Australians off the Water wheel - IT'S HOLLOW"  

While 200 of the drummers accompanied the entrance of the teams with their beats, the rest of us were spread all over the stage, creating the lovely shapes you saw on TV and spent most of the time dancing away and doing our special moves like 'The Bolt', the 'Freddie' (Mercury) and the 'Travolta'!

Then there was the small matter of The Arctic Monkeys, speeches, the opening of the games by the Queen, the lighting of the cauldron, Sir Paul McCartney and of course thousands of fireworks. 

   










The whole process from audition to opening ceremony was brilliant and something I will remember for the rest of my life. 

The final photos are the best I could find and show I WAS THERE! 

Taken on Monday dress rehearsal by my friend Caroline - quite unbelievable that I would end up in front of her! 

I am top right!

Here I am fifth from left.

the bald head shows my second marshalling position - facing the Queen 

Here I am in my first marshalling position.

and Closing Ceremony:

http://travelhappinesslife.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/my-story-london-2012-olympics-closing.html