Au revoir Paris, Hola LA.
In a nutshell, that was the simply accomplished ceremony of the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad.
It was Tom Cruise leaping off the rim of the Stade de France to take the Olympic flag from LA Mayor Karen Bass and Simone Biles. As the guitar riffs of H.E.R. crammed the air, Cruise then exited on a bike to ship the flag to a sunny West Coast. It was the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish and Olympic fixture Snoop Dogg moving into the pre-recorded groove down in Long Beach.
It wasn’t telling of the complete scope of Los Angeles and no point out was made from Snoop’s supposed flight from Paris to LA, nevertheless it was pure Hollywood.
It was excessive and cliche crammed – – as if something much less would have sufficed.
Next to the artistry of Paris, it could have appeared so American – even the handover was produced by Brits Fulwell73. Yet, if the subsequent Summer Games are in America, and within the dwelling of Hollywood ..nicely, as Jimmy Fallon close to screamed on NBC on Sunday: “that’s the way you do it!”
When Dr. Dre confirmed as much as reunite along with his long-time collaborator and Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show pal Snoop, it was pure LA Love, to paraphrase the N.W.A. vet’s 1994 ‘California Love’ hit with Tupac Shakur.
With all that star energy, the spectacle of the Paris portion of the three-hour closing ceremony merely dimmed. That was only a truth even with Gold medal swimmer Léon Marchand bringing a full circle conclusion to the occasion as he introduced the Olympic flame into the French stadium.
Yes, again in France, Phoenix confirmed up amidst a mosh pit of athletes on the Stade de France, Joined by Kavinsky and Angèle, the rock band gave us what could be a mini-Coachella throughout the Atlantic.
But it was no LA, the place actual Coachella headliners flexed for his or her hometown.
As the efficiency parts of Paris’ farewell started, the glittery Golden Voyager and the return of the metallic horse rider and the mysterious hooded Assassin’s Creed character from the opening ceremony was overshadowed by strobe lights and the stadium broad story of the Olympics from antiquity to in the present day from wristbands among the many crowd. In brief, as the large rings had been raised, it was Cirque du Soleil meets Game of Thrones with extra dry ice {that a} Bjork live performance.
Very very like the opening ceremony, which was additionally the brainchild of creative director Thomas Jolley, the overly conceptual French portion of the multi-segment closing ceremony stumbled as a small display screen occasion, even when it regarded spectacular within the stadium itself.
The first Olympics to attain gender parity, in the present day’s closing ceremony to the 19-day occasion was a way more conventional affair than the disjointed July 26 extravaganza on the River Seine.
From the opening music by Zaho de Sagazan and Marchand starting his journey, transporting the Olympic flame again to the 70,000-packed stadium, all of the rumors and leaks had been centered on the subsequent video games and what would LA deliver to its a part of the present on Sunday.
Trying to maintain it up-close and private for viewers within the early portion of the closing ceremony, NBC’s important Olympics man Mike Tirico and his newly minted co-host, Jimmy Fallon, pulled off a number of methods. Chatting reside with Team USA flagbearers and Gold medalists Katie Ledecky and Nick Mead as they entered the stadium with the Parade of Athletes was definitely a little bit of enjoyable. The medal ceremony for the Women’s marathon runners and the athletes’ of Queen’s “We are the Champions” had been each a pleasure to look at.
Otherwise, over on NBC, it was primarily a listing of stats, names and bullet factors about sustainability from the duo and commentators 1998 Olympic determine skating gold medalist Tara Lipinski, two-time Olympian determine skater Johnny Weir and Terry Gannon. Though the “God, the French are cool” comment as a piano vertically performed “The Hymn to Apollo” made one surprise if any of them had ever attended a Vegas residency.
Irritating nobody however the IOC, NBC minimize away from most of retiring Olympic boss Thomas Bach speech concerning the position the Games play in making a tradition of peace speech. While anticipated to be the final time we hear from Bach in his current capability, the remarks had been, just like the closing ceremony itself, pretty tame and boilerplate, all issues thought of.
Coming off the re-normalization of the Olympics in Paris, the City of Angels and the Casey Wasserman-led Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee made certain to placed on a real Hollywood manufacturing. Earlier Sunday, Wasserman advised NBC’s Tirico that what he discovered essentially the most from Paris 2024 was “their willingness to actually assume outdoors the field.”
Truthfully, there wasn’t a lot considering outdoors the field with the LA portion of the closing ceremony, however there was a variety of what invented the field.
Paris could have completed it their method, as Yseult sang the famed Sinatra tune primarily based on primarily based on the music of ‘Comme d’habitude’ on the very finish of in the present day’s occasion. LA clearly plans to go full bread and circuses in 2028 and provides the folks what they need.
Content Source: deadline.com