Why P-Square sacked May D

This morning, the P-Square custodian, Jude Okoye, revealed that, May D , an artiste under their Square Records has been fired. If you don't know May D, well, he is the young artiste who featured in the hit song Chop my money, alongside P-Square and Akon.
From what we gather, May D had been going around telling people he actually owns the song and PSquare had hijacked the song from him. Well, looking at it, he sang two verses in the song while the both of PSquare took one. Below is the mail Jude circulated this morning
(Click read more for Jude's statement)


TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
I,JUDE ‘ENGEES’ OKOYE of Square Records Limited and Northside Entertainment Limited hereby announces to the general public that Mr. Akinmayokun Awodumila, otherwise known as MAY D is no longer an artiste under the aforementioned outfits due to irreconcilable differences.
We at Northside and Square records wish him all the best in his career and life.

Yours Faithfully

Signed:
Jude Engees Okoye.

Huge bombs seized in Maiduguri

Evil doers are at it again. But for God's intervention and commitment of security, the nation would have been in mourning maybe next Sunday. In Maiduguri, these explosives were seized. Experts say they could demolish 5 buildings with ease.

May D Denies Square Records Rift…Says Does Not Know What They Are Talking About

Just when we thought it couldn’t get any messier, it is about to as they say, get ugly! Earlier today we brought you a report of the alleged disengagement of May D from Square Records as signed by Jude ‘Engees’ Okoye, the older of the Psquare twins.
The artiste in the eye of the storm, May D, has come out to deny the story making the rounds as according to him, he is not aware of his sack. Speaking on phone to the NET and sounding unfazed over the latest development, he said, “I don’t know what they are talking about, you know I don’t stay in their house so how am I meant to know this?” when prodded further, May D retorted, “I don’t know, have a nice day”.

May D
Another round of controversy might just be brewing over this saga and we hope it doesn’t degenerate into a media/internet war as recently witnessed between two foremost industry giants. Whatever it is, can be settled amicably except the contract does not have a legal document binding it.
Keep your fingers crossed as we keep you updated

Clifford Orji dies in prison

The story of Clifford Orji is a long one but let me try to summarize it. Clifford Orji was arrested in February 1999 by the police under the bridge at Toyota Bus Stop along the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway in Lagos after passers-by noticed his strange activities under the bridge. Items found on him at the time of his arrest was a cheque for the sum of N88,000, a cell phone, women underwear and fresh and roast human flesh and bones.
 He had roasted one of his victims at the time and eaten part of her flesh. The police believed Clifford was mad at the time he was arrested but there was a theory back then that his madness was fake; that ritualists put him under that bridge to act like he was mad, find victims, kill them and sell their body parts to them. Thus the cheque that was found on him. His arrest in 1999 was widely celebrated in the media.

 Anyway, after 13 years in prison, Clifford Orji, who went completely mad in prison, has died. He died on Friday August 17th in his sleep. He was 46 years old.

S/Africa convicts 20 for plotting to kill Nelson Mandela

A South African court Monday convicted the last of 20 men accused of high treason for a plot to kill Nelson Mandela and drive blacks out of the country, in a trial that spanned nearly a decade.

The “Boeremag” organisation had planned a right-wing coup in 2002 to overthrow the post-apartheid government by creating chaos in the country.

Dozens of people were injured and one person killed in blasts that shook the Johannesburg township of Soweto in October 2002.

High Court Judge Eben Jordaan found that Kobus Pretorius was the group’s “master explosives manufacturer” and “took the lead in the production process” throughout the group’s bomb-making activity.

“He produced the bomb intended for president Mandela and explained to the others how it worked,” Jordaan said.

The Boeremag — Afrikaans for “Boer Force”, a reference to the descendants of the first Dutch colonisers — had planned to sow chaos through bomb blasts then take over military bases, replace the government with white military rule and chase all blacks and Indians from the country.

The trial took almost a decade and the verdict, read from July 26, almost a month to complete.

All 20 accused were convicted of treason, but only five of murder and the plot to kill Mandela, South Africa’s first black president.

Pretorius, the last to be convicted, apologised for his involvement.

“I was wrong and I want to ask forgiveness for every person who suffered loss and was disadvantaged by my actions. I am sorry,” he said after the trial.

Earlier Pretorius’ two brothers and father were convicted of treason as well as the plot to kill Mandela and the killing of a Soweto resident.

The woman died when a bomb explosion sent a piece of steel from a railway 400 metres (1,300 feet) through the air. It struck her in the head when it burst through her shack in 2002.

Pretorius distanced himself from his family in the later stages of the trial, saying he had come to new political insights.

Kuramo Ocean surge: 5 more bodies recovered

LAGOS— FIVE more bodies swept away by weekend ocean surge at Kuramo beach in Victoria Island were recovered yesterday at the shore of Bar beach.

The recovered bodies were those of a two-year- old boy, Daniel Ajose, his mother, Mrs Mariam Ajose, Mr Joseph Oke, Olumide, and Alhaji Babatunde Benson, alias KC . This has brought the number of the dead to 10

There was a mild drama yesterday at Kuramo beach as some divers whose services were employed to scout for the bodies threatened to stop further work, alleging that they had been shortchanged.


DANGEROUS FUN—Fun seekers at the Bar Beach, Lagos, yesterday, despite the recent ocean surge that claimed several lives at the Kuramo Beach also in Lagos. Photos: Lamidi Bamidele.
The divers numbering four  explained that before they started the search on Sunday they had bargained for N50,000 at the completion of the job yesterday but those who hired them reneged on the agreement.  One of the divers who identified himself as Segun  said “today (yesterday), after we have recovered some of the bodies, we were given one thousand naira to share among ourselves”.

Divers threaten to stop search

He could however not state the name of the company that hired their services, saying “a man came to us saying they were from the state government. We have therefore resolve not to work further if we are not paid. Even if they will not pay us N50,000, at least , let them pay us something reasonable because paddling boats with the present tide can be dangerous”

Meanwhile fun seekers besieged Bar beach to celebrate  Sallah, with most of them claiming to be ignorant of the ocean surge at Kuramo beach while others expressed hope that the high tide would not get to Barbeach. “If it is dangerous, we would have been warned. The tide is favourable and there are divers around to ensure none gets drowned. Besides, government has worked on this beach.”

Occupants speak

However, occupants of the demolished shanties were still seen at Kuramo, with some of them saying they had nowhere else to go.  One of them, Kudirat Opeoluwa, told Vanguard, “ we have even lost contact with some of our relatives. As you know, a poor man has no friend. We are therefore left with no option than to hang around here until we have an alternative abode.

The entire area had been condoned off by security operatives, as work of sand filling went on. Relatives of  some of the missing victims were also sighted at the beach. They, however, kept mute when Vanguard approached them

Senior Adviser to Security and Traffic Management of Eti-Osa local government,  Stanley Iyere described the  surge as the most tragic in the history of the local government, assuring that  the authorities would  do everything possible to forestall it.

Mr. Fred, one of the occupants at the Beach, blamed the surge on the state government’s Eko Atlantic City project. “For me the cause of this surge came from the Lagos State government. Since 2009 when the Lagos state government commenced the construction of the Eko Atlantic City, the surge has begun to increase. And this year, the work got to Kuramo Beach. It happens yearly, especially from August to November, when the ocean current always rises. And because of the ongoing work at the Eko Atlantic City, the ocean current had nowhere to flow instead and it flowed to the shore to demolish our structures.

“Before the state government embarked on the construction of the city, during this time, what we normally experience is high tide and within hours, it would have subsided. The only thing that would be affected by the tide were the structures.

“Since they began the construction of this Eko Atlantic City, it has been from one issue to the other. And the reason is because we are middle class earners. The government is busy constructing home for the rich, abandoning the downtrodden. Despite this, we pay ground rent to the government, liquor license and other levies.

“The question I want to ask the government is that what is important about this Eko Atlantic City. Why will they not favour the poor masses ahead of the so called rich of the society? If the city is not there, the surge would have been mild.”

How I narrowly escaped being swept away — Survivor

Another occupant, Mrs. Amaka Obi, said “For me, I am moving my properties out of this place. I will be returning to Ijora axis of Lagos, where I came from to continue my business. There is no reason waiting behind after the government has demolished our structures. I thank God because I narrowly escaped being swept away. The current was so strong that I had to hold on to a structure before I managed to find a balance and miraculously found myself on a safe ground.

The Chief Executive Officer, CEO of a relaxation spot at the beach, Mr. Ademola Ogunbona, also recounted his experience; “The surge comes but it has not been as high as this since I relocated to Kuramo Beach in 2010. Since I came to this place, I have never seen a surge of this magnitude. All we had in the past was high tide. And when it comes, it does not affect lives but structures. For this year, it started two months ago. The surge came and it demolished tens of structures which prompted the Chairman of the investors association, who ordered that the woods left undistorted be set ablaze.

“And last week Monday, the surge began again. But the peak of it was between Friday night and the early hours of last Saturday, when it wrecked havoc on the community. On that day, the ocean current was very high, leaving larger part of the area submerged by water.

Secretary of the Kuramo Tourism Investors Association, Mr. Micheal Onuwaje in his own narration said: “The actual number of those whose lives were lost cannot be ascertained at this moment but we know that in the couple of days, the ocean current will dump the bodies of those who got drowned on the shoreline. By then we will be able to ascertain the accurate figure of those who got drowned.

“We are taking our property to our various homes. Not all our members pass the night here. Some only carry out their businesses here during the day and leave for their residence at night, while others reside here permanently.

The Commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructure Development, Prince Adesugun Oniru stated thus: “If you are familiar with this area, you will notice that part of the measures adopted by the state government to reduce ocean surge was the Eko Atlantic City. The on-going construction of the city has saved Victoria Island and others.

What happened here has nothing to do with Eko Atlantic City. The city under construction has never caused any ocean surge in the state. This is a natural phenomenon which happens three times in a year. At this time, one cannot cheat nature.

Lagos Commissioner  debunks occupants’ allegations

This issue is a worldwide issue (ocean surge) and this is our own share of it. The surge has nothing to do with the Eko Atlantic City. Since the commencement of the ongoing construction of the city, it has protected the entire Victoria Island, Ikoyi and others.

One can imagine what would have happened if this intervention from the state government was not there. The entire Island would have been submerged by water.

The shipwreck also didn’t cause the surge. What ship wreck does is that one side of the ship will be accumulating sand while the other will have high erosion. The only thing ship wreck will cause is that it will disturb the natural flow of that which nourish the shoreline.

We will remove the wrecked ships from the ocean very soon. Therefore, these two issues have nothing to do with ocean surge. The surge is caused by the high accumulation of water in the Atlantic Ocean coupled with the high waves.

Govt should have warned citizens — Picnicker

Meanwhile a picnicker, Mr. Joseph Wayo, argued that the government should have warned the citizens earlier and that demolition was not the solution to the problem.

According to him, “I flew in yesterday from Abuja with my family to catch fun at the Kuramo Beach. But on getting here, I was told the Beach had been demolished because of the lives that were lost in the ocean surge. For me, I do not think this is the right way to do it.

The Federal Government should have seen the surge earlier before now with our two satellites which they claim are working and make a public announcement on it, urging their citizens to vacate the entire ocean line. Okay now, will the government because of the surge demolish the entire structures in Lekki and its environs?. I believe the government should do the right thing by ensuring adequate protection of lives and property of citizenry.”

Breaking news : Bomb Explodes In Kaduna Metropolis

An IED has exploded around the Ahmadu Bello Way/Lugard/Alkali axis in Kaduna, Kaduna State, according to eyewitnesses. At least 3 dead bodies were seen at the scene of the blast.

One eyewitness said that the IED, which was being transported by men believed to be members of the Boko Haram, detonated in transit, killing them instantly.

The source further said the loud bang shook the often crowded and busy part of the city where it occurred, sending wares and windows flying, just as people fled the scene. A combined team made of up the military and local law enforcement have cordoned off the scene of the blast.

Police drop charge of manslaughter against female banker

…As court grants her bail over traffic offence
LAGOS—Contrary  to claims by the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, that a female banker, Mrs Yinka Johnson, crushed one of its officials to death while driving against traffic last Friday on Lekki/Ajah Expressway, the police, apparently satisfied from their investigation that she did not commit the crime, only charged her for driving against traffic, thereby confirming Vanguard’s story that she was exonerated on the charge.

Also, the  Igbosere Magistrate’s Court in Lagos where she was charged for traffic offence, yesterday, granted her bail, after spending four days in police custody.

Operatives at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba, charged the banker for driving against traffic, at the end of the investigation.

The magistrate, Mr. Jacob Adegun, granted the 35-year-old banker bail in the sum N50,000 with one surety in like sum, after having pleaded not guilty on a one count charge of reckless driving against traffic.

Police prosecutor, Inspector Agoi Oluwagbemileke, told the court that Mrs. Johnson was arrested on August  10 at 8.30 a.m. at Mega Chicken area of Ikota in Lekki, Lagos, for recklessly driving a Range Rover Sports Utility Van,  with number-plate CY 276 LSD.

According to the prosecutor, the defendant was caught driving on a one way traffic without reasonable consideration for other road users, adding that the offence is punishable under Section 29 (1) of the Lagos State Road Traffic Laws of 2003.

He said: “The accused refused to obey government officials who tried to stop her from taking the road.” But, defence counsel, led by Mr. Emeka Okpoko, however, urged the court to grant her bail, arguing that traffic offences were bailable.

Okpoko urged the court to grant her bail in liberal terms since the gravity of the offence was not severe, saying that the defendant, being a banker and a nursing mother, will not abandon her job.

He further told the court that the defendant would always be available to attend court proceedings. Contrary to some publications, Okpoko said the charge before the court showed that the defendant was not the one that killed the LASTMA official.

The case has been adjourned till September 5, for mention.

Meanwhile, some eye- witnesses, who claimed to have witnessed the incident last Friday, were present at the court premises, and  when the lady was granted bail, they all went wild in jubilation, asserting that at least justice had prevailed.

Lagos is world’s third worst city – survey

Despite efforts  by Lagos government to modernize Lagos, the city is still ranked one of the worst in the world.
By Emmanuel Ogala
Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria, is one of the worst cities to live on earth, providing its residents with the worst living conditions, an international survey has found.
In the latest Livability Ranking and Overview survey, done by The Economist Intelligence Unit, only two major cities worldwide are worse to live in than Lagos: Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, the overall worst; and Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
In the beginning, the livability survey was initiated to test whether human resource departments of organisations needed to assign hardship allowance as part of expatriate relocation packages.
But over time, the survey has evolved, becoming one of the most reliable means of benchmarking the cities of the world.
The survey usually ranks 140 major cities of the world using factors such as political and social stability, crime, education, and access to health care.
Being the country’s most cosmopolitan city, Lagos is the only one considered for ranking from Nigeria
Lagos was ranked 138th, of the 140 cities surveyed. The result also portrayed the city as the worst place to live in Africa.
Even cities that have undergone wars and tumultuous political crisis fared better than Nigeria’s commercial capital. Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire was in the 131st position; Doula, Cameroon (133); Tripoli, Libya (134); and Harare, Zimbabwe (137).
Although the Lagos state government has in the past years invested enormous resources and political will on developing infrastructure in the state, the survey described the quality of Lagos’ infrastructure as “intolerable, undesirable and uncomfortable.”
Aderemi Ibirogba, Lagos State Commissioner for Information, could not be reached for comments on the ranking. His phones were switched off Wednesday afternoon while voice and text messages were yet to be responded to.
The best cities to live in, according to the survey, are Melbourne, Australia; and Vienna, Austria, respectively.
They are followed by Vancouver, Toronto, and Calgary; all in Canada. Adelaide and Sydney, both Australian cities are the 6th and 7th most livable places.
Helsinki, Finland is 8th, just before Perth, another Australian city. Auckland, New Zealand, is 10th.
According to the survey, of the worst 10 cities to live in, six are in Africa.

The new Lagos traffic law

ON Thursday, August 2, 2012, the Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, signed the Lagos Road Traffic Bill into law. He said it was in a bid to ensure safety and orderly flow of traffic in the state.

He reeled out statistics to illustrate the alarming rise in accident rates resulting in injuries and death.

The new law spells out the offences and punishments attached. For instance, trailers (apart from fuel tankers and long buses) are now prohibited from plying the roads between 6.00 a.m. and 9.00 p.m. Commercial motorcycle operators are not to ply major trunks, such as Ikorodu Road, Funsho Williams Avenue, Apapa-Oshodi Express, Lagos-Badagry and Lekki-Epe Express.

Motorists are also forbidden to make phone calls, eat, count money or engage in “other dangerous activities,” while on the wheel. Pedestrians are forbidden to cross the expressways. They are now to compulsorily use the pedestrian bridges.

Violation of these laws attracts between N30,000 and N50,000 fines or imprisonment up to three years.

Predictably, many commentators have criticised the law as being “draconian.” We share the reservations of those, who feel that sending a traffic offender to three years in prison is way over the roof.

But at the same time, we believe any citizen, who is willing to obey the laws of the land will have nothing to fear. Only those bent on maintaining the “jungle city” reputation of Lagos have cause to worry.

But those who, like the state government, believe that the rise of Lagos to a mega city status calls for more discipline and adherence to safety standards will welcome the measures as we do.

The real problem, however, is whether the state government has the capacity to implement this law. Does it have the disciplined personnel to instil discipline on erring members of the public? Fears are being expressed that the track record of law enforcement agencies like the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) and Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) have not been enviable. Laws like the ban on commercial motorcycles use of the highways and the wearing of crash helmet failed due to poor implementation.

Secondly, rotten eggs in LASTMA capitalise on these laws to victimise citizens through corrupt entrapment tactics for selfish profit.

LASTMA officials permit drivers of their own vehicles to violate the law, and military and police officers harass officials bent on implementing the law. What new safeguards has the state government come up with to ensure that this new law works?

Massive public enlightenment must be mounted on all media, and government alone should not be left to do it. The law is in our collective interest. Let us give it a chance

John Legend hospiitalized

John Legend was hospitalized in NYC on Sunday morning and was treated for flu-like symptoms after a trip to South Africa. Legend’s rep tells Us Weekly that the singer is back at home recuperating from a “flu bug.” On Sunday the Tonight (Best You Ever Had) crooner tweeted that he “was a bit under the weather.”

My business

In her first interview since her split with Johnny Depp, Vanessa Paradis got a little on the defensive. “I don’t want to talk about him,” the French singer-actress tells the summer edition of French Elle while talking up her new film, Cornouaille. “Who said that artists should sell their soul, expose everything about themselves? . . . . It’s my duty to promote this movie, and my albums, but can you imagine what it feels like to see people making money off your pain?”

The mother of two adds: “What’s happened to us is our concern.”

Loose lips

50 Cent is back harping on Kanye West and his choice of girlfriend. In an interview with hip-hop mag XXL, Fiddy is asked about Kanye’s song, Perfect Bitch, which is reportedly about Kim Kardashian. “If that man feel like she perfect, then she’s perfect,” he said, adding, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Oops

'Bourne' Dethrones Batman At The Box Office

Despite losing series star Matt Damon, the "Bourne" franchise was powerful enough to dethrone three-time champion "The Dark Knight Rises" at the box office. With Jeremy Renner in the lead role, "The Bourne Legacy"took in $40.3 million over the weekend to become the #1 movie in America.
Experts had predicted a win for the fourth entry in Universal's action series, but R-rated comedy "The Campaign" performed slightly better than expected. The political satire pairing Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis debuted at #2 with $27.4 million, pushing "The Dark Knight Rises" a bit further down the box office scorecard than expected. Christopher Nolan's final entry in his Batman trilogy has earned $390.2 million domestically since its release.
The opening weekend for "The Bourne Legacy" was considerably less than the franchise's last entry, "The Bourne Ultimatum," which opened to $69.2 million in 2007. It wasn't as strong as "The Bourne Supremacy" ($52.5 million in 2004), either. But it's worth noting that the series drop-off wasn't too different than that of "Casino Royale," "X-Men: First Class" or this summer's "The Amazing Spider-Man," all of which were considered successful by their respective studios.
The $27.4 million debut of "The Campaign" was only slightly lower than Ferrell's "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" ($28.4 million), and Galifianakis' pairing with Robert Downey, Jr. in "The Hangover" director Todd Phillips' "Due Date" ($32.6 million).
A much different style of comedy, "Hope Springs," took the #4 spot
with its $20.1 million debut. The movie stars Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones as a troubled couple seeking help from therapist Steve Carell.
On the indie front, Spike Lee's "Red Hook Summer" collected $42,100 in four New York City theaters.
This weekend, "The Bourne Legacy" will have to compete for the action audience with the likes of "The Expendables 2," which reunites the who's-who of '80s action movie (writer Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, et al) with some new faces (Liam Hemsworth) and sees beefier roles for Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis to face a new villain played by Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Check out everything we've got on "The Bourne Legacy."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit 3m360

Man surrenders to police after kidnapping, burying prophetess alive

Asaba—A 27-year-old man, who allegedly took part in the kidnap of a prophetess after which the woman was buried alive in his compound, has surrendered to the police eight months after the dastardly act. The suspect complained that the spirit of the prophetess was tormenting him.

Delta State Police Command’s spokesman, Mr. Charles Muka, who confirmed the development, told our reporter in Asaba, yesterday: “It was a case of kidnap and murder of a woman fully dressed in a white garment church attire, which was committed on  December 30, 2011 but the suspect surrendered self to police.”

Muka said that following the confession of the suspect, another suspect was arrested while efforts were on to exhume the body of the woman.

He said: “An unidentified woman said to be from Uzere and dressed in white garment church attire was kidnapped at Ughelli and taken to the house of one Emma,   male, 27 years old, who is the first suspect, from Owahawa, Ughelli South Local Government Area.

“The suspect surrendered himself to the police because his soul was troubled and confessed burying the victim alive in his compound when she became weak. His confession led to the arrest of another suspect. Detectives have also identified the spot where she was buried alive and the corpse would be exhumed when relations of victim are identified. We hereby call on members of the public, whose missing person depicts the description, to report to police area command Warri, while we are making effort to arrest others involved in the crime.”

Closing Ceremony of the London Olympics: Review

With a lineup that featured The Who, Annie Lennox, The Spice Girls, Madness, The Pet Shop Boys, George Michael, Liam Gallagher and Fatboy Slim, the London Olympics signoff ceremony was a Brit-pop orgy.

The show might have wrapped with The Who performing “My Generation,” but the celebration of British popular music that capped off the London Olympics had something for every generation of the past half-century or more. Sure to be regarded as a wonderfully chaotic treasure trove by some and a hot mess by others with a taste for more regimented spectacle, it was an exuberant after-party to 16 days of international athletic competition. Most of all, it echoed the fun, freewheeling spirit and quirky humor established by director Danny Boyle in his divisive opening ceremony.
PHOTOS: Going for Gold: 10 Medal-Worthy Olympics Movies
Artistic director of the three-hour closing show was former ballet dancer Kim Gavin, who larded the event with dance-troupe interludes – some more inventive and seamlessly interwoven than others. (Does anyone still need to see the Stomp ensemble punishing trash-can lids at this point?) But the driving force in a show titled A Symphony of British Music naturally was the music itself. And while purists will no doubt cry sacrilege about a game Russell Brand covering The Beatles, this all-star mix of live and pre-recorded music was a major crowdpleaser.
The show opened on a gorgeous set, with replicas of London’s famous monuments dotting the Olympic Stadium arena across artist Damien Hirst’s stylized representation of the Union Jack – all of it wrapped in newspaper covered with quotes from Britain’s great works of literature. A Day in the Life of London then unfolded, from morning rush hour through nightfall. A choral performance of The Beatles’ “Because” segued into Elgar’s “Salut d’Amour” led by cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, which gave way to actor Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill, busting through the top of Big Ben to recite the same passage from Shakespeare’s The Tempest that was the defining motif of Boyle’s opener. 
Many typically playful touches registered as just the briefest of throwaways, notably the performers wielding jackhammers to kick off the British national anthem. (Prince Harry and Kate Middleton were an appropriately youthful choice for royal duty at the ceremony.)
PHOTOS: Inside the Olympics Opening Ceremonies
Many non-Brits might have been scratching their heads over a mixed-reference nod to the classic 1969 caper comedy The Italian Job and to nationally beloved sitcom Only Fools and Horses, in which a low-rent Batman & Robin tumbled out of a yellow Robin Reliant (one of an endless series of iconic Brit autos featured in the show). This occurred as Madness got the party started with “Our House.” Then came The Massed Bands of the Household Division in their tall bearskin hats performing Blur’s “Parklife.” The Pet Shop Boys followed singing “West End Girls,” looking like wacky wizards on sculptural orange rickshaws. As a concession to the younger demographic, boy-band sensation One Direction performed “What Makes You Beautiful” while The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life” led into The Kinks frontman Ray Davies doing “Waterloo Sunset.” As a tribute to the Olympics host city, this section was a joy.
With gymnastics-dance troupe Spellbound and other performers bouncing all over the arena like a Cirque du Soleil training camp, plus color-coded partiers bopping along, there was invariably too much on which to focus. But overkill at these types of ceremonies is not necessarily a bad thing.
One of the loveliest touches early on was the emotionally charged film accompanying Emeli Sandé’s performance of her hit “Read All About It,” which celebrated not the triumphant medalists of the Games, but the stinging disappointments of many celebrated athletes who had come to London chasing gold and had been unlucky. This was an unexpected stroke, but perfectly in keeping with the Olympics’ participatory spirit.
PHOTOS: Famous Faces at the Olympics
Continuing the tradition of recent Games, the athletes entered the arena not in strict national groups but en masse in random clusters, herded into formation in the Union Jack segments to function as a mosh pit throughout the show. This was above all their night, and watching them sing, dance and cheer along was a large part of the pleasure.
Some of the bigger names in British music were absentees, represented in tributes. A pyramid formed out of white boxes representing the 303 Olympic events, underscored by Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill,” was a bit of a miss. Likewise a cheesy salute to British style, with David Bowie’s “Fashion” accompanied by trucks bearing giant glamour billboards that were ripped open to disgorge supermodels including Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell. 
A couple of departed greats were given more winning representation. Particularly stirring use was made of a film of John Lennon singing “Imagine” direct to camera, backed by a children’s choir. And seeing Freddie Mercury work the crowd at Wembley Stadium in a 1986 clip was a terrific intro to the surviving members of Queen. It did, however, cast an unflattering light on the posturing self-seriousness of Muse frontman Mathew Bellamy, who preceded with the band’s Olympic anthem “Survival.”
Younger crowd bait Jessie J, Tinie Tempah and Taio Cruz were fine doing their solo hits, but not so much when they grouped together to cover The Bee Gees’ “You Should Be Dancing.” However, Jessie J was a sexy standin for Mercury on “We Will Rock You.” George Michael aced a galvanizing performance of “Freedom 90,” but stuck around too long on a less memorable second number, “White Light,” a recent single unlikely to go down among the pop star’s classics. The Kaiser Chiefs capably covered The Who’s “Pinball Wizard,” while Liam Gallagher and his post-Oasis band Beady Eye sang the evergreen “Wonderwall.”
Ed Sheeran was an accomplished vocalist on “Wish You Were Here,” a Pink Floyd homage that included original members from that band and Genesis, culminating with an aerial tightrope recreation of the iconic man-on-fire album cover.
Anyone required to follow that most supremely theatrical British pop iconoclast Annie Lennox has a tough assignment. The task was made more difficult here by her spectacular vamping aboard a ghost galleon to “Little Bird,” while neo-romantic Goths minuetted alongside the vessel.
At the opposite end of the spectrum but arguably no less sublime was The Spice Girls reunion, an irresistible rush of pop-culture kitsch in which the ladies whipped through “Wannabe” and “Spice Up Your Life,” the latter while being propelled around the arena on the roofs of multicolored London cabs. Victoria Beckham’s stiffness hinted that she’s not unhappy to have left those frivolous days behind her, but seeing the trashtastic quintet reassembled in all their girl-power glory was a blast.
The most whimsical combo was Electric Light Orchestra’s “Mr. Blue Sky” segueing into Eric Idle doing “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.” Piling on the Python-esque absurdism, Idle mingled with roller-skating nuns, Roman centurions, Bhangra dancers, Morris Men, the London Welsh Rugby Club and opera star Susan Bullock as a warbling Valkyrie. And Fatboy Slim manned the turntable for a pulse-pounding medley of his hits from atop a giant octopus that contained 700 meters of LED lights. That was some inflatable pool toy.
Lighting effects were possibly even more brilliant than the opening ceremony, with the pixel show created by computer chip-operated glasses on the spectators yielding some truly dazzling displays across the stadium.
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In his concluding remarks, London Olympics committee chief Sebastian Coe said, “At our opening ceremony, we said these would be a Games for everyone. At our closing ceremony, we can say that these were a Games by everyone.” That sense of a proud group effort was amplified by the audience’s role in creating visual magic, but also by the dominating presence of both adult and child volunteers among the performers. Like the opening ceremony, this meant that the overall choreography was clearly tailored to a limited skill set. But it contributed to the infectious inclusiveness of the event.
Despite some sound glitches that muffled the vocals, the handover segment at the end, in which 2016 host city Rio de Janeiro took up the flame, gave a promising taste of what’s to come four years from now. Anchored by a broom-wielding Renato Sorriso, a former street-sweeper who has become a regular Carnival fixture, the eight-minute sequence married glammed-up street culture with mythological figures, Capoeira fighters and futuristic flourishes to conjure the bustle of the Copacabana promenade. And judging by the rapturous reception for soccer superstar Pelé, the crowd couldn’t have asked for a more beloved Brazilian ambassador.
Both the Rio preview and the rousing Brit-pop marathon that preceded it were a reminder that the Olympics are as much about spectacle as sport.

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