It was a different charm of the closing ceremony when Birmingham said goodbye through a marvellous staging of the 22nd Commonwealth Games going out on a wonderful wall of sound as Black Sabbath provided coup de theatre and the music, pouring out of the city down the years.
But the opening ceremony was more exciting and extremely gigantic when a one and a half hours show of the closing ceremony comprised a short portrayal of west Midlands culture.
The function staged at the middle of the Alexander Stadium began with displaying by kids and the elders who are above 70 years old followed by the musical show rendering by the famous artists including Beverley Knight, Dexys Midnight Runners, Goldie, Jacob Banks, Jaykae and Jorja Smith and ended with fireworks flared at the end of a spectacular ceremony.
One after another, the musical legends of Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Walsall made their voices heard again, stirring the hearts and memories of the spectators packed into this expansive new stadium - Dexy’s Midnight Runners,
Apache Indian, Musical Youth, UB40, Beverley Knight, Goldie, The Selector, Led Zeppelin, Panjabi MC - on and on the talent returned.
Britain’s multiple Paralympic swimming medallist Ellie Simmonds had introduced a filmed montage of young people from the West Midlands in a fundraising appeal for Sports Relief but there was only one glitch - after, the sound, sadly, did not work throughout the filmed footage.
It’s the stuff of Birmingham legend…marginally more stirring than the words of Prince E
dward, Earl of Wessex, the vice-patron of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), which officially brought these brilliant 22nd Games to an end.
The closing of 12 days’ sporting extravaganza could be no less impressive a production celebrating the musical heritage of the West Midlands.
It took place at the newly-refurbished Alexander Stadium in front of over 30,000 spectators and an estimated global television audience of over one billion people, as was the opening ceremony.
The closing ceremony also included a formal handover to the state of Victoria, Australia, which is hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
