Opening Ceremonies

An incredible night and an awesome spectacle. It was unbelievably fun to be part of it.

I left early as VANOC had told spectators to come early and be in our seats by 5 pm (start time was 6 pm PT) for audience rehearsal. The SkyTrain at 2 pm was as busy as I have seen the SkyTrain since I have been in Vancouver. Based on the directions in which people walked, they all weren't coming to the stadium with me. They seemed to be just heading downtown dressed in their Olympic and Canada gear.

A security line opened up just as I got there so I was their first customer. Once again, all the volunteers and security staff were cheery and chatty.

Unfortunately my seat was on the far side of the Stadium from the side where I enter from the SkyTrain. I walked all the way around and found my section and seat.

All the seats had a specially made plastic bad slung over the back with a box and a book inside. The book was a lovely, glossy, ad-free souvenir programme of the Opening Ceremonies. The box, in the form of an octagon-shaped First Nations drum contained our spectator participation kit. Inside was a light blue poncho, a drum stick (the kind to beat a drum with, not the kind you eat), a small flashlight, a small battery-operated candle, and a rolled up Canadian flag.

The video screens in the Stadium displayed messages on how to install the batteries in the devices and telling us that each section would have a coach to help us learn our parts. It was also made clear that the boxes were assigned to your seat and should not be moved or traded. In fact each box was labeled with the exact section, row and seat.

At 5 pm the pre-show started. They broke up our training into two parts with musical numbers in between. I guess they figured this was too much to learn in one session for some people.

They taught how how and when to use the flashlight and candle, how to use the bottom of our box for each section to participate in the countdown, and asked us to put on the ponchos as the spectators were to be used for the displaying of images. The seats were already light blue, so when we all put on our ponchos we disappeared except for our heads. It made for a great neutral, winter-coloured background.

It was great to be up in the nose-bleed section with regular folks who had paid to be there rather than down on the floor with folks who expected to be there. Everyone around me was excited and happy--almost giddy. When the countdown clock reached  five minutes to go, there was an incredible electricity in the air.

Finally we did our 10 second countdown (pretty well if you ask me) and the show began. The programme they gave us had background information on the way the show was assembled and on each of the sections of the ceremony. Hopefully the television announcers supplied the same information.

I was a bit disappointed that O Canada was performed in such a showy arrangement that made it impossible to sing along. Everyone gave up. However, it was a nice rendition by Nikki Yanofsky and everyone loved the Mounties in their Red Serge carrying the Canadian flag.

It seemed that giving everyone a drum stick and a drum sent them all back to childhood. Everyone used their drums all night instead of clapping. I had to admit it was a lot of fun.

Hopefully, if you watched the ceremony, you heard my excellent drumming and saw my talented flashlight work.

I thought that the projected visuals were well done. It made for a very colourful spectacle.

The parade of athletes was wonderful with couples and small groups of spectators around me demonstrating their support for particular countries like the U.S., Norway, Israel, and Brazil.

Of course everyone just went nuts when the Canadian team came out last. It was a joyous, patriotic, pandemonium. My throat is still a bit sore tonight.

Overall, I thought the show was a wonderful mix of incredible visual staging effects and some legends of the Canadian music business. k d land signing Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah while we all swayed with our candles was quite a spectacle from my seat.

I also loved the fiddlers and the dancers in the fall scene and the whales swimming across the floor. The kids near me loved the whales too.

The mountain with the skiers and snowboarders was a great reference to British Columbia and cleverly done.

In the end I think everyone in town had guessed that the last torch bearer after 12,000 others would be Wayne Gretzky. Who else?

Other than the small technical glitch in the end with the cauldron, everything seemed to run well from a live spectator perspective. I hope it showed as well to the other 3.5 billion people watching as it did for the the 60,000 of us inside BC Place Stadium.




Even with the rain and the thousands of people, things moved along fairly well emptying the Stadium and taking the SkyTrain home. Everyone was leaving carrying their drums (there was a handy handle on the side.) The Salvation Army was serving hot chocolate and water in the line for the SkyTrain. I had thought about going downtown afterwards but the rain convinced me otherwise. I'll have to go see the outdoor cauldron on the waterfront this weekend.

As I sit here at the end of a very long day (I had to give a webinar at 6 am this morning), I am so thankful that I was there to see it. The colours; the images; the performances; the excitement of the athletes; the shear joy and electricity in the crowd. It is a night that I will remember forever.

Now on with the Games.