2006 Commonwealth Games closing ceremony

2006 Commonwealth Games

The Closing Ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on 26 March 2006 to mark the closing of the 18th Commonwealth Games.

Performances

The ceremony began with a fireworks show. This was followed by Grinspoon's Pat Davern suspended on the Great Southern Stand of the MCG playing a guitar (equipped with pyrotechnics which produced sparks) whilst being lowered onto the stadium ground, giving a rock concert feel to the closing ceremony. Grinspoon performed their hits Hard Act To Follow and Better Off Alone. During the performance under 18 TAC Cup Australian rules football players, accompanied by several contemporary key figures of the sport entered through a banner, running out into formation. Ballerinas dressed in club colours followed.

Melbourne musician Paul Kelly performed "Leaps and Bounds", while various costumed performers representing Melbournians entered the arena, in addition to a number of significant Melbourne landmark icons such as Flinders Street Station, The Skipping Girl Vinegar Sign, St. Kilda's Luna Park facade, the Royal Exhibition Building, The Melbourne Cup and the Victorian Arts Centre Spire.

Ben Lee then performed a tribute to Melbourne's multicultural nature, performing We're All In This Together while people (known on-site as "Multis") held photoboards of their ancestors from the many different nationalities of Melbournians and created a "wall" with them. (Note: not all the people were holding their own ancestors. Most were assigned random photos. Those who had submitted photos got to hold their own.) Nearing the end of Ben Lee's song, the "Multis" took out large red and yellow paper flowers, alluding to Lee's upcoming video for the song. During the song, girls dressed in pink costumes, reminiscent of a 1990s Kylie Minogue music video danced with large "sweetheart lollies". These girls were known on-site as the "sweetheart girls".

The Bodyrockers performed their hit I Like the Way (You Move) while the "multis" and "sweetheart girls" performed separate dances. Towards the end of the song, the multis moved from the front of the stage to the middle, flipping their boards over and revealing a giant moving version of Federation Square, also using the boards to create an audience wave (Mexican wave). They finished up, holding poses, as fireworks were set off around the MCG. Fireworks were alluded to during the ceremony, with small explosions taking place throughout the event.

The volunteers were then welcomed and thanked, with 14,000 being invited to the closing ceremony, while a poem was read out listing a few more of Melbourne's icons, such as The Espy, Graham Kennedy ("The King", as he was affectionately known to Melbournians) and Shane Warne. The volunteers were honoured as being an integral part of the games success.

Confetti snow rained down on the stage, representing the fickle nature of Melbourne's weather, as Sarah Blasko performed a Neil Finn and Crowded House hit, Don't Dream It's Over. Paul Kelly and the Stormwater Boys played "Rally around the Drum", before flag bearers for each country raised flags, in the same order of continental region that they had done in the opening ceremony, starting with England and finishing with Australia. An illuminated globe suspended in the centre was lowered with Australia, upside down, highlighted in red, and on top of the world. Notably, Melbourne City Council's Mayor, Lord Mayor John So was included in the proceedings, to rapturous applause of the crowd, who continued to cheer as his name was read out throughout the ceremony.

The Commonwealth Games Ceremonial Flag was lowered by workers representing the Emergency Services of Victoria to the backing of a Wurundjeri Indigenous traditional song performed by the Gondwana Voices, a national youth choir.

A month after the ceremony, all the Melbourne performers received certificates of participation.

Welcoming Delhi 2010

The ceremony took a distinct change, in acknowledgment of the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games. A short promotional video was displayed extolling the virtues of India. The stage was filled with the sights and sounds of the Bollywood film culture, with colour and dance predominant features. Several colourful performances were displayed, such as the lively bhangra by Rani Mukherjee and Saif Ali Khan as well as a dance by Aishwarya Rai, who is a Bollywood and Hollywood actress, a supermodel and Miss World of 1994.

The 2010 Delhi Games mascot, Shera the Friendly Tiger paraded around the stage waving at the crowd, accompanied by the Miss Universe 2000, Lara Dutta and the Miss World 2000, Priyanka Chopra. Then the theme song was performed on stage. The song was sung by popular Indian singers Sonu Nigam, Shreya Goshal, Sunidhi Chauhan and Shiamak Davar. The latter is also a famous dance choreographer in India. The song, called "Delhi Chalein" invites everyone to the next Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

The David Dixon Award, for Best and Fairest, was awarded to Indian Commonwealth Games Team shooter, Samaresh Jung. As the Indian shooter had already returned to India, the award trophy was handed over to an Indian Olympic Association official as the representative.

Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex then officially closed the Games.

Concluding Performances

The Boy and White Duck from the opening ceremony returned and the boy, who was holding the duck, went down a trapdoor at the centre of the stage and disappeared from sight, symbolizing the closing of the 2006 Games.

Casey Donovan, the winner of the 2004 Australian Idol, performed Better To Love.

Michael Klim then came on stage to respond on behalf of the athletes. He was interrupted, mid-sentence, by Barry Humphries (as "Dame Edna Everage"). Michael Klim's interrupted speech was never finished.

"Dame Edna Everage" read a message, and a poem and then sang a song in tribute to Melbourne, via video, while 1,000 so-called "Commonwealth Dames", wearing various costumes, some from the beginning of the show, performed on the circular stage, waving gladioli and dancing. During this, many fireworks were set off, finally ending in a large human formation in the shape of Dame Edna's trademark glasses.

The stage then cleared, with the volunteers surrounding the centre platform, with Australian King of Music John Farnham singing his hit Age of Reason, followed by a set of Farnham songs, finishing with his anthem song, You're the Voice.

The athletes danced and partied around the centre stage, many of them taking advantage of the informal procedures to take photos, and celebrate in the festivities. Then a select number of outer circle volunteers speared inwards to form a heart-shaped enclosure, while Melbourne's larger skyscrapers set fireworks alight - mirroring the opening ceremony. The floating fish of the Yarra River were illuminated one final time. The official goodbye was announced, and the ceremony ended.

The President of the Commonwealth Games Committee, Mike Fennell, declared to the crowd, "Melbourne, you are simply the best!" Whether he meant the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games was the best games ever is, however, unclear.

See also

References

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