Favourite Opening Ceremonies Poll 2022 Editon

[FYI]

22 hours ago, Sir Rols said:

With a Latin partner, I’ve become well schooled in the rich traditions of Latin music, dance and rhythms - I know my Bossa Novas from my Sambas and my Merengues from Mambos.

Yet he can't grasp when/where the next Olympics are going to take place, no matter how many times that you have to grill it into his head! 

[Olympics2028]

23 hours ago, Chris_Mex said:

Ill ignore the fact that once again, you're sharing your opinion on a ceremony that YOU HAVENT EVEN WATCHED YET, and say you're in brazil in rio de janeiro, the segment is an homag to the ipanema girl (the most iconic brazilian song in history), and the model runway (in the country with most of the best models in the world) with Giselle Bundchen (which herself is one of the wealthiest models in history) was retiring from modeling. The segment cinematography required an intimacy level to appreciate the catwalk detail and performance of bundchen, same that was going to be even more damaged if there was a choir singing the song (its the girl of ipanema, not the damn municipal choir kids of ipanema). Watch the ceremony you'll get why they did what they did

 

I'd hesitate judging the various openings/closings of Olympic games if the parts I've seen were way better or way worse than the other parts were.  I've yet to watch, for example, segments of 2016 that made me think my rating of the event in general was too hasty or incorrect.

Yep, "YMMV." I have an opinion, you have an opinion, everyone has an opinion.

If you like 2016, good for you. I don't hold that against you. I just have a different opinion from yours.

When I viewed Rio 2016 (yea, the segments I did watch), I didn't feel like I was viewing an Olympic ceremony. I felt I was watching an everyday or anytime concert. A concert performed by a group of musical (mainly solo) singers.

The large set created on one side of the stadium also made me think that 2016 was taking place in a concert hall, not a sports stadium.

Again, if you liked 2016, good for you.

 

[JMarkSnow2012]

1 hour ago, Olympics2028 said:

 

I'd hesitate judging the various openings/closings of Olympic games if the parts I've seen were way better or way worse than the other parts were.  I've yet to watch, for example, segments of 2016 that made me think my rating of the event in general was too hasty or incorrect.

Yep, "YMMV." I have an opinion, you have an opinion, everyone has an opinion.

If you like 2016, good for you. I don't hold that against you. I just have a different opinion from yours.

When I viewed Rio 2016 (yea, the segments I did watch), I didn't feel like I was viewing an Olympic ceremony. I felt I was watching an everyday or anytime concert. A concert performed by a group of musical (mainly solo) singers.

The large set created on one side of the stadium also made me think that 2016 was taking place in a concert hall, not a sports stadium.

Again, if you liked 2016, good for you.

 

The 2016 opening ceremony told the history of Brazil over the past billion years, and warned of a deeply troubling future. If you want to discuss these events, you really need to stop introducing yourself to them via clips.

[Olympics2028]

2 hours ago, JMarkSnow2012 said:

If you want to discuss these events, you really need to stop introducing yourself to them via clips.

 

What better way to illustrate what I'm talking about or trying to describe?

I just realize that an Olympics ceremony already has featured rap music. I was thinking of that style at a future opening/closing as more of a theoretical option. But it has already been done:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Olympian1010]

On 3/28/2022 at 1:39 PM, SeriousPotato said:

For me, it's... whichever one I happen to be watching. 

Rio 2016 is my favorite, in that I've re-watched it by far more than any other ceremony.

I’d say it’s pretty much the same for me 

I voted Rio 2016 as my favorite summer ceremony. I liked the message and theme of the ceremony. I liked that the creative team was willing to address topics like colonialism, slavery, social discord, and climate change. It was a bold creative risk to take. 

I can also appreciate what they were able to achieve on a smaller budget compared to the previous edition of the Games. Projections were used well, and the favela set design was unique. The music was fun and varied. Plus, I really like the cauldron concept they went with, and that they chose de Lima to light it. 

[Sir Rols]

Looked at that Rio rap piece, I didn’t remember it from the time, but it was actually quite good. Again, there’s some good Latin rap I’ve developed a liking for - bands like Calle Ocho and Daddy Yankee. I like the way they’ve synthesised Latin beats and rap - jus as he Brazilian rapers in the clip did. It certainly can be fitting for a ceremony to Welcome the Youth of the World, especially more so now that Breaking is an Olympic sport.

Edited April 1, 2022 by Sir Rols

[SeriousPotato]

On 3/30/2022 at 4:32 PM, Sir Rols said:

If I had any disappointment with Rio’s ceremonies, it’s that it didn’t lean into Latin music as much as I expected. With a Latin partner

You and I sound very alike. Agreed, Brazil has an insanely rich musical heritage and while lauded for its music the ceremony was only about 10% as rich as it could have been given proper time and budget. I'd love to have seen, say, a showcase of all the unique musical instruments, or symbolic explorations of Latin rhythms. 

Olympics2028 just for you, here's one of my favorite Brazilian classical pieces with choir I think would feel right at home in an Olympic ceremony, from the great Francisco Mignone.  

There's more than one way to do things, and while I enjoyed Rio's ceremony as-is, I would have also loved to have seen a daylight, Barcelona-style ceremony with jaw-dropping props and massive cast of performances, taken to a maximalist degree like no other. So much potential, for a brighter day maybe. I have an appetite for it, don't know if the rest of the world does these days.

But like Olympian1010 said, I appreciated the social themes, concern for the environment, and the story of downsizing for the time and occasion. If Brazil's economy was booming, and the world was in happy place, the ceremony would have been different.

I think that's one aspect that greatly assisted Sydney 2000: The world seemed to be in a collective happy place; with the new millenium, the promise of the internet, the post-Cold War consensus and relative peace in the world (falling crime rates, death rates from famine, disease, and war) compared to other time periods.

I see London 2012 as a sort of last hurrah of this global euphoria, but here is where you can feel that cracks in the collective happiness and spirit for growth are showing through the mildly darker tone, and deliberate attempt to scale back things a little from Beijing.

Sochi was a great Winter ceremony, but it was around here that, to my eyes, the general tension and mistrust in the world began to accelerate exponentially, and in each proceeding ceremony this tension is ever-more palpable.

Part of what makes it so hard to fairly compare ceremonies. There's so much crucial context. I wish I could hop in an alternate-universe machine and give every city a year-2000 Olympics (or what would be the "golden" year?) and see how it looks. My eyes are biased, but that's just my impression.

[Olympics2028]

5 minutes ago, SeriousPotato said:

here's one of my favorite Brazilian classical pieces with choir I think would feel right at home in an Olympic ceremony, from the great Francisco Mignone. 

 

Now you're talking. That to me would have reflected a big-time "Olympic ceremony"-type sound and format.

IMO, there was absolutely nothing about 2016 that seemed cut-rate or weakened due to a modest budget. Or wasn't better because the 2016 OOC didn't have more money to spend.

Actually, I saw things that seemed like more money than necessary was spent on 2016. For instance, that huge backdrop made to look like rooftops of a favela in Rio.

As for the time of an opening? I too prefer full daylight. Sunshine gives a friendlier vibe to an event. And with photomapping now too much a case of "been there, done that," an opening during the day won't be able to mimic a closing.

Also, when reviewing highlights of past ceremonies, it would be easier knowing that a games' start versus its ending is on video.

1992 Barcelona is when the first symbolic day of a summer games occurred (or at least ended) in total darkness. I believe those games, however, began with some sunlight. But by the time the opening ended, Barcelona's stadium was in full nighttime mode.

 

[JMarkSnow2012]

2 hours ago, Olympics2028 said:

What better way to illustrate what I'm talking about or trying to describe?

By all means use clips to illustrate particular points in discussion, but what I meant was "If you want to discuss an Olympic opening ceremony, find a full-length video, start at the countdown, and keep watching until you reach the end." Since the 1980s they have all had structures, and increasingly the structures themselves have had significance. For example, NBC's decision in 2012 to replace the scene immediately before the Parade with an interview pretty literally tore the heart out of the ceremony, and was probably a key factor in creating the myth that the 2012 opening was basically a big pop show.

[JMarkSnow2012]

1 hour ago, Olympics2028 said:

As for the time of an opening? I too prefer full daylight

Unfortunately, if you want the ceremony to be live in local prime-time, and you happen to be fairly close to the Equator, you don't get that option, because at any time of year the sun will set, rather rapidly, within an hour of 6pm. On the other hand, in Paris the summer sunset is almost after prime-time, getting on for 9-45pm. You just have to make the best of what you've got.

[Olympics2028]

1 hour ago, JMarkSnow2012 said:

NBC's decision in 2012 to replace the scene immediately before the Parade with an interview pretty literally tore the heart out of the ceremony, and was probably a key factor in creating the myth that the 2012 opening was basically a big pop show.

But 2012 was pretty much a big pop show. I've not seen any segment of it that has made me go, "oops, on second thought, it was way more Olympic-fied than that!"

If anything, I think Baron posted a video a part of 2012 (although I believe it was the closing, not the opening) that I had never seen before. It showed an even more over-the-top "big pop" format

[Olympics2028]

1 hour ago, JMarkSnow2012 said:

On the other hand, in Paris the summer sunset is almost after prime-time, getting on for 9-45pm. You just have to make the best of what you've got.

I'm thinking the time zone for Paris 2024 will be closer to that of Barcelona 1992? Although Spain is to the west of France, I'm assuming that some of the same daylight/nightime framework of those two parts of Europe aren't totally different.

 

[Bear]

2 hours ago, Olympics2028 said:

But 2012 was pretty much a big pop show. I've not seen any segment of it that has made me go, "oops, on second thought, it was way more Olympic-fied than that!"

...He's referring to the Abide by Me / Memorial Wall segment that honored those who died in the 7/7 bombings, which made the ceremony much deeper than a "pop-show"

[Bear]

@Olympics2028 If you don't want to watch the ceremonies in their full length, you could at least read the ceremony media guides, and get a better understanding of what the creative teams are trying to show.

It's nowhere near the same as watching them, but it's still better than basing your entire opinion of an entire ceremony on out-of-context ceremony clips.

[JMarkSnow2012]

7 hours ago, Olympics2028 said:

I've not seen any segment of it that has made me go, "oops, on second thought

Hence the need to watch the whole thing from start to finish!

[JMarkSnow2012]

7 hours ago, Olympics2028 said:

I'm thinking the time zone for Paris 2024 will be closer to that of Barcelona 1992?

Same time zone, but hundreds of kilometres closer to the Land of the Midnight Sun

[JMarkSnow2012]

5 hours ago, Bear said:

...He's referring to the Abide by Me / Memorial Wall segment that honored those who died in the 7/7 bombings, which made the ceremony much deeper than a "pop-show"

Except that it was only the timing of a BBC commentator's remark which implied a specific connection with 7/7. In reality, the Memorial Wall showed departed loved ones of stadium spectators- and the significance of its precise position within the ceremony, just after the big celebration of teenage romance, was that in Shakespeare's "The Tempest" that's where Prospero makes his famous "our little life is rounded with a sleep" speech. The underlying theme of this whole "pop show" was actually best illustrated in Calabasas, California, on January 26, 2020.

[Bear]

10 hours ago, JMarkSnow2012 said:

Except that it was only the timing of a BBC commentator's remark which implied a specific connection with 7/7. In reality, the Memorial Wall showed departed loved ones of stadium spectators- and the significance of its precise position within the ceremony, just after the big celebration of teenage romance, was that in Shakespeare's "The Tempest" that's where Prospero makes his famous "our little life is rounded with a sleep" speech. The underlying theme of this whole "pop show" was actually best illustrated in Calabasas, California, on January 26, 2020.

Ah my bad, I always thought it was a tribute to 7/7. this makes more sense

[Scotguy II]

Rewatched the whole Sydney 2000 opening yesterday....... ah the memories, the spectacle and the fun  

[SeriousPotato]

19 hours ago, Scotguy II said:

Rewatched the whole Sydney 2000 opening yesterday....... ah the memories, the spectacle and the fun  

My partner and I did the same just a couple weeks ago!

Some of our takeaways: 
-If any ceremony fit the word "extravaganza" it's Sydney. 
-I forgot just how huge that ceremony was--it recalibrated my thoughts on Beijing being clearly "the biggest." Sydney felt on-par. That Olympic band was insane!
-I forgot how long and awkward that glitch actually was. Still, what a beautiful concept.
-It furthered my thoughts that fireworks are nice but overrated and best left for the Closing. Sydney had "just right" use of fireworks. Save the money for costume design, lighting, and props. 
-By the end my partner and I were both like, "another song?!" Just one-too-many 'centerpiece' songs. 
-Any conversation of "best-ever" that leaves out Sydney would be crazy-talk. There're aspects that haven't aged as well, but one cannot deny the triumph of sheer human effort, precision, and layers of ideas put into it. 

[SeriousPotato]

Oops, I meant to say "cauldron glitch".. Dislike the inability to edit.

[FYI]

On 4/1/2022 at 8:16 PM, Olympics2028 said:

I'm thinking the time zone for Paris 2024 will be closer to that of Barcelona 1992? 

Seriously? You're only further enforcing the stereotype that Americans are notoriously BAD at geography. Good job. lol

[AustralianFan]

On 4/4/2022 at 4:33 AM, SeriousPotato said:

My partner and I did the same just a couple weeks ago!

Some of our takeaways: 
-If any ceremony fit the word "extravaganza" it's Sydney. 
-I forgot just how huge that ceremony was--it recalibrated my thoughts on Beijing being clearly "the biggest." Sydney felt on-par. That Olympic band was insane!
-I forgot how long and awkward that glitch actually was. Still, what a beautiful concept.
-It furthered my thoughts that fireworks are nice but overrated and best left for the Closing. Sydney had "just right" use of fireworks. Save the money for costume design, lighting, and props. 
-By the end my partner and I were both like, "another song?!" Just one-too-many 'centerpiece' songs. 
-Any conversation of "best-ever" that leaves out Sydney would be crazy-talk. There're aspects that haven't aged as well, but one cannot deny the triumph of sheer human effort, precision, and layers of ideas put into it. 

Absolutely.

On 4/4/2022 at 4:35 AM, SeriousPotato said:

Oops, I meant to say "cauldron glitch".. Dislike the inability to edit.

Yes, agree too.    The inability to edit coupled woth not being able to subscribe to Premium Membership, makes Gamebids.com look deficient compared to rival Olympic blog site Skyscrapercity.com which allows standard free memberships to edit posts.

[TorchbearerSydney]

Being at the Sydney Opening it was incredible how seamlessly each of the huge segments flowed into the next...it was amazing how hundreds of performers and props came on and off so seamlessly. It was the most epic night of my life!

[Olympics2028]

On 4/3/2022 at 11:33 AM, SeriousPotato said:

-By the end my partner and I were both like, "another song?!" Just one-too-many 'centerpiece' songs. 

-Any conversation of "best-ever" that leaves out Sydney would be crazy-talk. There're aspects that haven't aged as well, but one cannot deny the triumph of sheer human effort, precision, and layers of ideas put into it. 

 

"Another?" is a general takeaway I have of many Olympic ceremonies for years. It's like producers want to throw in everything including the kitchen sink.

I didn't watch most of the 2000 games' opening/closing, but the enthusiasm that the people of Sydney showed towards their summer games makes me wish they could host them again. I feel the same way about London 2012.

That makes me realize spectator support to me is ultimately #1 in importance. I obviously didn't care for various aspects of the 2012 games. But if a committee in London were able to drum up support for another hosting, I'd rather they do it than leave it to some total newbie. Or certainly do a repeat of Rio 2016.