Milano Cortina 2026™ Ceremonies™ - Verdict™

[TorchbearerSydney]

The Good:

• the intimacy of the stadium, and the streets of the other venues made this a much more human scale ceremony after some cold extravaganzas like Sochi and Beijing.
• the artistry and culture were freshly presented- not easy for a country so examined like Italy.
• a bit of humour never hurts
• the 4 parades somehow worked- but they really could have sped up the pace.
• the flame passing through then quickly arriving at the cauldron was done much better than Paris.
• Imagine there's no Imagine- its easy to do!

Not so Good

• Double Champion de Natation's speech was way too repetitive and long. About 4 minutes (rather than 10) would be ideal.
• Mariah absolutely murdered one of the happiest, fun pop songs of the 20th Century. She added nothing.
• There were quite a few awkward silences and gaps.
• Why didnt the athletes come in and sit down first, so they could watch the show? They were not in the way.

Solid 7.

 

[kevzz]

Hands down the best Olympic opening ceremony since Athens 2004!
Thoroughly modern yet refreshingly old-school. It’s wonderful to see that an opening ceremony can still be executed beautifully without relying on gimmicks or excessive technology. The production design, choreography and sequences were tasteful and elegant, perfectly capturing an Italian sensibility. The music was superb, and Andrea Bocelli’s moment with the Olympic flame is Milan’s own Celine Dion moment. There were a couple of bizarre choices, such as Mariah Carey’s static performance and Charlize Theron’s speech, but otherwise it was an almost flawless ceremony. Bravo Italy!

[BigVic]

Mariah's lip-sync of "Volare" was a markdown of otherwise a fantastic Olympic Games Opening Ceremony with no hiccups or glitches. Vancouver had a malfunctioning torch and Sochi had a missing ring. Most enjoyable Opening Ceremony since PyeongChang 2018. 

Lang Lang was a full-circle moment for him having performed almost 18 years ago in Beijing's epic Opening Ceremony in 2008. 

 

8.5/10 for me. Bravo Balich Wonder Studios for an excellent show. Bring on the next 16 days of competition 

[antiperspirant]

I enjoyed it but if someone asked me if I recommended they watch it, I would hesitate to be associated with it. I don't think it would be able to carry adequately the expectation of a recommendation.

[Bear]

Now that I've rewatched a good portion of the ceremony: I think this has become my favorite Olympic ceremony, at least on the winter side.
Rather than going "good moments vs bad moments", I'll structure my thoughts according to the ceremony's scenes.

Quote

1. Opening Video / There's nothing special about it - but that's what makes it great in my opinion. It's everyday people just existing, doing normal things. I think many ceremonies tend to overlook this, that not everything is about high-stakes action.
2. Opening Segment / Now, the shift from the modern, human tone of the video to the action on the stage is kind of surprising as the performance has a completely different tone. However, it's still a good segment, giving the ceremony an ethereal start. It looks like a museum, which is pretty fitting for Italy. The music here is pretty good, goes incredibly well with the action on stage. Wing-man is also low key cute, but that's a topic for a certain other thread...
3. Paparazzi / Fantasia / The funkiest and funnest segment in the entire ceremony. The blend of classical music works really well, and adds to the fun vibe of the segment. I also really enjoyed the brief moment where there was a (pop?) singer in yellow with blonde/white hair, I can't figure out who she was but her part was stuck in my mind ever since the rehearsal clip came out.
4. Mariah Carey / I thought she sung well, but with every rewatch I don't see how it was necessary for her to be there. I don't think it particularly adds any messaging to the ceremony, but I'll reserve my judgement for when the Media Guide is released.
5. Video - Tram Ride / Probably my favorite video sequence, it's so beautiful and I honestly felt like I was watching a short movie. There is something to be said about incorporating politicians into a ceremony beyond what protocol mandates, but I'll excuse it here. Very cool way to introduce the President.
6. Armani Tribute / Italian Flag / Anthem / Very cool outfits, even cooler background music. I have conflicting feelings on Pausini's performance, I felt like there were some moments where it sounded like it was bordering on screaming, but it wasn't terrible either. It was a great idea to combine the choir in Cortina with her performance, though.
7. Formation of the Rings / I'ma be honest I missed the explanation that the segment was about the City + the Mountains, and I thought it was a segment about division -> unification under the Olympic rings. Overall the segment was good, however I do think it was a missed opportunity to incorporate Cortina, Livigno, and Predazzo by depicting the Rings "fly" from their respective towns towards the Stadium, like what the trailer had shown. Regardless, the final formation was definitely emotional and did the job well.
8. The Parade / I didn't know how they would do it, but it worked incredibly well. As many of you have said, it would have been better to have the flag still be present in Milano even if the athletes weren't there, but given that it's the first time they've ever done anything like this, I can give them a pass. The footage from Cortina was definitely the best, as being in the town street gives a great vibe.
   1. If this style of parade were to be done again, then figuring out how to shorten it must be priority - the parade took 1 hr 30 minutes, which for 92 delegations is very long. For reference, the video of the London 2012 parade is 1 hr 40 minutes - with over double the number of teams (205).
9. AI Video / oh hell nah. The concept is fantastic - I love the idea of the posters transitioning into each other. But seriously? You couldn't get people to animate it? Such a shame. The lowest point of the ceremony.
10. Time Travel / My favorite segment of the entire ceremony, assuming the props aren't also AI-generated designs  No but seriously, the start gives postcard vibes which is exactly what a segment honoring past Olympic Games needs. The transitions from the 1920s to the 1950s, then to the 1980s works incredibly well, definitely helped by the music. I kind of get a similar vibe to the Torino 2006 snowboarder sequence, which is one of my favorite scenes from that opening ceremony, but more modern and cleaner.
11. Sign Language / It does kind of come out of nowhere, but it works on its own. Very funny, it's always nice to see a ceremony and host that doesn't take itself too seriously the entire time.
12. Speeches / 10:15
13. Nessun Dorma / Unexpected torch relay moment, but that was beautiful. More comments on the torch relay later.
14. Ghali / Peace / Very eerie, very good. Proper transition to the seriousness that the segment demands. If I'm being picky, the dove outline is kind of messy, but I don't mind. In other circumstances I would say that the speech at the end was unnecessary, but it's probably a good idea to have these ideals be repeated today.
15. Olympic Flag / Anthem / Oaths / Good rendition of the Olympic Anthem. Nice touch to have the Oaths in Cortina.
16. EU / Space / Good way to introduce the cauldron concept. I love space, so I find this segment cool as well.
17. Lighting of the Cauldrons / I had questions on how they'd do it, but it worked well. The music was very fitting, making it emotional to watch. I can't wait to see the cauldron in action over the next few days.

I had concerns about San Siro itself, but now I see that it provided a uniquely intimate setting for tonight.

On comparisons to Torino 2006: after having seen Torino multiple times, I think this ceremony did a great job at differentiating itself and bringing something new to the table. I think overall MiCo26 did a better job than Torino in showing what an Olympic opening ceremony should be, and was definitely better at keeping things within a common theme (though as mentioned, there were some parts where the transitions were not very smooth). Of course, this isn't me being a hater on Torino as I do find that ceremony fun to watch.

Anyways, I do look forward to watching a non-NBC broadcast where I can better take in the ceremony...

[Sir Rols]

1 hour ago, Bear said:

I also really enjoyed the brief moment where there was a (pop?) singer in yellow with blonde/white hair, I can't figure out who she was but her part was stuck in my mind ever since the rehearsal clip came out.

That was a tribute to Rafaela Carra, an Italian pop singer of the 70s, who was big in Italy and Latin America. That was one of the first moments that had me laughing with delight - my partner is a HUGE fan of Rafaella, and I knew he’d love watching that (I’ve just now finally watched it again, this time with him, but the commentary on the replay just wouldn’t shut up and talked right over the music).

 

Edited February 7 by Sir Rols

[cfm Jeremie]

8 hours ago, sebastien1214 said:

I thought it was a choice imposed by the IOC, because I clearly remember in the opening ceremony documentary hearing Victor Le Masne say, "But how are we going to fit Lady Gaga in?", which made me think it wasn't entirely their choice. But perhaps I was wrong.

From what I understand, the creative team initially discussed the artist they wanted to have and then had to figure out where they would best fit in the narrative (so maybe that why Victor Le Masne sait that).

[Rob2012]

First off, how good is it that the live thread came alive last night? This forum can still return to what it was on occasion. Good to see everyone here.

OK, the ceremony...my review is going to be somewhat similar to @sebastien1214's but not quite as harsh, I think.

A really solid, well executed ceremony. Everything was good, nothing was awful, but also very little was spectacular. I enjoyed all of the set pieces, they mostly had the expected level of fun without moving into cringe, and the whole thing didn't take itself too seriously. The "Mr Bean" moment with the hand gestures was funny, so were the giant heads (thanks Duncan McKay's blog for reminding me this was "borrowed" from Birmingham '22/Elgar). Everything was exceptionally Italian (I wish I had the figure to pull off one of those shiny suits), there was really nothing not to like. The cauldron is gorgeous.

The multi-locations was handled well, very slickly done. Bonus points for getting that so right.

Grumbles....

AI...The cash strapped Olympics can't afford real artists huh? I suppose it's current, and some host was always going to want be the first, so ok...it was mercifully short.

The only point at which I went "wow" was the climax of Nessun Dorma. I feel like if your one "wow" moment is something replicated from another sporting event 36 years earlier then, maybe you haven't hit the heights of drama or originality that you could've reached.

It also occurred to me, this is the first ceremony I can remember where I didn't learn anything new about the host nation!!! Some ceremonies can go overboard with references and facts and obscure things (London was guilty of this at points), leaving commentators trying to explain a lot. In this ceremony, the opposite was true and at times our commentators were at a loss as to what more they could add. Thinking about it, that is probably my biggest problem with this ceremony. It was - in terms of ideas - everything anyone with a little bit of knowledge of Italy could've expected, but really not much more.

Conclusion...

So, I think I'm going to land on a solid, if slightly unspectacular, 8/10....which feels a little generous if I'm honest, but I did enjoy it, and I suspect the IOC will be very happy with this slick, uncontroversial showpiece. But I was left wanting more "wow", more danger, and more learning. 

Edited February 7 by Rob2012

[Rob2012]

12 hours ago, sebastien1214 said:

And perhaps that's ultimately my problem with this ceremony: it's good, but forgettable. No doubt those nostalgic for stadium ceremonies and the "haters" of Paris 2024 will feel some joy, and frankly, good for them

OK, from agreeing with a lot of what you say about this ceremony in my last post...here's where I'm going to disagree.

The way you frame this is odd. Paris didn't nail its whole city concept so brilliantly that people liking a stadium ceremony are now "nostalgists", thinking about things in an outdated way. What actually happened was Paris' concept had many points of failure and is unlikely to replicated, at least on such a scale, again by any director.

Paris' set pieces were more daring and memorable than Milan's. I love the fact Paris didn't try to be safe. Love it. But that means we get to say what worked (and so much did!) and what didn't, and future hosts in their choices do too. Paris didn't smash the paradigm and replace it with a new one which Milan is now rowing back on, sorry!

  

12 hours ago, sebastien1214 said:

But a ceremony, while certainly political, is also art. Art is supposed to evoke emotions in people, whether negative or positive. By refusing to take risks, by embracing conformity, Balich ultimately denies making his ceremony a work of art.

Another point of difference, but a smaller one. I don't regard these ceremonies as works of art. Not really - they're too big, unwieldy, but also too weirdly formulaic to be so. But they are opportunities to show nations/cities in a different light, teach spectators new things, wow people. And I think we both felt Milan fell at least a little short in that regard.

Edited February 7 by Rob2012

[JMarkSnow2012]

9 hours ago, baron-pierreIV said:

I wouldn't count Paris becuz P-2024 OC didn't really happen in your traditional stadium setting.  

Also, funny that they didn't do split-screens of the same natin marching in or -- I could tell which was Cortina, but couldn't distinguish between the other 2.  And why did they choose that narrow street in Cortina???

I think Paris should be counted because it showed what going too far looked like. Having a stadium show plus bonus stuff from other sites is a sensible compromise. Rio's two cauldrons were also a compromise after the complaints about the 2012 cauldron not being directly visible without tickets to the stadium or the Orbit tower, and the failure of Sochi's original lighting plan. Milan/Cortina had the perfect excuse to deprive the stadium spectators of their exclusive view of the lighting, because a cauldron was needed hundereds of kilometres away.

Agreed about the lack of distinction between the remotest sites- and split-screens might have been an acceptable idea to speed things up- but I thought the street in Cortina was rather sweet.

[JMarkSnow2012]

3 hours ago, Bear said:

I had concerns about San Siro itself, but now I see that it provided a uniquely intimate setting for tonight.

I'm inclined to prefer football stadiums over athletic stadiums for ceremonial performances; the difference in size (and hence effort needed to make a show which uses them effectively) is surprisingly large.

[JMarkSnow2012]

8 hours ago, TorchbearerSydney said:

Why didnt the athletes come in and sit down first, so they could watch the show? They were not in the way.

If they had paraded in at or near the start, the time-overrun would have pretty much killed the show before it began.

[JMarkSnow2012]

9 hours ago, Citizen-Seth said:

The cauldrons. Granted, I haven’t seen them lit up, but I have seen them in person and I just think they’re an influence gimmick. 

That's interesting- thinking about it, I can imagine them looking underwhelming in daylight

[baron-pierreIV]

2 hours ago, JMarkSnow2012 said:

IAgreed about the lack of distinction between the remotest sites- and split-screens might have been an acceptable idea to speed things up- but I thought the street in Cortina was rather sweet.

Yes, it had that very nice, Tyrolean feel to it -- but considering it's the co-host city and a former host, I was expecting a look from 1956 or just something grander.  It was like . . .  there wasn't even enough elbow room to do full-length shots.  
 

Just noticed that many of those Oly Ceremonies are "B" productions -- Ballich, Danny Boyle, Ric Birch.  And this Milano one especially: Bartoli, Bocelli, footballers Franco Baresi and Giuseppe Bergomi (two of the early Torch Relay "walking in the flame --or were they walking it out?), Thomas Bach.  

Edited February 7 by baron-pierreIV

[sebastien1214]

6 hours ago, Rob2012 said:

OK, from agreeing with a lot of what you say about this ceremony in my last post...here's where I'm going to disagree.

The way you frame this is odd. Paris didn't nail its whole city concept so brilliantly that people liking a stadium ceremony are now "nostalgists", thinking about things in an outdated way. What actually happened was Paris' concept had many points of failure and is unlikely to replicated, at least on such a scale, again by any director.

Paris' set pieces were more daring and memorable than Milan's. I love the fact Paris didn't try to be safe. Love it. But that means we get to say what worked (and so much did!) and what didn't, and future hosts in their choices do too. Paris didn't smash the paradigm and replace it with a new one which Milan is now rowing back on, sorry!

  

Another point of difference, but a smaller one. I don't regard these ceremonies as works of art. Not really - they're too big, unwieldy, but also too weirdly formulaic to be so. But they are opportunities to show nations/cities in a different light, teach spectators new things, wow people. And I think we both felt Milan fell at least a little short in that regard.

What I mean is that I'm convinced that a significant portion of the positive feedback the Milan ceremony received was due to the fact that it followed a completely different kind of ceremony compared to the previous. If it hadn't been for Paris (and the COVID-ceremonies), I'm sure the reactions would have been somewhat less enthusiastic, because let's be honest: the concept of stadium ceremonies was starting to become quite repetitive after London, which, in my opinion, was the peak of stadium ceremonies (along with Beijing, apparently, but I have no recollection of that ceremony, to be honest).

And indeed, those who much prefer the concept of stadium ceremonies, I'm convinced they're far more delighted with Milan (since it directly followed Paris) than they would have been if Paris hadn't existed.

Regarding the Parisian concept: it was obvious to me from the beginning, well before the opening ceremony, that this concept can only be replicated in very few cities worldwide. I mean, take Brisbane, for example: who can really imagine a ceremony in the heart of Brisbane? It just doesn't work for a whole reasons. What needs to be replicated from Paris isn't having a ceremony "like Paris", what needs to be replicated from Paris is simply having the audacity to try different things and go beyond the stadium. I think there are still plenty of options between "doing everything in a stadium" and "we're literally going to take the whole city over a 6km stretch around a river and close off a quarter of the city".

(And I think that a ceremony is indeed an art form, a kind of immense theatrical performance, with a bit of musical or opera... but in any case, a major cultural work. It's hard to argue that Pandemonium isn't a work of art, for example.)

[Bear]

10 hours ago, Sir Rols said:

That was a tribute to Rafaela Carra, an Italian pop singer of the 70s, who was big in Italy and Latin America. That was one of the first moments that had me laughing with delight - my partner is a HUGE fan of Rafaella, and I knew he’d love watching that (I’ve just now finally watched it again, this time with him, but the commentary on the replay just wouldn’t shut up and talked right over the music).

 

Thank you!!

[sebastien1214]

Did you know that now, in French, we no longer say "Jeux olympiques d'hiver" but "JECK OUIIbYODES D'AIIVER"?

(Yeah, really, AI is such a pain.)

[Sir Rols]

2 hours ago, sebastien1214 said:

What I mean is that I'm convinced that a significant portion of the positive feedback the Milan ceremony received was due to the fact that it followed a completely different kind of ceremony compared to the previous. If it hadn't been for Paris (and the COVID-ceremonies), I'm sure the reactions would have been somewhat less enthusiastic, because let's be honest: the concept of stadium ceremonies was starting to become quite repetitive after London, which, in my opinion, was the peak of stadium ceremonies (along with Beijing, apparently, but I have no recollection of that ceremony, to be honest).

And indeed, those who much prefer the concept of stadium ceremonies, I'm convinced they're far more delighted with Milan (since it directly followed Paris) than they would have been if Paris hadn't existed.

Regarding the Parisian concept: it was obvious to me from the beginning, well before the opening ceremony, that this concept can only be replicated in very few cities worldwide. I mean, take Brisbane, for example: who can really imagine a ceremony in the heart of Brisbane? It just doesn't work for a whole reasons. What needs to be replicated from Paris isn't having a ceremony "like Paris", what needs to be replicated from Paris is simply having the audacity to try different things and go beyond the stadium. I think there are still plenty of options between "doing everything in a stadium" and "we're literally going to take the whole city over a 6km stretch around a river and close off a quarter of the city".

(And I think that a ceremony is indeed an art form, a kind of immense theatrical performance, with a bit of musical or opera... but in any case, a major cultural work. It's hard to argue that Pandemonium isn't a work of art, for example.)

I don’t think you can count me as a stadium-only traditionalist- I was one of those excited and intrigued by Paris’ plan. And I agree a lot of negativity to Paris was because it dared stray from the “formula”. But I don’t think the positivity towards Milano was a reaction to Paris, more that it was unashamedly a crowd pleaser that did what it did very well without trying to be too innovative. It’s certainly not at the top of my lists of “best” ceremonies ever, but it just may be at the top of my “most enjoyable” list.

Milano did achieve something VERY VERY rare though - it seemed to run without any glitches. No caldron stuff-ups or upside down flags or whatever. Only thing I can remember is a few athletes slipping on the ice and snow. Maybe that just reflects how safe Balich played it. And now I’ve said that, someone will no doubt find some glitch I was unaware of.

I think you can count it as a tribute to Paris in that it still discussed so much. We saw it in the ceremonies threads leading up to snd including yesterday, so often the talk digressed to Paris.

It’s always a little tough watching a ceremony or games right after your own city or country has hosted. I was initially a bit over-critical of Athens’ ceremony (I’ve since mellowed towards it), and you should have seen the Greeks here in 2008 - liking Beijing’s OC was seen as being “anti-Greek”!

[sebastien1214]

13 minutes ago, Sir Rols said:

I don’t think you can count me as a stadium-only traditionalist- I was one of those excited and intrigued by Paris’ plan. And I agree a lot of negativity to Paris was because it dared stray from the “formula”. But I don’t think the positivity towards Milano was a reaction to Paris, more that it was unashamedly a crowd pleaser that did what it did very well without trying to be too innovative. It’s certainly not at the top of my lists of “best” ceremonies ever, but it just may be at the top of my “most enjoyable” list.

Milano did achieve something VERY VERY rare though - it seemed to run without any glitches. No caldron stuff-ups or upside down flags or whatever. Only thing I can remember is a few athletes slipping on the ice and snow. Maybe that just reflects how safe Balich played it. And now I’ve said that, someone will no doubt find some glitch I was unaware of.

I think you can count it as a tribute to Paris in that it still discussed so much. We saw it in the ceremonies threads leading up to snd including yesterday, so often the talk digressed to Paris.

It’s always a little tough watching a ceremony or games right after your own city or country has hosted. I was initially a bit over-critical of Athens’ ceremony (I’ve since mellowed towards it), and you should have seen the Greeks here in 2008 - liking Beijing’s OC was seen as being “anti-Greek”!

To be honest, I don't deny that people who liked Milan did so solely because of what was presented there (and deep down, the ceremony wasn't bad, it was actually quite good; personally, my main criticism is that it's forgettable, not the quality of the ceremony itself). But I still have the feeling that subconsciously, we'll always compare ceremonies, and that comparison also influences the positive (or negative?) impression we make when judging a ceremony.

I mean, if we step outside of Paris for a moment, I'm convinced that when people were judging Sochi, the London ceremony was on their minds; and so on. And after all, that's only natural. And no doubt that in two years, when we see the Los Angeles ceremony, we'll subconsciously compare it to Milan. (By the way, I'm starting to get worried about Los Angeles, because I'm thinking that by constantly telling ourselves "yeah, it's Hollywood, it's going to be amazing!" we risk ending up terribly disappointed.)

As for my personal feelings about this Milan ceremony, I readily admit my reservations about Balich because I believe no one should do more than one Olympics (yes, even Jolly, I don't want him back for 2030, and i loved his work), and the lack of tact in his recent remarks hasn't exactly endeared him to me, let's be honest. But anyway, I had no problem making quite a few positive comments about this ceremony (even though I could have been a total hater in bad faith, but I don't like caricatures). I even think this ceremony could become a model to improve upon for 2030 (I've unfortunately had to abandon my dream of holding ceremonies outside of stadiums again due to budget constraints), provided, of course, that it has a bold artistic direction, which, let's be honest, wasn't the case with Balich. Moreover, on French Twitter, if we exclude the usual far-right trolls, the tone was generally along the lines of "Thomas Jolly can sleep soundly," "Absolutely no one will beat Paris," etc., which is not at all my stance.

(And I think I can stop there regarding Paris; if we start talking more about Paris than Milan for the Milan ceremonies, it's going to become awkward. But yeah, as you say, it's like a tribute to Paris. Anyway, I'm firmly convinced that even in 20 or 30 years, we'll still be talking about this ceremony with as much passion as in 2024. It's clear that no one will forget this ceremony.)

[Sir Rols]

You’re entitled to be miffed at Balich. What he said was tactless - you just don’t diss your predecessor peers so publicly. No wonder it was set up as a Paris comparison.

6 minutes ago, sebastien1214 said:

By the way, I'm starting to get worried about Los Angeles, because I'm thinking that by constantly telling ourselves "yeah, it's Hollywood, it's going to be amazing!" we risk ending up terribly disappointed.

 

I was actually thinking about that. I agree, expectations are going to be that LA will be American big, brash and slick. And because expectations are so high, ANY faults or shortcomings are bound to be jumped on and magnified.

Also, there’s going to be a big contingent who’ve watched four years of the Trump regime with dismay and horror who will be only too happy to pounce on a bit of schadenfreude.

[SkiFreak]

Hopefully the IOC puts the ceremony up on YouTube. CBC's commercial breaks killed it. Lots of complaints on Facebook. Don't know why they couldn't cut to a short commercial when they were switching between scenes. The AI segment you guys are talking about, I didn't even see that. Nor Samantha's walk-in. Just found out about her appearance on the Space Hipsters Facebook group.

[BigVic]

1 hour ago, SkiFreak said:

Hopefully the IOC puts the ceremony up on YouTube. CBC's commercial breaks killed it. Lots of complaints on Facebook. Don't know why they couldn't cut to a short commercial when they were switching between scenes. The AI segment you guys are talking about, I didn't even see that. Nor Samantha's walk-in. Just found out about her appearance on the Space Hipsters Facebook group.

They do a few weeks after the Olympics. Lots of segments edited out for ads in Canada for a 3.37min show according to social media 

[Bear]

Fellow Americans - Peacock has uploaded the world feed of the ceremony! It's marked "Host Feed" 

[mr.bernham]

3 hours ago, Sir Rols said:

I was actually thinking about that. I agree, expectations are going to be that LA will be American big, brash and slick. And because expectations are so high, ANY faults or shortcomings are bound to be jumped on and magnified.

Also, there’s going to be a big contingent who’ve watched four years of the Trump regime with dismay and horror who will be only too happy to pounce on a bit of schadenfreude.

To be frank, I have extremely low expectations for Los Angeles’ opening ceremonies. 

LA28 is run by a lot of boomers and Gen-Xers who just don’t have a super great grasp on the culture (not to be ageist), so I’m expecting a lot of cringe moments and social media pandering. If the handoff ceremony is anything to go by, LA is going to be very bought and very “Hollywood” in the worst sense of those terms. 

I hope I’m wrong, but I think it’ll be a generally disappointing event. I’m sure aspects of it will be fun. But it almost certainly will not be the big, bold, and loud American ceremony everyone seems to expect. 

[Bear]

2 hours ago, Bear said:

Fellow Americans - Peacock has uploaded the world feed of the ceremony! It's marked "Host Feed" 

Just as I suspected - watching the ceremony without interruptions and without commentary makes it so much better. There were a few parts that NBC skipped, or were missed because of the commentary, that made the ceremony more cohesive and enjoyable such as the introduction of the host communities post-Ring formation, and some audio effects during Fantasia.