The eyes of the world were on Vancouver’s BC Place last night, where the northern lights, polar bear and a pod of orcas appeared via a terrain of ice that broke apart and turned the floor of BC Place into virtual oceans. Vancouver delivered on the musical front too, especially when a lone aerialist performed to Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now. Later, with golden shimmering candle-like torches held by the 60,000 spectators, Canadian singer and four-time Grammy winner k.d. lang stood atop a platform and sang Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah with such reverence, it has become the most talked about performance of the 2010 Olympics Opening Ceremonies.
With a sombre chill in the air after the tragic death of 21-year-old Georgian luge athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili, the Canadian country and pop singer’s performance was uplifting, haunting and poignant. All of the music for the evening was Canadian-written and other performers included Bryan Adams, Sarah McLachlan, Nelly Furtado as well as Canadian fiddler Ashley MacIsaac. However, it was Lang’s Hallelujah that set the stage for Donald Sutherland, Anne Murray and Bobby Orr to help carry the Olympic flag, leading to the climactic torch lighting with Steve Nash and Canadian hockey great Wayne Gretzky. After a slight technical malfunction that involved one of four massive pillars failing to rise out of the floor as planned, Gretzky traveled the streets of Vancouver in the back of a pick-up truck, torch in-hand, on his way to the cauldron. Once lit, fireworks were shot off, marking the end of an amazing Opening Ceremony.
With the Opening Ceremony behind us, it’s time to look forward to the games themselves. Here are some highlights from the Olympic TV schedule for the next couple days:
Saturday, February 13th
· Men’s 5,000m Speed Skating at noon.
· Women’s 7.5km Biathlon Sprint at 1pm.
· Men’s 1,500m Short Track Finals at 7:18pm.
· Women’s Freestyle Mogul Final at 7:30pm.
Sunday, February 14th
· Men’s Biathlon 10km Sprint at 11:15am.
· Women’s Alpine Skiing Super Combined Slalom at 1pm.
· Women’s 3,000m Speed Skating at 1pm.
· Nordic Combined – Individual NH/10km CC – 10km at 1:45pm.
· Mend’s Luge Singles Run 4 at 3:10pm.
· Men’s Moguls Freestyle Skiing Moguls at 5:30pm.
*All times Pacific
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