That’s a wrap from Carrara Stadium. The 21st Commonwealth Games are now officially open. I’ll see you back here when there’s action to report. Until then, goodnight!
Updated
This is proper closing ceremony stuff now. Lots of helicopter shots of fireworks, people dancing, coloured lights everywhere. Well done Gold Coast, that wasn’t terrible.
It’s a kaleidoscope of colour and movement out on Carrara Oval now, fireworks everywhere, all underneath this massive white wale.
Starting to reach the end of the show now. The lights come up and Ruel is singing a nice up-tempo number called Golden Years.
On Migaloo’s body we can now see images of Antarctica and the Great Barrier Reef. The images of the contrasting environments merge and meld – becoming one - as, for Migaloo, the places depicted are all one home. The artwork is designed by Delvene Cockatoo-Collins, the artist commissioned to design the medals for the Games.
This is all about Migaloo, the white whale, from earlier. “This is a celebration of our shared Home and our essential connectivity to everyone and every place, as symbolized by the white whale, Migaloo. Migaloo serves to remind us that, whoever we are and wherever we are, we live in the same place; we share the same fantastic planet; we are all connected. Despite our apparent differences, we are all simply a part of the human race and our island is our shared home.”
Into the arena floats a massive animatronic whale. It’s late, I’m not sold, to be honest. It’s all gone a bit Spinal Tap.
Updated
This has been a splendid opening ceremony but studded with crushing gear changes. Here’s another. Straight from a Coldplay-inspired pop song to silence, a cool blue light, Sigur-Rossy music and a hypnotic contemporary dance display.
Delta Goodrem is singing Welcome to Earth, which is quite literally a song, wearing the Brownlow Medal gown Diana Ross would have worn, had she ever dated a VFL footballer.
From Charlie to Delta...
HRH is now reading out the message from his mum celebrating the spirit of the Commonwealth. It ends with him declaring the 21st Commonwealth Games open!
Updated
Netballer Liz Ellis is next, she’s having a whale of a time. After that it’s hockey starr Brent Livermore. Finally it’s world, olympic and dual Commonwealth Games gold medalist Sally Pearson. She receives the biggest roar of the night on her way up to the dais where the Queen’s message is removed - just - from the baton and handed to HRH Prince Charles.
Now Susie O’Neill, ‘Australia’s Madame Butterfly’ hands the baton over to cyclist Brad McGee, who takes it to Paralympic legend Kurt Fearnley.
There’s now more dancing, illustrating the attractions of modern day Queensland. Feeding lorikeets, skydiving, dreaming in the ocean, walking in the treetops, and riding the rollercoaster.
The baton has arrived in the stadium, in the kombi van, with the mystery guest... who could it be!?? Susie O’Neill!
Updated
Louise Martin CBE, President of the Commonwealth Games Federation is up next. “The Commonwealth is now more relevant than ever before,” she says. Going on to celebrate gender equity in these games as well as the Reconciliation Action Plan and the integration of para-sports.
“Beautiful one day, perfect the next. Welcome to Australia, welcome to Queensland, and welcome to the Gold Coast!” Decent dismount from Peter Beattie.
White woman in a white dress playing at a white piano with a load of white kids behind her singing a medley of white Australian songs. Followed by an amazing traditional aboriginal fire ceremony done by aboriginals... #CommonwealthGames @JPHowcroft
— Mavis (@nu_rave_is) April 4, 2018
...I get that Australia is trying to be inclusive but they really don't seem to understand how to be inclusive. Reconciliation isn't just having your original nations performing separately to all your white people 🙄 #CommonwealthGames @JPHowcroft
— Mavis (@nu_rave_is) April 4, 2018
We’re into the speeches. First to have a crack is The Hon. Peter Beattie, Chairman of Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation.
An Australian athlete, coach and technical official declare the oath on behalf of all competitors. Forgive me, I only managed to pick up the name of one of the three, legendary netball coach Lisa Alexander.
“The Oath We come to this place from many lands… To demonstrate the spirit of true sportsmanship that we all share. And to stand up for the values and ideals that live at the heart of these Games: Our shared Humanity – the respect we give each other, finding lasting friendships and common ground in our diversity. Our shared Equality – the level playing field on which we compete, providing fairness and opportunity for all. And our shared Destiny – to do our best here, so we inspire individuals and communities around the world to realise their own aspirations. This is our oath.”
“Why did they not get JF to sing at the games?” asks Kerrie Leonard. “Disappointing!”
This is the backdrop to the parade of the flag of the Commonwealth Games Federation which is being walked around the arena by six athletes, all recent appointees to the CGF Athlete Advisory Commission:
Brendan Williams: Dominica, Natalie Du Toit (para-sport representative): South Africa, Alison Shanks: New Zealand, Nicole Forrester: Canada, Colin Gregor: Scotland, Rhona Toft: Scotland
Yes! There’s a choir! It’s like that scene in Hot Rod with Andy Samberg.
From the sublime to... a cover of You’re The Voice! Emma Dean singing has a great voice, and there’s plenty of pathos, but this is pure unashamed bombast.
Truck driver’s gear change alert!
We’re being fed video footage of smoking ceremonies occurring simultaneously across Queensland at other event venues. It’s a captivating experience. The rhythm of the drumming, the resonance of the didgeridoo, the smoke from the burning leaves, the dancing.
Now we’re back in the centre of the arena where Luther Cora and his family are performing a traditional smoking ceremony. There’s one mesmeric male voice accompanied by a didgeridoo and the rhythmic beating of sticks.
The smoking ceremony is an ancient and enduring custom still widely practiced among many Indigenous Australians. It involves burning various native plants to produce smoke. To ‘bathe’ in the smoke is to cleanse oneself and connect with each other and with the land. It is also about connecting with good spirits.
Updated
That little globe from the opening scene is back, which is a nice touch, but this time it’s resting on a plinth on a white baby grand piano, like an ominous music video to accompany Superman II.
With the athletes, coaches and technical officials of 71 nations and territories assembled, Katie Noonan and the Gold Coast Choir are performing You’re Welcome Here.
That’s all the athletes in Carrara Stadium, we’ll back with more formalities shortly.
Get around them @TurnbullMalcolm! 👏#GC2018 #7CommGames pic.twitter.com/0xVSM3Qpmp
— 7CommGames (@7CommGames) April 4, 2018
This is hypnotic.
Updated
... Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and host nation Australia!
Updated
@JPHowcroft spoilers, this is Tonga's flag bearer still to come. Apparently he's oiled up at all the games, even the Winter Olympics pic.twitter.com/hYYP2m7hw4
— Mavis (@nu_rave_is) April 4, 2018
Not tonight. Tonga led out by female boxer Magan Maka.
I’m not going to lie, I’m getting fatigued. Still, this isn’t about me, it’s about Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Solomon Islands.
Last region into the arena is Oceania. I won’t lie, I’m hanging to find out what kind of Australiana Australia will walk out to. But first we have Cook Islands, Fiji, and Kiribati led out by David Katoatau who wins my flag-bearer of the night award.
Updated
... Saint Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago (repping Carnival), and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Fourteen Caribbean nations, starting with Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados (my favourite flag, I love a trident), British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, and Montserrat, owners of the Tracksuit of the Games award. Those silver and black belters will go for a mint on eBay.
Into Asia now. Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, India, Malaysia and Pakistan. Singapore step out just as Throw Your Arms Around Me by Hunters and Collectors comes on and I fell like leaning over and giving Roy and HG a massive drunken bear hug. I’m hugging all the way through Sri Lanka’s entrance.
@JPHowcroft To think that all of these nations were once ruled by the British. Surreal.
— Sabhya Kapur (@sabhya_kapur) April 4, 2018
Moving on to the Americas now, who arrive to the iconic Horses by Daryl Braithwaite. Belize, Bermuda, Canada, Falkland Islands, Guyana, St Helena, and The Bahamas.
@JPHowcroft hey what were 3 flags raised at com games only knew 2
— Cherylknight58@gmail.com (@Cherylknight581) April 4, 2018
We had the Australian flag and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags.
... Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia. That concludes the African nations.
@JPHowcroft Someone should tell the nation teams that a parade of people holding their phones up is a bad look. Can't they get their mums to record it off the telly for them instead? #CommonwealthGames
— Mavis (@nu_rave_is) April 4, 2018
Aye, beyond the flag bearer pretty much everyone in the procession is holding up a mobile phone.
... Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, and The Gambia, the smallest team in the games, just six athletes in total. Not to be confused with England, of course. Well, not again, anyway.
Updated
... Nigeria, Rwanda and Seychelles, who hold the record for the most Commonwealth Medals (six) without securing gold.
... Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique and Namibia, led out by the visually impaired. Ananias Shikongo. Remarkably, when Shikongo was four-years old he lost his left eye in an accident when his brother tried to shoot birds using a bow and arrow. Three years later, while working in a field, a donkey kicked him in his right eye, resulting in him losing sight in that eye too.
Updated
Time for Africa now. Botswana, Cameroon and Ghana - who, in a factoid that will not be repeated again over the next few days, used to be knows as Gold Coast.
@JPHowcroft A muzak medley of triple MMM hits. Does it get any better than that!
— Lousy_cricketer (@RadioPhysician) April 4, 2018
Fun fact - I had a medley of Australian TV themes played by a concert pianist during my wedding. Don’t ask.
Accompanying the teams as they process is the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and the Queensland Youth Orchestra, working their way through the great Australian songbook. Gibraltar, Guernsey (to strains of Alex Lloyd’s ‘Amazing’), Isle of Man, Jersey (rocking a Wayne Mardle Hawaiian shirt uniform), Malta, Northern Ireland and Wales.
Cyprus come through next, followed by England, led by Alistair Brownlee.
@JPHowcroft far to much CGI used in these ceremonies and will a singer actually sing ‘live’ ?
— J (@ross0205) April 4, 2018
I thought the CGI worked brilliantly. Agree on the singing though, but I guess it’s one less thing to worry about on the night.
First in... Scotland! As the host nation of the last games they have the honour. They will lead out the European contingent. 400m hurdler Eilidh Doyle is carrying the Scottish flag.
Updated
We’re getting ready now for the Parade of Nations. The teams will enter by region and in alphabetical order. Each team will be led in by a Nipper carrying a rescue board decorated to ‘announce’ the name of the nation or territory they are leading.
We’re back in the stadium again and the vibe is VERY different. Ricki-Lee Coulter is singing Technicolour Love while a Gold Coast beach scene (yes, plenty of bikinis and budgie smugglers) jig about around her. It’s all a bit meh.
There’s lots of visual cues to surf lifesaving and plenty of fun representations of beach culture, but I’m not feeling it. Needs way more cowbell.
Updated
Cut to Surfer’s Paradise where Damien Rider has the baton and the story of the Queen’s Baton Relay is narrated. Rider jogs over to a kombi van containing a mystery guest! Gah! The suspense! It’s like waiting to find out Bully’s Special Prize!
The Australian flag and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags are flown by members of the Australian Defence Force.
National anthem time, accompanied by a a single guitar and video cutaways that feel like the lamb ad Sam Kekovich rejected for being too sincere.
Updated
Ted Williams, on Behalf of the Yugambeh Elders, introduces the welcome to country.
“The Welcome to Country is a customary way to begin an event or gathering, and is performed by Traditional Custodians of the lands on which the event or gathering happens. This is usually done by an Elder, and takes the form of their choosing, be it a ceremony, a dance, a song or a speech. A Welcome to Country honours the customs of Traditional Custodians, allowing them to formally welcome visitors to their Traditional Lands and give their blessing to an activity, event or visit. The inclusion of these welcomes is a way in which valuing and respecting appropriate Indigenous ceremonies lead to an increase in the understanding and mutual respect for the cultural practices of Indigenous Australians through observation of protocols and a sharing in cultural practice. The resonance of these traditional welcomes is that they place great value in such things as the recognition of Indigenous people as the First Australians, the promotion of awareness of the history and the cultures of Indigenous Australians and their contributions to our nation, and formal acknowledgement of their ongoing connection to the land. A Welcome to Country is a meaningful occurrence that allows everyone to be part of Australia’s Reconciliation journey.”
The welcome is performed by Patricia O’Connor.
Updated
Oh, and Malcolm Turnbull and Their Royal Highnesses, The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall.
Updated
Along with 14 Australian athletes from previous Commonwealth Games.
Glasgow 2014 - Anna Meares
Delhi 2010 - Sharelle McMahon
Melbourne 2006 - Matthew Cowdrey
Manchester 2002 - Damian Brown
Kuala Lumpur 1998 - Kieren Perkins
Victoria 1994 - Ian Hale
Auckland 1990 - Lisa Curry-Kenny
Edinburgh 1986 - Michael Turtur
Brisbane 1982 - Rick Mitchell
Edmonton 1978 - Remo & Salvatore Sansonetti
Christchurch 1974 - Michael Wenden
Edinburgh 1970 - Pam Kilborn (Ryan)
Kingston 1966 - David Dickson
And an Aspiring Athlete Madeleine Fasnacht, who is 19 years old and currently lives in Tasmania. At the Bahamas 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games she won gold in the Individual time trial and bronze in the Individual Road Race events.
Time for some dignitaries now: Louise Martin CBE, President of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), The Honourable Peter Beattie AC, the Chairman of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee and Sam Coffa AM, President of Commonwealth Games Australia.
The Totem ceremony concludes with a wedge-tail eagle appearing on the illuminated floor of the stadium. The wedge-tailed eagle, miban, is a significant totem providing protection to country and future generations.
The mood has shifted back to reverential with a totem ceremony. This represents a moment of reconnecting and regeneration, a ritual in which the ceremonial knowledge of the totemic system is passed down from Ancestors and Elders past, through Elders present, to the Elders of the future. It is haunting and beautiful.
Lit by a cool white light, Totem features performance by youngsters from Bangarra’s Rekindling Program. Rekindling is an intensive dance-based education program for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander secondary students to explore who you are and where you come from. The participants research and gather stories with the help and guidance from Elders within their communities. They then develop dance, performance and creative skills to produce dance theatre in collaboration with local Elders and community members.
Updated
Christine Anu’s just rocked up. The Cairns-born pop star is note perfect 18-years after performing at the 2000 Olympics.
The music has shifted. William Barton, one of Australia’s finest traditional didgeridoo players and a leading didgeridoo player in the classical world is playing from the peak of the Q1 skyscraper.
Back in the arena hip hop artist Mau Power from Thursday Island in the Torres Strait is performing with the The Four Winds Didgeridoo Orchestra. They’re all smashing it. It looks and sounds superb.
We’re now being taken on a history of the earth on this cool glowing platform in the middle of the stadium. Starting with Pangea (obvs) we’ve got human forms set within the boundary of the mega-continent slowly stretching into life. All the while there’s a Sigur Ros backing vibe.
The land mass starts to separate, shaping the continents we recognise today, and we meet Migaloo, the white whale, who we can expect to see later.
Updated
Our narrator stands in the middle of the arena, holding a small illuminated globe, sharing a message of unity.
“Home. That’s where we live. From here, you can’t see any borders. No barriers built to divide us, no people on different sides. All that we are, and have been, and can be, all that we value, all that we love, all our memories and stories, our hopes and our dreams, the best, and the worst, of us – is here, on that tiny grain of rock. From here there’s no sound of our quarrels, no voices in conflict, no people at war. From here it seems, we’re all the same, not drifting apart, but all connected. No sign of ‘Other’ – only Sister and Brother. No ‘You’, or ‘Me’ – just ‘We’. From here, all that we see is all that we share: Shining, fragile, awesome… …our island home in a cosmic sea. “
The globe is placed in sand, nesting like a turtle’s egg, before exploding out to reveal a pretty awesome shifting visualisation of the earth.
This is brill.
I’m in! The opening scene features a young Aboriginal girl with a smartphone sign saying “welcome to the oldest living culture on earth”, followed by a rapid countdown from 65,000, slowing for the final ten. Cue fireworks. The theme is “hello earth”. Nice.
Updated
We’re just a few seconds away from the start of the opening ceremony. The lights have been dimmed and the music has begun...
Niall McVeigh has picked out some of the must-watch events over the next 11 days, including the incredible story of 11-year old table tennis star Anna Hursey.
Speaking of medals, this year’s have been designed by local artist Delvene Cockatoo-Collins and produced by the Royal Australian Mint.
Don’t ever let anybody tell you the Commonwealth Games hands out medals just for turning up.
Hang on, what’s that?
Oh...
The Queen’s Baton Relay was launched on 13 March 2017 (Commonwealth Day), at Buckingham Palace. The Queen began the relay by placing her message to the Commonwealth and its athletes into Baton which was then sent on its journey around the world.
388 days later, via every nation and territory of the Commonwealth the baton will arrive at Carrara Stadium tonight and the message read aloud by Prince Charles.
A major benefit to the host city of any major sporting event is the opportunity to promote itself as a tourist destination. Gold Coast’s charms are more obvious than other Commonwealth Games host cities.
Just be careful when you plan your visit or you might bump into some schoolies, toolies, or even droolies!
If that previous reference needs more explaining, here’s a clip of Matilda in action. According to the ABC one of the many operators inside the mascot - the one operating the eyes - may have been under the influence. “He’d had a small smoke before he went out which I only found out later on. He was very relaxed about the winking business,” recalled producer Ric Birch.
Borobi joins a rogues’ gallery of sporting mascots, including Matilda the kangaroo from Brisbane 82 who, it has since been reported, may have been stoned when she winked at the Duke of Edinburgh.
The mascot for the games is a spunky little koala called Borobi. He has fur the colour of the ocean and a passion for surfing and adventure.
In case you were wondering, Borobi means koala in the indigenous Yugambeh language and was inspired by a drawing by Brisbane school teacher Merrilyn Krohn.
Borobi has an entire backstory, which is really rather cute, that you can explore on the various GC2018 digital platforms.
The motto for the games is “Share The Dream”.
According to the official website: “Share the Dream is a call to action that asks us to go beyond passively observing the event. It tells us we can actively immerse ourselves in the experience. For supporters, the community, volunteers and sponsors to share in GC2018.”
Just please, whatever you do, don’t turn it into an acronym. Dreams are the only things we want to share over the next 11 days.
While we’re waiting for tonight’s son et lumiere take a look back on some highlights of opening ceremonies past. There’s A LOT of tartan.
The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall today arrived in Brisbane for the start of a tour of Australia and to officially open the 2018 Commonwealth Games on behalf of Her Majesty The Queen.@GC2018 #GC2018 #RoyalVisitAustralia pic.twitter.com/s8I7JlBOR6
— Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) April 4, 2018
But in the news bulletin of snafus there would be a smile to the camera and a twinkle in the newsreader’s as they read out, “and finally, the official programme of the Commonwealth Games has mistaken England with The Gambia...”
It’s not been the smoothest lead-in to a major event. We’ve had syringes found in the athletes’ village, some of Australia’s biggest media houses boycotting official accreditation, protests blocking the Queen’s Baton Relay, and an allegation of sexual assault.
Preamble
Hello, and welcome to live coverage of the opening ceremony of the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Coming to you from the Gold Coast on Australia’s eastern seaboard, the 21st Comm Games will feature 71 nations competing in 275 events across 18 different sports and seven para-sports over the next 11 days.
Beach Volleyball, Para Triathlon and Women’s Rugby Sevens will make their Games debuts, and for the first time an equal number of men’s and women’s medal events will be contested.
Tonight’s spectacular takes place in Carrara Stadium, the centrepiece of the Games’ infrastructure, where Artistic Director David Zolkwer is set to wow an audience headlined by Prince Charles with an “eclectic and inclusive” celebration of Australia and southern Queensland.
We’re expecting the opening ceremony to kick off around 8pm AEST and last around two to three hours. While I’m comfortable chatting to myself for that long without an intervention, this will be a much more enjoyable experience with your input. Please feel free to contribute by email: jonathan.howcroft.freelance@guardian.co.uk or Twitter: @JPHowcroft.
Updated
