Feb 28

Olympics Closing Ceremony

Written By Ricky, Everything ,Comments (5)

Toronto – Remember that picture! What a moment. Pure elation. Sheer happiness. I, like many Canadians, lost my voice for a few minutes. Hockey’s golden boy scoring a sudden death game winner in overtime in a gold medal game between two arch rivals. What an iconic moment. Canada couldn’t be any higher, streets were shut down..people were rioting…car horns were going off. We had united as one. This was a day no one can ever forget….then came the closing ceremonies.

Neil Young was an appropriate choice..to close the whole show, but he came on first. Bringing along his Conan O Brien setlist.

Then Catherine O Hara/Will Shatner/Michael J Fox all tried to be funny…
Then Michael Buble and the monty python-esque skit came on, I thought it was painful and corny, but there are many differing opinions on this.

Then the shit hit the fan.

Nickelback?
Hedley?
Avril?
Simple Plan?
Do you think we can dance + stomp + rave kids?

Really..what the hell is going on. I was absolutely traumatized. Who picked these artists? Was there some sort of record label persuasion? I couldn’t comprehend it. This was detailed on our twitter account. It was a train wreck. I couldn’t stop watching..but then I thought..what if …this wasn’t a trainwreck.

I don’t know anything about their sales numbers, but any idiot will know that the bands that played are the best selling artists in Canada, so if you are trying to appease the masses, it was a no brainer to pick Nickelback and Avril. If anything, it might be a reflection on this indie blogosphere bubble we live in, where we think Canadian music is represented by bands like Broken Social Scene, Arcade Fire, Feist, Joel Plaskett, Sloan, etc.. Maybe really, when people outside Canada think of our music, Nickelback and Avril is what they think of. For this, I am sad.

However, we won hockey gold. So I guess it’s all good. Maybe.

Ps. Sidney Crosby is not even 23, has won Juniors Gold, Art Ross, the Hart trophy, the Stanley Cup and an Olympic gold. All comparisons to Ovechkin should end there.

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  • Kathleen Smith

    Couldn’t agree with you more. VANOC could not have picked a worse representation of Canadian music, with the exception of Buble and Young. Bulbs is the ultimate showman and his performance was apropos with the setting. I anxiuosly awaited The Arcade Fire, Feist – hell, even the Hip would have been better. The closing ceremonies left me feeling that we finally had something to truly apologise for – the heapin helpin of horrid CANCON we unleashed on the world. World, we’re sorry.

  • http://www.panicmanual.com/author/brian/ Brian

    If you look at the comments on Yahoo’s Fourth Place Medal blog on the closing ceremonies, they’re almost completely split between people saying “Nickelback is horrible, WTF” and others going “STFU NICKELBACK ROOOOOLZ DEY HAS #1 HITZZZ”. Nickelback are kind of polarizing figures between…well, between people with taste and people without. But at least they didn’t trot out the last ten Canadian Idol winners or something. With CTV involved, it could’ve happened. Anyway, you know who I think should’ve played? THE SUNPARLOUR PLAYERS. But I don’t really care, because it was on in the middle of the night over here so I didn’t watch it.

  • Maggie

    Mkay. Nickelback is kind of mediocre, but they were amazing. I am not a nickelback fan, but any band that performs that well live has my vote of approval.

    Saying something like “Nickelback are kind of polarizing figures between…well, between people with taste and people without.” is really just closed minded and elitist.

    You might not like them. Cool. Whatever. I dont either. But I will not declare that someone who does has no taste.

  • http://www.panicmanual.com/author/brian/ Brian

    Hey, many of my closest friends have no taste in music. Some of them will even freely admit to it. It’s no crime, it’s true of lots of people. If you don’t want to declare that people who like Nickelback have no taste, Maggie, that’s cool. But I’m more than happy to say it. People who like Nickelback have no taste in music. Would you like me to say it again?

  • A

    It was embarrassing to say the least. I watched the ceremony on the street, right off of Robson square. There must have been thousands of people in attendance on that block alone. The atmosphere was pumped and everybody ecstatic, but when I got home, and I saw clips of the broadcast and could actually hear the vulgarity of it, I soon realized that the excitement was probably the prolonged effects of hockey gold. Sure, we all had sex in a canoe, we’re truly am sorry that we apologize too often, and I even wrote a few love letters with pee in the snow. I know Billy, Bobby, and Sally… But all their last names are Wong or Singh. We are one of the most culturally diverse nations in the world. We are gay, we are straight, we are colored. Why was that not included in a show “trying to break cliches”? Regardless, I really don’t give a rats ass what anybody thinks of Canadians. All I know is I am Canadian and I am proud. I think the part that bugs me the most is the boasting. This is a world event. We hosted the world. Imagine it like a dinner party, guests come over and all you do is talk about yourself. Do you think you played a good host? I’m sure it doesn’t hurt by putting on some crappy music while you boast as well. The “talent” was painful but still not as painful as flushing 14 gold medals down the toilet due to poor character. I’m sorry but that’s my two cents!