Individuals, creative artists and organisations from across Westside have joined together to plan and play a major part in tonight’s opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Games.
Iqbal Khan, associate director at the Birmingham Repertory theatre, has created the performance which will be in front of 30,000 spectators at Alexander Stadium, attracting a global TV audience of up to one billion.
The opening ceremony lasts two-and-a-half hours and will feature a range of Birmingham’s rich musical heritage including:
- the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, whose home is Symphony Hall on Westside
- new romantic rock band Duran Duran, recipients of one of the prestigious Broad Street Walk of Stars, and
- Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, who also holds a Walk of Stars and who helped Westside BID launch the now-famous ‘heavy metal’ bench on the Broad Street canal bridge.
Iommi will join renowned city saxophonist Soweto Kinch to lead a dream sequence entitled Hear My Voice, based on the title track from 2020 film Trial of the Chicago 7. After Iommi and Kinch play their extended instrumental lead-in, they will be joined by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and a 700-strong community choir.
The roles of Iommi and Kinch was revealed in detail by music writer Paul Cole in his article for Birmingham World, which you can read in full here: https://www.birminghamworld.uk/news/black-sabbath-hero-tony-iommi-proud-play-commonwealth-games-opening-ceremony-birmingham-3782196
In this, Iommi said: “A billion people tuning in is a huge figure. It’s going to be seen not just across the Commonwealth but throughout the world. We really have to do Birmingham proud.
“Representing Brum is a great honour and I’m bursting with pride to be doing it. I’ve flown the flag for Birmingham all of my life because it’s my city and it’s given me wonderful opportunities.
“I like to think that Black Sabbath helped to put Birmingham on the map musically, and it’s great now that the Games ceremony will feature so many talented people from the city.
“It means a hell of a lot to me. But I have to admit, there’ll be a bit of stage fright on the night. I haven’t played onstage at a big show for five years since the final Sabbath show in February 2017.”
There are 1,800 volunteers from the region taking part in the show, which will follow 72 young people representing the nations and territories of the Commonwealth embarking on a journey through Birmingham old and new.
Khan of The Rep was interviewed about his role in an article by Jessica Murray, the Midlands correspondent of The Guardian, which you can read in full here: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/jul/28/commonwealth-games-birmingham-opener-will-be-on-par-london-2012-says-director
Khan said: “The volunteers are in the DNA of the whole show. Their spirit has been overwhelming. I think it’s a joyous show and there has never been a greater need for joy than now. I feel like we have a massively entertaining, moving, challenging show to share with the world.
“There is an iconic phrase that Brummies use around here, which is we’re proud to be modest, and that’s lovely and it’s a slightly subversive joke. But I think there’s a growing desire to really make a noise about ourselves.
“We conceived this show as both an unparalleled show of excellence for the live audience but a show in broadcast terms that has an ambition that has never been conceived before.”
The opening ceremony features the formal declaration of the start of the Games, marking the beginning of 11 days of sport in the city, with 19 events over 16 venues.
It will start at around 7pm tonight and will end at around 10.30pm, and will be shown live on BBC One from 7pm.
ENDS
