The opening ceremony of Paris 2024 will begin this evening at 7:30 p.m. from the Pont Austerlitz, next to the Jardin des Plantes. Unlike previous editions, this year there will be major changes. The biggest of those announced is that the athletes' parade will not be held in a stadium but on the Seine, with boats for each delegation.
And what about music? It is not yet certain whether the recent rumor that Celine Dion and Lady Gaga will collaborate. For Gaga it would be the first Olympics while for Celine Dion a return after Atlanta 1996, as well as the first public performance after the illness. While we wait to find out if this singing meeting will happen or not, here are the 5 best musical performances from the opening ceremony of the Olympics:
Etta James
Los Angeles
1984
A gospel choir and Etta James singing When The Saints Go Marching In on a summer afternoon at the Los Angeles Stadium. What more could you ask for?
The power of dreams is what we rely on in the hope that Celine Dion will show up to sing with Lady Gaga tonight. In the meantime, we can make up for it with her skin-chilling performance The Power of Dream in Atlanta 1996.
Björk doing Björk 100%. This is the concept behind the performance of the Icelandic artist in Greece. For Oceania Björk's dress becomes as big as an entire stadium, transforming into a stage set.
7 minutes of Hey Jude. No one, that night in London, could stop Paul McCartney in one of the most incredible performances in Olympic history.
Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Anitta
Rio De Janeiro
2016
The idea here is simple: how to bring together the entire musical history of a nation like Brazil in a single performance? We mix history (Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil) with the present (Anitta), putting tradition in the foreground (the samba schools). More Brazil than this was impossible.
Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM
