Phoenix carry out throughout the Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Stade de France on August 11, 2024 in Paris, France. Michael Reaves/Getty Images
About midway with the 2024 Paris Olympics Closing Ceremony on Sunday (Aug 11)– after a ceremony of professional athletes triumphantly made their means right into the Stade de France to note completion of the 2024 Summer Olympics– the band Phoenix was gathered below ground waiting on their hint.
“Usually, backstage areas can be sad places,” Phoenix’s Laurent Brancowitz, that plays guitar and key-boards, informsBillboard “All you usually see is a security guard waiting for his shift to end and a guy handing out bottles of water. But this time it was beautiful. Looking out and seeing the light, the haze and people in costumes. We could see dancers jump just above our heads. It was an ant colony full of people who were really happy.”
The crowds of volunteers, entertainers and professional athletes assembled to assist proposal Paris so long to 19 days of the international limelight. Along for the adventure were a bunch of musicians to assist sneak peek the 2028 Olympics Games in Los Angeles: H.E.R. sang the united state National Anthem from the arena, while Billie Eilish, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Snoop Dogg andDr Dre all executed survive place from Long Beach,Calif
Trending on Billboard
Those handy standing for France consisted of the French vocalist Zaho de Sagazan and professional dancer Arthur Cadre, in addition to Phoenix, among the nation’s most preferred music exports over the previous 20 years. (They initially created in neighboring Versailles in 1995.) But while it commonly takes years of detailed preparation for an Olympics to find with each other (outlining for Paris started back in 2017), Phoenix just had around 2 weeks to create what totaled up to a 20-minute collection.
“We knew we were being considered and at some point we were actually first approached about appearing at the Opening Ceremony,” claims frontman Thomas Mars of the preliminary preparation, masterminded by innovative supervisor Thomas Jolly (that likewise outlined the July 26 Opening Ceremony). “We were telling them that whatever they needed, we’d love to participate,” claimsMars “The Olympics have that kind of pressure that’s right for music somehow.”
While the rain-soaked Opening Ceremony notoriously ended up including the similarity Lady Gaga and Celine Dion, Phoenix really did not hear till late July that intends had actually moved to include the band plainly throughout the grand ending of thegames “We were thinking, ‘Is this a gift or are we going to make fools of ourselves?’” Mars muses of getting simply 2 weeks of sophisticated notification. “The only thing they told us is to put on a show for the athletes who are probably going to go wild.”
One of the very first significant choices was to include a range of other musicians and close friends to complete their collection. “We reached out to a few people, and for some it didn’t work out because they were on tour,” claimsMars Eventually they efficiently hired Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig, the French duo Air, Cambodian rap artist VannDa and French-Belgian pop vocalist Ang èle. In a cycle minute, they likewise welcomed the electro pop musician Kavinsky to execute his 2010 tune “Nightcall,” a track Mars was originally asked to sing on prior to its launch. “The producer of that song, Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, first reached out when he made it and asked me to hop on, but we have a rule that we don’t do music outside of Phoenix,” claimsMars “So when we reached out to Kavinsky, I was like ‘What part was I originally supposed to sing?’”
Phoenix’s collection likewise included an unscripted minute where numerous professional athletes stormed the phase in enjoyment, damaging LED displays and crowding the room in the process. “When we saw everybody, we understood something unplanned was happening,” remembersBrancowitz “But it turned out to be the perfect situation for a live show. It was a very joyful kind of chaos.”
However, there was some stress and anxiety. “In the back of my mind, the structural engineer in me was like, ‘Is this stage going to survive 800 muscular athletes jumping in sync on top of it?’ But the people organizing handled the situation and managed to clear the stage without creating any drama.”
Mars likewise could not assist himself, at one factor delving into the group and obtaining raised up. “I asked the producers if I could, and I figured they’d say no because of security, but they were totally game,” claimsMars “All of the American athletes were actually gathered in one section, so when we did ‘1901’ (the song that helped break the band in the States), the Americans were most pumped up. One guy actually handed me his gold medal and wanted me to put it on, but in a split second I thought wearing it would be wrong. The heroes are the athletes, but it was a beautiful exchange.” Along the means, Mars increased a finger airborne as a homage to Philippe Zdar, the French manufacturer that dealt with “1901” and died in 2019.
After Phoenix (and Tom Cruise’s much talked-about feat dive from the top of the arena), the emphasis moved to Los Angeles in a sector generated by manufacturer Ben Winston’s Fulwell 73, the clothing understood for their current service theGrammy Awards Production started on Long Beach’s Belmont Shore recently, when a bunch of vehicles and numerous personnel relocated. It was so deceptive that most of the staffers weren’t also notified what they were working with in advance. The Los Angeles section began at around 2 p.m. PT, including several of the city’s greatest music acts, consisting of Billie Eilish, that sang her most current “Birds of a Feather” come with by bro Finneas.
When the activity reduced to Paris, the grand ending was available in the type of French vocalist Yseult lulling a psychological variation of Frank Sinatra’s 1969 hit “My Way.” It was a perky selection thinking about the tune has French beginnings; made up by Jacques Revaux, it was initially labelled “Comme d’habitude” prior to Paul Anka created its now-iconic English verses custom-written for Sinatra.
“I was confidentially told a few weeks ago that they just might be featuring ‘My Way’ as part of the show,” Anka informs Billboard of a phone call that originated from coordinators to provide its author a direct. “The song has had all kinds of lives and it means a lot to France. I thought, ‘Wow! If they pull it off, that’d be pretty cool.” In the stepping in time, it was radio silence till he was seeing in the house like everyone else. “I respected the take on it and I thought it was amazingly orchestrated, and by the end I thought it really kicked ass,” claimsAnka “I also love how they chose a female performer because you usually hear men singing it. But with what the Olympics mean and what those athletes go through, to end the games with ‘My Way’ was one of the great moments I’ve ever had with that song, let alone in my career.”
When all was stated and done and the target market left, the entertainers could not assist however linger and take in the minute. “We had the stadium to ourselves,” claims Phoenix’sMars “Everybody involved in creating the show just wandered around and stayed until really late.” In truth, Mars contrasts their Olympic turn to their 2009 star-making Saturday Night Live launching, which they stated was one of the most substantial efficiency of their job. That is, till last evening.
“People ask what’s next, and the only other thing would be to perform on SNL’s 50th anniversary special, if the powers-that-be are listening,” claims Mars with a wink of the program’s approaching wedding anniversary unique inFebruary “But really, performing at the Olympics was like when you have a kid. You come back and you can’t sleep, you’re just so excited. That’s how good it was. It compares with having a kid.”
..
