City Rejoices
City Rejoices: Liverpools Year as the European capital of Culture
2008 is Liverpools turn to enjoy its time as the cultural capital of Europe. Thousands of people joined the celebration at the launch party.
The celebration kicked off with the former Beatle Ringo Starr, who performed at the city centre standing a hundred feet up on the roof top of St Georges Hall. The sight was enthralling and much awaited by the spectators, when several acrobats joined to embellish his performance. The acrobats dangled on wires from cranes that were specially designed to show off the building work that has remarkably transformed the vicinity. Along with the acrobats, some of whom seemed to dart up the walls of St. Georges Hall, the cranes also hoisted some shipping containers, especially designed to symbolize the citys heritage in shipping.
This launch party signifies the beginning of the year-long festivities around the city, with over three hundred and fifty events lined up.
The event was a true spectacle, with fireworks lighting up the entire sky. The fireworks were launched from the roof top of the St. Georges Hall and illuminated not only this mammoth neoclassical masterpiece, but every area adjacent to this, including Lime Street Station and the Empire Theatre.
The celebrations got under way at 2000 GMT and boasted a grand performance, which included over six hundred performers, former Eurythmics frontman Dave Stewart, the Wombats and, of course, Ringo Starr. The responsibility of the shows design was with director Nigel Jamieson, who is also accredited with designing the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, held in Sydney.
This was a once in a lifetime show, where Echo and The Bunnymen, Riuven, Ringo Starr, The Farm, The Wombats, Vasily Petrenko, Pete Wylie and the royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra occupied the centre stage, making it an exuberant palate of lively music and visual. The former Fab Four Drummer commented that he was proud to be part of this extravaganza.
I'm from Liverpool, I do feel that - it's in my soul. He added, It has changed so much over the years but the atmosphere of the city doesn't change - it's still here.
It took more than a hundred tons of staging materials, four kilometers of optical wiring, two hundred and fifty people and more than 40,000 hours of labor to set the grand stage that announced the festivity in the city. Two forty-feet display screens were set up to keep the crowd entertained, waiting eagerly in Lime Street to enjoy the spectacular show.
In spite of the several criticisms that they faced earlier, Deputy Chairperson of the Culture Company and Brookside creator, Phil Redmond was hopeful of the shows success and directing his comments at critics he said, It's like a scouse wedding - a lot of rowing but it gets there in the end.
The new Echo Arena will witness yet another musical extravaganza this Saturday, featuring some indispensable names in Merseyside Music.
The city being tagged as the Capital of Culture, the organizers of the event and the city officials are looking forward to this years festivities and they believe that this will attract an added population of tourists, no less than two million, boosting the economy by at least another £100m. Experts at the North West Development Agency have also reported that they expect a net £50m from the events that will take place throughout the year. They also expect some gain from the Merseyside Music this year. The Museums and art galleries in Liverpool will also remain open for their visitors till 2200 GMT everyday.
