Commonwealth Games: Duran Duran to headline opening ceremony in Birmingham
Image credit: Birmingham Bulletin
The Commonwealth Games opening ceremony will include Duran Duran as the headlining act next week in Birmingham, according to the organisers.
On the same bill as fellow Birmingham musician Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the 80s pop quartet will perform (CBSO).
Simon Le Bon, a singer, said he was “honoured” to perform at the homecoming concert.
With successes like Hungry Like the Wolf, Girls on Film, and Rio, Duran Duran rose to prominence in the new romantic movement after their 1978 Birmingham formation.
With successes like Hungry Like the Wolf, Girls on Film, and Rio, Duran Duran rose to prominence in the new romantic movement after their 1978 Birmingham formation.
After a brief break in the middle of the 1980s, they came back together and had another international smash with Ordinary World in 1993. They still perform live and make records, and most recently they were the headliners at the BST event in London’s Hyde Park.
Hear My Voice, a dream sequence that features Grammy-winning guitarist Iommi and saxophonist Soweto Kinch is based on the title music from the 2020 film Trial of the Chicago Seven and was reworked by Birmingham-born R&B vocalists Indigo Marshall and Gambimi.
Mezzo-soprano The national anthem will also be performed by Samantha Oxborough, a Royal Birmingham Conservatoire alumna, and the CBSO.
Tickets for Duran Duran and their fellow West Midlanders’ performance in the recently renovated Alexander Stadium, which can accommodate 30,000 people and will also serve as the site of the closing party, are already on sale.
The games will mark the UK’s return to hosting premier multisport competitions following the 2014 Glasgow Games and the 2012 London Olympics.
The upcoming ceremony is “the next blockbuster in our tremendous year of sport and culture – the curtain-raiser for an extraordinary 11 days of sport,” according to Commonwealth Games Minister Nigel Huddleston.
He continued, “London 2012 introduced spectacles of this nature to an entirely new age. Ten years later, this event will bring together a new, international audience and highlight the best of Birmingham and the UK as a whole.