Pint-sized pop princesses Lulu and Kylie Minogue embodied the transition from Scotland 2014 to Australia 2018 when the Gold Coast takes the baton from Glasgow.
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THE 2014 Commonwealth Games achieved closure with a mixture of tartan, tents and thank yous.
If opening ceremonies are about national stereotypes, closings are traditionally party time and Sunday night at Hampden Park was no exception.
Gone were the Scottie dogs, inflatable Loch Ness monsters and giant kilts. In their place, pint-sized pop princesses Lulu and Kylie Minogue embodied the transition from Scotland 2014 to Australia 2018 when the Gold Coast takes the baton from Glasgow.
A huge band of Scots guards playing Waltzing Matilda echoed the changeover theme.
Lulu spoke for many of the Games’ 1.2 million spectators with her trademark refrain ‘‘You make me wanna shout’’ while Dignity, signature song of her fellow Scots Deacon Blue, empathised with working-class Glaswegians and was accompanied by a cavalcade of public service vehicles from a fire engine to garbage truck.
However, in thigh-high boots, Kylie inevitably stole the show, ‘‘Spinning Around’’ through a summary of her career that even had Commonwealth Games Federation president Prince Imran doing the Locomotion.
The evening began with the Commonwealth Games athletes appearing from a sea of tents, both of which then became part of the spectacle.
And after the Scottish musical opening (strange only for the absence of The Proclaimers), Jessica Mauboy and Mick Fanning led the Gold Coast presentation but had most non-Australian journalists searching for their bios in the media guides.
That wasn’t an issue when Gold Coast resident and 100-metre hurdles champion Sally Pearson joined in.
The seemingly endless thank-you speeches had a definite air of ‘‘Get Kylie on’’ about them.
Prince Imran had to pause as soon as he began to praise Team Scotland’s record contribution, such was the crowd roar, but fortunately he didn’t have the same problem when thanking the Scottish government for its contribution.
He then made the obligatory declaration that 2014 were the best Games ever – take that Delhi – and utilised local dialect to conclude his speech with the observation: ‘‘Glasgow you were pure dead brilliant.’’
Auld Lang Syne traditionally brings to an end one era and positively looks ahead to another, and having been written by the national poet of Scotland, Robert Burns, proved an apt choice to close the closing.