|
|
|
|
Concert for Diana
|
| |
|
| |
Concert for Diana was a concert held at the new Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom in honour of Diana, Princess of Wales on 1 July 2007, which would have been her 46th birthday; 31 August that year brought the 10th anniversary of her death. The concert was hosted by Diana's sons, Prince William of Wales and Prince Henry of Wales who helped to organize many of the world's most famous entertainers and singers to perform at the concert.
The concert was broadcast in 140 different countries across the world with an estimated potential audience of 500 million homes.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Concert for Diana' Start a new discussion about 'Concert for Diana' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
Concert for Diana was a concert held at the new Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom in honour of Diana, Princess of Wales on 1 July 2007, which would have been her 46th birthday; 31 August that year brought the 10th anniversary of her death. The concert was hosted by Diana's sons, Prince William of Wales and Prince Henry of Wales who helped to organize many of the world's most famous entertainers and singers to perform at the concert.
The concert was broadcast in 140 different countries across the world with an estimated potential audience of 500 million homes. In December 2006, 22,500 tickets were made available for purchase for the concert, selling out in just 17 minutes, while 63,000 people turned out to Wembley Stadium to watch the performances to commemorate Diana. At the end of the performances, a video montage of Diana as a child was presented, accompanied by the Queen song "These Are the Days of Our Lives".
The concert started at 16:00 BST and finished at approximately 22:15 BST - there were two short intermissions during the concert.
A 2-Disc DVD set of the full concert was released on the 5 November 2007. A Blu-ray high definition release of the full concert and documentary was released in November 2008.
Performers and speakers
Order of Performances
- Sir Elton John (first performance) - "Your Song"
- Duran Duran - "(Reach Up for the) Sunrise", "Wild Boys" and "Rio"
- James Morrison - "You Give Me Something" and "Wonderful World"
- Lily Allen - "LDN" and "Smile"
- Fergie - "Glamorous" and "Big Girls Don't Cry"
- The Feeling - "Fill My Little World" and "Love It When You Call"
- Pharrell - "Drop It Like It's Hot" and "She Wants To Move (Remix)"
- Nelly Furtado - "Say It Right", "I'm Like a Bird" and "Maneater"
- English National Ballet - "Swan Lake" (Act IV)
- Status Quo - "Rockin' All Over the World"
- Joss Stone - "You Had Me" and "Under Pressure"
- Roger Hodgson - Supertramp Medley ("Dreamer", "The Logical Song" and "Breakfast in America") and "Give a Little Bit"
- Orson - "Happiness" and "No Tomorrow"
- Sir Tom Jones and Joe Perry - "Kiss", "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" and "Ain't That A Lot of Love?" (with Joss Stone)
- Will Young - "Switch It On"
- Natasha Bedingfield - "Unwritten"
- Bryan Ferry - "Slave to Love", "Make You Feel My Love" and "Let's Stick Together (Extended)"
- Anastacia - "Superstar" from Jesus Christ Superstar
- Connie Fisher and Andrea Ross - "Memory" from Cats
- Andrea Bocelli - "The Music of the Night" from The Phantom of the Opera
- Josh Groban and Sarah Brightman - "All I Ask of You" from The Phantom of the Opera
- Donny Osmond, Jason Donovan and Lee Mead featuring the Chicken Shed Theatre Company - "Any Dream Will Do" from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
- Rod Stewart - "Maggie May", "Baby Jane" and "Sailing"
- Kanye West - "Gold Digger", " Touch the Sky", "Stronger", "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" and "Jesus Walks"
- P. Diddy - "I'll Be Missing You"
- Take That - "Shine", "Patience" and "Back for Good"
- Ricky Gervais - "Freelove Freeway" (featuring Mackenzie Crook), "Chubby Little Loser"
- Sir Elton John (second performance) - "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting" "Tiny Dancer" "Are You Ready For Love"
Order of speakers
- Prince William of Wales and Prince Harry of Wales
- Sienna Miller and Dennis Hopper
- Kiefer Sutherland
- Ryan Seacrest, Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson
- Natasha Kaplinsky
- Dennis Hopper
- Fearne Cotton
- Gillian Anderson
- Boris Becker and John McEnroe
- Cat Deeley
- Patsy Kensit
- Jamie Oliver
- David Beckham
- Ben Stiller (pre-recorded message)
- Ricky Gervais
- Prince William of Wales and Prince Harry of Wales
- Nelson Mandela (pre-recorded message)
- Bill Clinton (pre-recorded message)
- Tony Blair (pre-recorded message)
Notable spectators
Prince Charles was not among the spectators. Together with Queen Elizabeth II, Gordon Brown, and Tony Blair he was among the guests at the Diana, Princess of Wales memorial service on August 31, 2007 in the Guards Chapel.
Planning
- Football star, David Beckham attended the concert to introduce Take That.
- In pre-concert interview Prince William listed Michael Jackson as one of Diana's most favourite music acts but the performer did not appear on the show. In 1997 Jackson cancelled his world tour concert in Belgium due to the emotional shock of Diana's death, attended an L.A. memorial service dedicated to her, granted his Gone Too Soon song to the Tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales album, and gave his memories on being friends with the Princess to Barbara Walters in an internationally televised interview.
- In one of the many tabloid stories that surfaced relating to the concert and the following week's Live Earth event it was alleged Madonna, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Keane, and other acts were set to play at the concert but were lost to the upcoming Live Earth show. The concert organisers were apparently trying to secure their top acts, and are also being pressured into rethinking their lineup to appeal to younger people, and compare to Live Earth.
- Kate Middleton, the current (at the time, former) girlfriend of Prince William, and Chelsy Davy, the (at the time) girlfriend of Prince Henry, attended the concert. It has been rumoured that they were involved in helping to plan the event.
- Queen guitarist Brian May, expected to perform alongside Joss Stone in her version of Under Pressure, pulled out of accompanying Stone after finding the new arrangement of his band's song "different... from the original".
- According to certain sources, Bryan Adams was barred by the Princes because they did not want any controversy to surround the event. This controversy would stem from rumours that Adams and Diana were romantically involved.. Adams, however, was playing in Budapest, Hungary the night before, and would have found it difficult to appear in the Diana show even if he had been asked.
- The Spice Girls were set to perform at the concert, but did not appear as Baby Spice (Emma Bunton) was pregnant and due to give birth.
Broadcasting
The concert was broadcast in 140 countries. Jamie Theakston, Fearne Cotton and Claudia Winkleman interviewed acts backstage for the BBC and many other television channels across the world. In the United States, VH1's coverage was helmed by Aamer Haleem and Kate Thornton with Dave Berry interviewing performers backstage.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom the concert was broadcast on BBC One, BBC HD and BBC Radio 2 (from 3:30 p.m. BST).
The concert was watched by an average of 8.9 million viewers, and peaked with 14.8 million. Over the 8 hour period it had a 44% viewing share. It received considerably more viewers than the Live Earth concert which was broadcast a week later.
United States
In the USA Palladia (then known as MHD), VH1 and broadcast the concert live from 11 a.m. (EDT) The concert drew near double the viewing figures for the 2005 Live 8 concert with 1.4 million average over the 8 hours.
NBC broadcast a highlights show between 8 p.m.-11 p.m. EDT. The NBC showing was the US most watched programme, averaging 8.7 million viewers.
Other places
In Canada, the concert was broadcast live on CTV with a two hour primetime special highlighting the best performances. The concert reached 2.8 million viewers and the primetime recap peaked at nearly 1 million viewers.
Foxtel on FOX8 in Australia, which was hosted by Molly Meldrum (with a highlights package broadcast by the Nine Network)
VH1 Latin America broadcast the concert in Latin America, the Caribbean and Central America.
M-Net carried it in Africa. Star TV throughout Asia, except Japan where is was shown by WOWOW.
A number of broadcasters showed the concert in Europe. Some countries saw the entire show live, others had only highlights. In Germany the broadcaster RTL II showed the highlights from 8.15 p.m.- 12.15 a.m CEST
Video On Demand
VH1's for the Concert For Diana has videos of all the performances from the concert (except Fergie's "Glamorous" which lost her lead vocal during the live broadcast) on their VSPOT video on demand service in the United States
CTV's minisite has VOD for the performances for Canadian viewers.
The BBC's minisite, , also had VOD for seven days, which showed the concert in three parts for viewers in the UK.
Virgin Media has over 4 and a half hours of the Concert for Diana on its "Catchup TV On Demand" service.
Ricky Gervais
As with many live televised events, the Concert for Diana had a few technical problems, the most obvious of which occurred during comedian Ricky Gervais's stand up routine, before Elton John's musical finale. As a planned seven minute routine became twelve minutes, viewers saw Gervais play to the sympathies of the crowd as a stagehand held up signs saying 'two minutes', 'then 'one minute'. The stand-up comic delivered a rendition of a song that David Bowie performed on his show Extras before finally being told to 'throw to the BBC' (he could not perform jokes from his stand-up tour 'Fame' due to legal circumstances). Before handing back to Claudia Winkleman and Jamie Theakston. During the extended piece, by popular demand from the crowd, he performed his famous "dance" from The Office.
It is thought that the delay led Elton John to drop his hit "Crocodile Rock" from his set.
Charities
All net proceeds from the Concert will go to the charities chosen by Prince William and Prince Harry." These charities include Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, Centrepoint and Sentebale, a charity founded in April 2006, by Prince Harry and Lesotho's Prince Seeiso. It helps vulnerable children and young people in Lesotho - particularly those orphaned as a result of AIDS.
During the airing of the concert, Diana, Princess of Wales was hailed for her generous charity work with the Chain of Hope, Luton Indoor Bowling Club, and British Deaf Association charities. She was also celebrated for her work with the British Red Cross in helping get the word out on land mines in Angola.
Gallery
External links
|
| |
|
|
