World Cup 2018 Opening Ceremony

Opening Ceremony, Russia 2018

In South Africa they had the awful Vuvuzela’s and Shakira dancing with little black babies, ah the cute little things, but very little else. While in Brazil they not only had Shakira back but this time she brought a little dog with her, Pitbull. More dirge, and very little for me to signify a World Cup was in Brazil. (Edit I see it was Jennifer Lopez and not Shakira, my mistake not knowing the difference between the generic leggy Latino pop stars, me bad!)

Still the best World cups for me in terms of atmosphere or world cup songs was the Korea/Japan event where the passion came from the stands, and the 1990’s when music was still something to behold.

So will Russia be any different? You would like to think so, but this time round we are going to be treated to “Live It Up” by Nicky Jam feat. Will Smith & Era Istrefi. I know Will Smith, but had to Google the other two, an American rapper and an Albanian singer, great! Not only did they not get a Russian to headline, they also are singing in English. Why does everything have to be diluted into corporate nonsense? Will Smith! Really? And why always is it rap shite, ok granted footballers have generally bad taste in music, but why do the fans have to suffer?

So I probably wont be looking at the opening ceremony. The music might be trash, sorry, will be trash, and I couldn’t really stomach seeing the corporate in their suits guffawing in the prawn sandwich seats, while doing the two step to look down with the kids.

But to be fair, generally opening ceremony’s be they in Olympics or World Cups are a bit dull. The best for me was definitely the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics. They had an open air concert, with a good combo of traditional and modern music. The worst was Beijing, everything was faked even the fireworks. Makes you wonder why they even bothered.

As for music, surely the best ever was Pavarotti and his rendition of “Nessun Dorma” from Puccini‘s Turandot. Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras, “The Three Tenors” of 1990, will linger long in the memory.

Pavarotti with the best World Cup song EVER

The Open Ceremony, Russia, 2018? Nah, will pass. The football should be more than enough to get me in the mood. But if I did miss something be sure to tell me!

And the best World Cup Song representing a national team, definitely this one………………