10 performances to remember in the year the Olympics were not held

If not for the coronavirus crisis, the closing of the Tokyo Olympics would have been this weekend. The dream of many athletes to participate in this event will have to wait until the summer of 2021. Also the musical performances of various artists who in each edition bring rhythm and fun to this international event. George Michael, Céline Dion or the Spice Girls have been some of the singers who have starred in mythical shows.

One pound was paid by all the artists who participated in the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics, including Paul McCartney. The exbeatle got the entire stadium crowd to sing the song Hey Jude . The musician recently gave an interview to GQ magazine and said: “I was the guy who broke up with The Beatles and the bastard who sued his teammates. It was so frequent to hear it that for years I almost blamed myself. "

While Paul McCartney's performance was given at the opening ceremony, those who triumphed at the closing ceremony in the British capital were Queen and Jessie J. The singer led for one night the group that catapulted Freddie Mercury to fame and provided the voice to the song We Will Rock You . However, since that year who collaborates with the mythical rock band is the American Adam Lambert.

Barcelona , played by Monserrat Caballé and Freddie Mercury, was the theme that championed the Olympic Games held in Barcelona in 1992. Unlike other editions, both artists could not be seen on stage at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium. The Queen vocalist died almost a year earlier from bronchopneumonia that was complicated by AIDS. That professional union between the rock star and the soprano resulted in a friendship, brief, but full of mutual admiration. "For the world of opera it was a revolution, a real revolution," Caballé acknowledged a few years later.

José Carreras was the musical director of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Barcelona Olympic Games. Among the different interventions of the tenor, his duet with Sarah Brightman stood out, with whom he sang Amigos para siempre . But the event of 1992 is remembered above all the exhibition of Catalan rumba that was carried out by artists such as Peret, Los Amaya and Los Manolos.

Luciano Pavarotti's last performance was precisely at the 2006 Winter Olympics, held in Turin (Italy). There he enthralled the public with the most representative opera piece of his career: Nessun dorma . However, two years later the director Leone Magiera revealed in his book Pavarotti seen da vicino (Pavarotti seen up close, in Italian) that the lyrical singer lip- synched : "Despite the increasingly stabbing pains he suffered forced to move in a wheelchair, he wanted to participate in the show ”.

Another missing artist who left an iconic performance for the history of the sporting event was George Michael, specifically at the 2012 London Olympics. The former member of Wham! He came back full after a few months that were difficult for his health due to pneumonia. On the Olympic stage in the British capital he performed Freedom! '90 and presented the theme White Light , something for which it was harshly criticized by journalists and members of the music industry who did not see that it was the right place to promote new material.

That night the Spice Girls also intervened. Geri Halliwell, Melanie C, Mel B, Emma Bunton and Victoria Beckham looked back on some of their hits from the 90s, like Wannabe and Spice Up Your Life . That year in which they met again, they undertook a tour that was not joined by David Beckham's wife, dedicated in recent years to fashion design. A series of concerts that filled stadiums.

At the Sydney Olympics, held in 2000, one of the most international Australian artists could not be absent: Kylie Minogue. The singer, in addition to performing her own songs, chose Dancing Queen , from the Swedish group Abba, to liven up the closing ceremony. Two weeks later she also performed at the opening of the Paralympic Games.

With The Power Of The Dream Céline Dion wanted to appear in the Atlanta edition (United States), in 1996; a performance that helped her establish herself as an international artist. The song was written by David Foster, Linda Thompson and Babyface especially for the sporting event.

Also in Atlanta, Little Richard intervened, with a performance that made everyone dance to the rhythm of rock'n'roll . With Good Golly Miss Molly , Long Tall Sally and Tutti Frutti he proved in the state where he was born, Georgia, to be one of the pioneers of this musical style. Last May, the musician died at the age of 87 due to bone cancer.