Pop concert proven most popular Jubilee event; Service of Thanksgiving voted least favourite
A quarter of Britons have said the pop concert for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee was their favourite part of the royal festivities, making it the most popular event of the Jubilee, our poll shows. Also popular was the Thames river pageant which featured a flotilla of over 300 vessels last Sunday.
- 25% say the pop concert was their favourite event at the Jubilee
- 20% said the Thames river pageant
- 12% said the fly-past and Buckingham palace balcony scene
- 6% said the carriage procession
- 5% said the service of thanksgiving
- 23% said none of the events were their favourite
The pop concert, which attracted half a million Britons, featured a host of artists chosen to represent the span of popular music from the Queen’s reign, including pop culture and classical artists, along with legends of the music industry such as Sir Elton John, Shirley Bassey and Sir Paul McCartney.
Behind the scenes
The venue for the line-up was a massive purpose built stage surrounding the Victoria Monument, in the middle of a busy road junction outside the Royal palace; a feat which organisers have described as "complicated."
On the day of the concert, BBC producer Ben Weston discussed the planning of the event which had been on the horizon for two whole years: "We’ve been in technical planning for nine months, had roads blocked off for three weeks, the band and orchestra have been rehearsing for two weeks, we’ve had five or six artists coming in every day this week to do their routines.”
Cutting edge show?
Though the concert was the most popular Jubilee event among Britons, some believe that the event, partly organised by 'Take That' front man Gary Barlow, was not on the whole entirely appropriate for the monarchy. There has been mention that the theme was treading too regularly on pop culture themes rather than artists who better represented the Queen's reign.
Alexis Petridis in his review for the Guardian mentions his suspicions that Barlow's line-up was" trying to bore the assembled members of the royal family into submission."
"You began to wonder if the whole event hadn't been put together with slightly more seditious intent than the organiser was given credit for" he writes. "(The Royals) wore the inscrutable expressions that have seen them through decades… a look that announced that, when it came to the stoic endurance of boring events, the undisputed champions were in town."
Neil McCormick of the Telegraph raised similar concerns, however he still felt the concert was relevant to the theme of the celebrations, stating in summary: "It might not have been the coolest or most cutting edge of shows, but in its colourful cheeriness - it was thoroughly British."
