Paul McCartney was the headliner and closing act of Friday night's opening ceremony of the London Olympics. Starting with the very end of "The End" by The Beatles - "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make..." - Macca and his band then went into "Hey Jude," which got off to a rough start as his voice cracked at the beginning during the "Take a sad song and make it better" line, but then he got it back on track, and, as he wanted, the audience sang along.
Afterwards he tweeted, "Thanks for the great response guys! Tonight was terrific, great, really cool. It was a trip and very exciting. It was a great opening ceremony!" He went onto say that he was approached about doing the song to a backing track, but "decided against it and went live, live, live!" This was McCartney's second big London performance in two months following his set at Queen Elizabeth'sDiamond Jubilee in June.
McCartney was not the only British musician who made their mark in the '60s and '70s to be featured at Friday's ceremony. Also heard were songs by:
The Who - "Baba O'Riley"
Sex Pistols - "God Save the Queen"
The Clash - "London Calling"
Mike Oldfield - "Tubular Bells"
The Rolling Stones - "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"
The Beatles - "She Loves You"
Led Zeppelin - "Trampled Under Foot"
David Bowie - "Starman" and "Heroes," to which the U.K. Olympic team entered the stadium
Queen - "Bohemian Rhapsody"
Eric Clapton - "Wonderful Tonight"
Pink Floyd - "Eclipse," which played during the fireworks display just before Paul McCartney took the stage
