So I finally have some time to sit down and write about what I’m doing.
We had this party that was definitely not the party it should have been given what happened earlier in the day. We started the biggest party I’ve ever been a part of on a down note, with the death of the Georgian Luger. Given the commentary around his death, I don’t think it would be fair to call it an issue of either track or skills of the competitor. What happened can’t be undone and it happened so quickly that none of us were prepared.
The opening ceremonies were a good effort by DAE, they had produced the opening and closing in Doha and having worked with them previously it was nice to see them build on what I know they are already capable of and given the challenges they were presented the look and feel of the opening was done quite well.
The highlight of the night for me was KD Lang’s rendition of the Leonard Cohen song “Hallelujah”. It was haunting and sent chills down my spine as to how good it was. Between that and the audience lighting, the look and feel of the song was awe-inspiring.
Another highlight was a snowboarding trick that included a video opener and transitioned into a snowboarder jumping through the Olympic rings as snow exploded from them. It was a good opening look and it put everyone in the stadium in the mood for a party. Between the well-controlled lighting and video effects to the excellent score that was put together, the production was done well.
The only problem that was seen from the audience’s standpoint came with the all-critical lighting of the cauldron. One of the four pillars that made up the flame didn’t rise from the floor. What looked to be a trap door problem caused the final of the four pillars to not rise up from the stage deck. It was at that point my heart went out to the crew, we’ve all had something go wrong before in a show and no one likes it when it happens, but it’s made worse when it’s televised to the world.
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