After four and a half years of waiting, the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games is finally here and with an estimated one billion people from all over the world expected to be watching the opening ceremony, the spotlight will be on the Midlands city for the next 12 days of sport, entertainment and excitement.
It's taken years of planning, scheduling, developments and roadworks, but before the quest for medals begins in front of the one million visitors expected to make Birmingham their temporary home, the audience at the Alexander Stadium and viewers at home were treated to over three hours of the opening ceremony, which used 2,000 performers to trace the story of Birmingham past and present, while also reflecting the links between the 72 countries and territories in the Commonwealth Games.
The big names ranged from pop stars Duran Duran and Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi to saxophonist Soweto Kinch and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
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The bar was high, according to Iqbal Khan, the Birmingham ceremony's artistic director, with memorable moments to match London's dancing nurses in the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony or the twirling Tunnocks teacakes from Glasgow 2014, the last time the Commonwealth Games were staged in the UK.
The ceremony kicked off with 72 cars from across five decades to represent the millions of cars that have been built in the West Midlands. And the last car, an Aston Martin, was driven by Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, who were representing the Queen.
The Red Arrows then joined the party, before The Bards of Brum, representing some of the City’s most famous exports, including William Shakespeare, composer Edward Elgar, the inventor of the dictionary Samuel Johnson and the 18th century Lunar Society, the forefathers of modern Birmingham.
Next up after a speech from 2014 Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala was a performance by the Birmingham Royal Ballet in water, followed by a giant floating lemon containing Ginny Lemon of RuPaul's Drag Race. A Carnival of Firsts followed, boasting Birmingham's impressive inventions including buttons, car horns, celluloid film and the printing press.
The symbol of the Games, Perry the Bull, which took five months to build and is 10 metres high, made an appearance, pulled along by female chain makers. The bull then shed its armour to symbolise the famous strikes of 1910 when female chain makers went on strike for better conditions - and after 10 weeks they won, earning a new minimum wage that doubled their earnings. The collapsing bull represented the victory of the working classes over their employers.
Prior to the ceremony, Iqbal Khan, artistic director, urged audiences to "Think of the show like a concept album. Each track has an extraordinary crescendo and iconic moments throughout. So I'm hoping that we don't just have one or two memorable moments, but that we have many during the show."
And viewers took to social media with mixed reactions.
@fujiyama11 was blown away. "Loved that opening ceremony. Idiosyncratic? Yes. Memorable? Of course! Better that than forgettable. Proud of my city and proud to be a Brummie," he said. @DanKembery_3 agreed, saying: "So proud to be a Brummie watching this opening ceremony. Let’s show them how great a city we are this 2 weeks. What a city!!"
Others, however, were not so complimentary. @JohnSwindells52 said: "Looking forward to the #CommonwealthGames2022 but I am done already with the awful opening ceremony. London 2012 opening ceremony was great has Birmingham had there's [sic] done by some work experience team. It's on until 10.30pm I would have lost it by then."
@MrDavid26883473 commented: "The opening ceremony of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games would be the weirdest opening to any major sporting event you’re ever likely to see."
The BBC will have coverage of every session with more than 200 hours of live coverage on BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Three. If you fancy some live action, you can still purchase tickets for many of the events here. However, some sports - including swimming, mountain biking, the cycling time trial and road race, artistic gymnastics and both triathlon and para-triathlon are resale tickets only. There is availability for all other sports.
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