Print
04 June 2012| last updated at 12:04PM

Elton John, Paul McCartney ready for Queen's jubilee bash



0 comments

LONDON: Queen Elizabeth II will today attend a star-studded show to celebrate her diamond jubilee, a day after huge crowds lined the River Thames to see her lead a spectacular 1,000-boat river pageant.

 

Elton John, Tom Jones, Paul McCartney, Shirley Bassey, Take That’s Gary  Barlow and US soul legend Stevie Wonder are all set to perform at the concert  in the shadow of Buckingham Palace, the queen’s home.
   
1980s ska stars Madness will provide the showstopping highlight, singing  hit song “Our House” from the iconic building’s rooftop.
   
Organisers promise an “imaginative” use of the palace, but the focus of the  12,000 crowd and of the millions of expected television viewers worldwide will  be on a circular stage around the Queen Victoria Memorial.
 
Other performers at the event, which will feature a song co-written for the  occasion by Gary Barlow and Andrew Lloyd Webber, include Jessie J, Robbie  Williams and boy band JLS.
 
Elton John said he was “thrilled” to be performing, and hoped the jubilee  would mark the “beginning of an incredible summer for Britain.”    The queen will not attend the entire two-and-a-half hour show, but will be  present for the finale when she will light the National Jubilee Beacon.
 
Almost 4,000 celebratory bonfires will be lit across the Commonwealth, with  the South Pacific island group of Tonga being the first to pay its tribute.
 
The lighting ceremony will then relay westwards through Australia, Pakistan  and Kenya before reaching Britain.
 
The concert follows on from Sunday’s damp but enthusiastic celebrations as  the queen travelled down the Thames on the red-and-gold Spirit of Chartwell  amid a water-borne procession of kayaks, steamers and tugs.
 
More than a million spectators lined the banks of the river to cheer the  86-year-old monarch, who is only the second British monarch to celebrate a  diamond jubilee, after queen Victoria.
 
Heavy rain cleared for the start of the pageant before returning later,  though it had no effect on the spirit of the cheering crowds. However, a  planned flypast had to be cancelled because of low visibility.
   
The river pageant was the main event of four days of celebrations for the  60th year of the queen’s reign and street parties were held around the country.
 
The pageant — the biggest event on the Thames for 350 years — started  with the ringing of eight Jubilee bells on a barge and ended several hours  later when the last boats completed the 11-kilometre (seven-mile) journey.
 
The queen, wearing a white hat and a silver and white coat and dress  designed by Angela Kelly, was ferried to the barge on the launch of the Royal  Yacht Britannia, the ship she dearly loved which was decommissioned in 1997.
 
She and her husband Prince Philip travelled at the front of the ceremonial  barge, frequently waving to the crowds, and laughing and joking with the other  royals.
 
Also on board were Prince William and his wife Catherine, who wore a vivid  red dress by Alexander McQueen, the same designer who created her wedding gown.
 
Spectators lining the banks of the Thames cheered loudly when the royal  barge came into sight.
 
“The atmosphere was brilliant, everyone seemed in a good mood. The queen’s  boat was beautiful, really colourful, and Kate looked lovely in red,” said  Barbara Barke, a pensioner from Essex, eastern England.
 
Behind the queen’s barge was massed a flotilla of speedboats, firefighting  tugs and historic vessels, including Dunkirk “little ships” that evacuated  British forces from continental Europe in World War II.
 
The armada was led by the belfry barge, then Gloriana, a rowbarge crewed by  quadruple Olympic gold medallist Steve Redgrave and injured servicemen.
 
As the royal barge approached, Tower Bridge opened, lifting its bascules in  its own tribute to the monarch.
 
The jubilee festivities began on Saturday when the queen, a keen horse  racing fan, attended the Epsom Derby. -- AFP
Related Articles

Leave Your Comment


Leave Your Comment:

New Straits Times reserves the right not to publish offensive or abusive comments and those of hate speech, harassment, commercial promos and invasion of privacy. Your IP will be logged and may be used to prevent further submission.The views expressed here are that of the members of the public and unless specifically stated are not those of NST.