No Rock And Roll Fun

THE RAIN BEATS HARD ON A HUMDRUM TOWN: So, that was the closing of the Commonwealth Games, then - musically a notch above the opening, albeit some of the choices made little sense. The popbitch claim that Toploader were booked on the strict understanding of Dancing In The Moonlight would be played makes some sense - otherwise, what the hell were a bunch of mainly forgotten nobodies doing on international telly with their new single? Ms Dynamite was an inspired choice, although again the song was a curious fit. But we have to take a moment to praise the crazy warped genius of having Grandmaster Flash in to MC a large portion of the event - could it be some synergy between Manchester and the New York of Flash's The Message being hinted at here?
At the other end of cool, could any bigger fuck off have been given to Jimmy Cliff than letting him be replaced on stage by Will Young? For some reason, Young was dressed like a young conservative, with a bloody flat cap, for god's sake. We can only assume that either he was hoping that nobody would recognise him on Canal Street (if he waited a couple of months, nobody would anyway), or else he thought that a flat cap would be a nice northern touch, unaware that pulling one on would be on a par with paying tribute to Jamiaca by blacking up.
Highlight of the night, however, was one of those moments where a caught shot suddenly makes you wonder if you've got someone wrong all these years. Prizes should be delivered to the BBC director who cut to the royal box in time to catch Prince Philip grinning like a loon, boffing a balloon about with his feet and hands. Classic.
Still tickets available for the games, according to the official site - mentions "bathed in light", neglects to mention "drowned in acid rain"