Star-Filled Ceremony To End Games

The curtain has come down on an incredible 11 days of Commonwealth Games sporting action in a glittering, star-filled closing ceremony at Glasgow's Hampden Park. Fireworks got proceedings at the national stadium under way with a bang before Glasgow-born singer Lulu sent decibel levels through the roof with her famous hit Shout. Organisers had just 18 hours to transform the arena from the setting for Glasgow 2014's track and field events into the city's very own Commonwealth festival'', with two specially-designed stages inspired by the iconic Barrowland Ballroom. In keeping with the festival theme, the athletes who took part in the Games emerged from almost 700 tents dotted throughout the stadium to a thunderous Glasgow welcome from the 40,000-strong crowd. The competition, featuring 17 different sports, saw more than 140 Commonwealth and several world records broken. England ultimately topped the table, with Australia, Canada and host nation Scotland following on with their medal hauls. Lulu told the crowds:Isn't it great to be here tonight everybody? Tonight is all about saying than you so I think we need some very important people to come on down here to get this party started. Welcome the athletes from Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.'' The behind-the-scenes workers who kept Glasgow going for the duration of the Games were celebrated in an early section of the ceremony. Glasgow legends Deacon Blue, who formed in the city in 1985 and went on to become one of its most famous and successful bands, paid tribute to them with a rendition of their anthem, Dignity. Lead singer Ricky Ross got the crowds joining in as he belted out the song which tells the story of the dreams of a local council worker. All in all, some 220 members of the emergency services and various council services took centre stage during the ceremony. The workers - some on foot and some in the vehicles they use day-to-day - were led into the arena by police outriders who had taken part in the baton relay and held aloft a Let Glasgow Flourish'' banner. The slogan, a traditional Glaswegian phrase, was inscribed on a banner printed at the Glasgow School of Art and was carried by students who lost work in May's devastating fire at the Mackintosh building. The many thousands of volunteers who helped make the Games a reality were the next to be thanked in the closing ceremony. Local synth-pop trio Prides introduced the Games volunteers - known as Clyde-siders - and performed their song Messiah. About 100 volunteers featured in the ceremony, representing the 15,000 Clyde-siders who gave up their free time to keep the Games moving like clockwork over the last 11 days. At the start of last year, a record-breaking 50,811 people applied to be volunteers, exceeding the combined number of applications for the Manchester and Melbourne Games.

The show, called All Back To Ours, is described as reflecting a typical night out in the Scottish city and volunteer performers were involved in telling a love story as Kylie sang some of her most well-known hits. Australian and Scottish culture merged when Kylie's second song, Into The Blue, was set to a backdrop of people dancing to popular ceilidh dance the Gay Gordons, as the love story continued to unfold. She performed Love at First Sight, All the Lovers and 80s classic The Locomotion - which got Hampden Park rocking, including Prime Minister David Cameron, First Minister Alex Salmond and the Earl of Wessex, who were all on their feet. Kylie told the crowd before performing her penultimate hit Beautiful: So much beautiful energy here tonight. I admire your commitment, your passion so much and I'm so grateful to be here. Thank you so much.'' Smash hit Can't Get You Out Of My Head got performers, athletes, city staff and volunteers fully into the party atmosphere as her set came to an end. Host Des Clarke then interviewed some of the athletes from countries including Barbados, Australia and England, with diver Tom Daley describing the Games asamazing''. The ceremony rounded off with a distinctly Scottish flavour, with Dougie Maclean performing his classic Caledonia, a song which has grown to become a common part of Scottish culture and an unofficial national anthem. The farewell rounded off in the only way a Scottish party could - with a mass performance of Auld Lang Syne featuring all of the ceremony's performers and the thousands in the audience. A Lone Piper on the stadium's roof introduced the song, before Maclean, Lulu and Kylie joined in as the crowds crossed arms in traditional style. The celebrations were then completed with the finale fireworks.