The concert was partially attended by the Queen, who arrived at 9 pm, but not by Prince Philip who had been taken to hospital with a bladder infection earlier in the day.[4]Prince Charles and other members of the royal family attended the whole concert.
Ticketing
Ten thousand free tickets were made available to the public, with applications possible, by post or online, between 7 February and 2 March 2012. After the application period closed, successful applicants were then drawn by random ballot.[5] A total of 1.2 million applications were eventually received, 240 for every available pair.[6] Non-ticketed attendees could watch the concert on giant TV screens in the Mall and local Parks. Estimates of these free attendees range from 250,000[7] to 500,000[8] people.
Date, venue and stage
The concert was held at the end of The Mall, directly in front of Buckingham Palace, where a special stage was built.
The concert took place on bank holiday Monday 4 June as part of the extended weekend celebrations for the Diamond Jubilee, which ran from 2 to 5 June.[5] The acts performed on a specially constructed stage, with a canopy, around the Queen Victoria Memorial,[9] in front of the palace.[6] The stage was designed by Mark Fisher.
Gary Barlow and Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote a song for the jubilee entitled "Sing" which was performed for the first time at the concert by a choir from many Commonwealth countries. The song draws inspiration from the music and people of the Commonwealth. Its creation was the subject of a one-hour BBC documentary broadcast on 3 June 2012 by BBC One.[10]
Jubilee picnic
Concert ticket holders were given access to the palace gardens for an afternoon picnic before the main event. They were served cold hampers with a British themed menu specially designed by Heston Blumenthal and the royal chef Mark Flanagan.[11]
A film about the Queen's reign was played, which included her coronation, past jubilees, The Royal Wedding and other events. The film was accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra, performing an instrumental arrangement of "Beautiful Day".
The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert viewed at Holyrood Palace
The concert was broadcast live on BBC One, BBC One HD and BBC Radio 2. American broadcaster ABC showed highlights the following day after as Concert for the Queen: A Diamond Jubilee Celebration With Katie Couric as well as an encore airing on 9 June.[5] Broadcasting unions announced in April 2012 that they would ballot their members over taking strike action due to an ongoing pay dispute with the BBC, leading to media speculation that the BBC coverage of the concert could be affected.[16] It was later confirmed that the BBC's coverage wouldn't be affected by any strikes.[citation needed] It aired on 5 June on CBC television in Canada. BBC Entertainment showed the concert on 8 June in Latin America.
The concert aired from 19:30 until approximately 23:00 UK time. In the UK the programme was seen by an average of 15.32 million viewers on BBC One,[17] making it the 6th highest UK TV audience of 2012, but peaking near 17 million.[18]
For the ABC broadcast the following aired:
will.i.am and Jessie J – "I Gotta Feeling" / "This Is Love"
Jessie J – "Domino"
Tom Jones – "Mama Told Me (Not To Come)" and "Delilah"
Kylie Minogue – medley "Spinning Around", "Can't Get You Out Of My Head", "Step Back In Time" and "All The Lovers"
Elton John – "I'm Still Standing", "Your Song" and "Crocodile Rock"
Stevie Wonder – "Sir Duke", "Isn't She Lovely", "Happy Birthday" (with will.i.am) and "Superstition"
Madness – "Our House" and "It Must Be Love"
Paul McCartney – "All My Loving", "Let It Be", "Live and Let Die" and "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"
Finish – Prince Charles made a speech at the end of the concert
The National Anthem was played, which majority sang.
Grand Finale – The Queen lit the National Beacon followed by a display of fireworks, during which the melodies of several national hymns were played.
Annie Lennox's participation was listed in the program description yet her appearance did not air.
The show of 5 June on ABC opened to 6.4 million (4.1/6) before rising in the second hour to 7.2 million (4.7/8) for an average of 6.8 million viewers for the evening.[19]
The broadcast was aired on Channel 9 in Australia on 5 June – and was broadcast in its entirety apart from:
Interlude – Jimmy Carr
Lang Lang – "Hungarian Rhapsody" / "Rhapsody In Blue"
Interlude – Miranda Hart
Interlude – Lenny Henry
Jools Holland and Ruby Turner – "You Are So Beautiful"
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