olympic torch relay

Lightyears nominated for Telegraph arts award

Our 2012 Olympic project – which last week saw us performing our specially-commissioned anthem “There With You” at Peterborough’s Olympic Torch Relay concert with 600 singers and drummers – has been nominated for the Peterborough Evening Telegraph Education Awards.

Spearheaded by Moira Green, Vice Principal at Peterborough’s Voyager Academy, the project began last October when George and I spent three days holed up in his Yorkshire studio working on a track that would be suitable for a huge choir and an epic orchestral arrangement. Nine months later, joined by Tony and his army of drummers and ably assisted by orchestrator, arranger and saxophonist extraordinaire Simon Allen, we played a trilogy of Olympic concerts in Peterborough and helped to herald the arrival of the Torch in the city. Last night we learned we had received a nomination from the Evening Telegraph in the Arts category of their annual Education Awards.

Click here to read my blog on the concert experience.

Click here for a video of the second performance, shot for the BBC outside Peterborough Cathedral.

The ceremony takes place next Wednesday 18 July at the Key Theatre in Peterborough. If we were to win our category, it would earn us a place in the National Education Awards… so we’ll let you know how we get on!

That’s our bit done – now bring on the sport…

Yesterday afternoon I arrived back in London after our trilogy of Olympic Torch Relay concerts, exceptionally tired but incredibly proud of what everyone has achieved over the last few days.

Tuesday evening kicked off with a rendition of our Olypmic anthem “There With You” to a crowd of thousands on Peterborough Embankment (see photo on the right). We then dashed around to Peterborough Cathedral to perform for the BBC cameras while the torch itself passed by (check out a video by clicking here). Finally, we dragged ourselves out of bed at 5am yesterday to once again serenade the Olympic Torch from the Town Square, and I got a chance to chat live with DJ Paul Stainton from BBC Radio Cambridgeshire (click here and scroll through to 25mins 30secs to listen).

All in all, an incredible three days. And certainly the largest unicorn count of any gigs we’ve ever played. Thanks to the many hundreds of children and adults who spent months learning and practising the piece, and then sung their hearts out time after time. You were awesome.

Chris Lightyear

ps. The only slight dampener – other than the rain of course – was that the BBC, despite sending cameras down specifically to film us, decided against screening the performances in the end (apologies to anyone who sat in front of the telly waiting for us!) and word is we were bumped from the One Show by footage of a lost cat in a church. I was a little disappointed about this at first but, on reflection, TV companies do have to make sure they point the media spotlight on the stuff that matters. I mean, how often do the great British public get a chance to look at cats? Exactly – almost never. It’s not like you can just ‘load up YouTube’ and expect cats at the touch of a button.

The calm before the storm

We’ve got a few hours off before the soundcheck for our Olympic Torch concert, so we’ve come to Wetherspoon’s. Which is exactly what Bono did before Live Aid.

Danny is eating a massive breakfast. Everyone else in here is an alcoholic.

Anyway, here’s the latest. We’re performing ‘There With You’, our olympic song, on Peterborough Embankment at 5.35pm with an army of singers and drummers from across the city. We’ll then be hotfooting it to the cathedral, where we’ll be performing it again for the BBC cameras. As far as I’m aware, this second performance will be going out live on BBC Look East West.

Tomorrow morning, at an hour that’s already making my eyes water, we’ll be playing a stripped-back acoustic version of the song that is apparently also making some kind of appearance on (probably regional) breakfast TV. After the event, I’m hoping some of this footage will be available to view on iPlayer – we’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime, keep an eye on The Lightyears’ Twitter feed for rolling updates, photos and nuggets of devastating wisdom.

Okay then. I’m off to think of something erudite to say to Seb Coe later. So far I’ve come up with “Lordy, lordy. What a day”.

You’re right. That needs work.

Our turn with the Olympic torch…

It’s 7.15am and, I’ll be honest, I’m pretty exhausted. A week of manically preparing Project LYs for launch followed by a gig in Scotland and a frankly dangerous level of partying (on Saturday, before the gig, I ate a whole asparagus and quail’s egg salad to myself and didn’t even pause before knocking back well over a quarter of a glass of champagne) has left me with some kind of non-specific illness and a sleep-overdraft of about 400 hours.

However, no time to sit around in my pants moping because things are about to kick off on the Olympic Games front. Last year we wrote a song for the Peterborough leg of the Olympic Torch Relay and tomorrow we’ll be performing it live on the Peterborough Embankment with 800 singers and drummers from across the city. It’s just been confirmed that Seb Coe will be making an appearance; click here for more details.

As far as I’m currently aware, the performance will be going out live on telly for anyone in the Eastern region, and highlights may appear on the One Show later in the evening. The following morning (Weds 4th) we’re performing a stripped-back version of the song in the town centre and rumour has it this may get coverage on breakfast television. TV scheduling often tends to change at the last minute, of course, so stay on your toes! More to come on that throughout the week. Either way you ought to be able to catch it on iPlayer.

Have a good week folks, and keep an eye on this blog / Facebook / Twitter for updates. Also, don’t forget to visit Project Lightyears to download your free copy of our new version of This House Will Burn.

ps. somewhere in the middle of all this I need to make time to find myself a literary agent. Hmm. Could forego sleep? Either that or invent time travel. Any other suggestions, let me know.

BBC pick up on Lightyears Olympic song

Last year we were commissioned to write a song for the Olympic Games by Moira Green, Vice Principal at the Voyager Academy (on behalf of the city of Peterborough). Following a recent rehearsal visit from a local journalist, the BBC have picked up on the story.

“There With You”, which George and I wrote in his studio up in Yorkshire in Autumn 2011, will be performed on Peterborough Embankment on Tuesday 3 July by The Lightyears and an army of singers and drummers from all corners of the city (nearly 800 in total) to mark the passing of the Olympic Torch through the city.

The BBC were so taken by the story that they extended their planned coverage of the rehearsal and plans are now afoot to screen the Embankment performance live and nationally, in its entirety, on BBC1 on the evening of 3rd July. Our experience of TV is that things can change at the last minute, however, so watch out for updates from us so you don’t end up sitting through half an hour of Newsround wondering where the bleeding heck the bleeding Lightyears are.

Click here to read the story on the BBC website.

n.b. the sharp-witted amongst you will notice an error in this story, namely that the BBC have reported the song as having been written by pupils at the school. Now, I’m known for not being afraid of releasing my inner child, but that may be stretching it a bit.

Lightyears write song for 2012 Olympics

At the end of last year The Lightyears were commissioned to write a song for the London Olympics – and we have penned a track called There With You, due to be performed at the Peterborough leg of the Olympic Torch Relay on Tuesday 3 July.

Peterborough has big plans for its Olympic Torch celebrations, and the performance of There With You promises to be nothing short of spectacular. In addition to The Lightyears, the concert will feature nearly 700 voices, along with 50 drummers to reflect the cultural diversity of the region. More details to come nearer the time!

Visit the Voyager School website to find out more.

Many of you will remember that we have a long-standing relationship with the city of Peterborough, having released charity football single Posh We Are with Peterborough FC and the Voyager School back in 2008. Read more here.