peterborough embankment
The calm before the storm
3 July 2012
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.
BBC pick up on Lightyears Olympic song
22 June 2012
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.
