Diamond Jubilee Concert

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.

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.

The house band, led by Mike Stevens, who was also the Musical Director of the concert, consisted largely of the Take That/Gary Barlow band, a few additional musicians and the BBC Concert Orchestra. The house band performed with many of the guest artists that were featured, however Tom Jones, Elton John, Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney[5] brought their own bands to the concert.

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]

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]

The running order was:

• Robbie Williams with drummers and trumpeters from the second battalion of the Coldstream Guards[12][13] – "Let Me Entertain You"[14]
• Introduction – Rob Brydon
• will.i.am and Jessie J – "I Gotta Feeling" / "This Is Love"
• Jessie J – "Domino"[15]
• JLS – "Everybody in Love" / "She Makes Me Wanna"
• Interlude – Miranda Hart
• Gary Barlow and Cheryl (from Girls Aloud) – "Need You Now" (cover of Lady Antebellum song)
• Interlude – Lee Mack
• Cliff Richard – Medley: "Dynamite", "The Young Ones", "Devil Woman", "We Don't Talk Anymore", "Wired for Sound" and "The Millennium Prayer" (followed by "Congratulations")
• Interlude – Jimmy Carr
• Lang Lang – "Hungarian Rhapsody" / "Rhapsody In Blue"
• Interlude – Miranda Hart
• Alfie Boe – "O Sole Mio" / "It's Now Or Never"
• Interlude – Lenny Henry
• Jools Holland and Ruby Turner – "You Are So Beautiful"
• Interlude – Jimmy Carr
• Grace Jones – "Slave to the Rhythm"
• Interlude – Lee Mack and Miranda Hart
• Ed Sheeran – "The A Team"
• Annie Lennox – "There Must Be An Angel"
• Interlude – Rolf Harris
• Renée Fleming – "Un Bel Di Vedremo"
• Interlude – Rob Brydon
• Tom Jones – "Mama Told Me (Not To Come)" and "Delilah"
• Interlude – Lenny Henry. During the interlude, the Queen arrived.
• Robbie Williams – "Mack The Knife"
• Interlude – Rolf Harris
• Gary Barlow, Andrew Lloyd Webber, The Commonwealth Band, Gareth Malone and the Military Wives – "Sing" (Note: not all performers involved in the making of this song were present and performing)
• Interlude – Rob Brydon organised a forward moving Mexican wave in the Mall
• Shirley Bassey – "Diamonds are Forever"
• Kylie Minogue – Medley: "Spinning Around", "Can't Get You Out of My Head", "Step Back in Time" and "All the Lovers" (Note: Flawless performed as backing dancers during the second half of the performance.)
• Interlude – Jimmy Carr
• Alfie Boe and Renée Fleming – "Somewhere" (Note: performed on one of the Palace balconies)
• Interlude – Rob Brydon
• Elton John – "I'm Still Standing", "Your Song" and "Crocodile Rock"
• Interlude – Rolf Harris
• 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". (Note: this was projected onto the front of Buckingham Palace as well as the digital displays)
• Interlude – Lenny Henry (Rolf Harris sang, unaccompanied, "Two Little Boys" during the interlude.) (Note: the song had to be cut short)
• Stevie Wonder – "Sir Duke", "Isn't She Lovely?" (the lyrics were amended to refer to Her Majesty), "Happy Birthday" (with will.i.am) and "Superstition"
• Interlude – Lee Mack
• Madness – "Our House" and "It Must Be Love" (Note: performed from the roof of Buckingham Palace, while accompanying videos were projected onto the front of the Palace. The final line of "Our House" was changed to "Our house, in the middle of one's street", in tribute to the Queen.)
• Interlude – Peter Kay (dressed as a Beefeater)
• Paul McCartney – "Magical Mystery Tour", "All My Loving", "Let It Be", "Live and Let Die" and "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" (Note: during the performance of "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", all performers returned to the stage.)
• Finish – Prince Charles made a speech
• "God Save The Queen (National Anthem)"
• Grand Finale – The Queen lit the last National Beacon, after which there was a firework display, during which the melodies of several patriotic songs and hymns were played: "Zadok the Priest" (Georg Friedrich Händel), "I Vow to Thee My Country" (Gustav Holst), "Land of Hope and Glory" (Edward Elgar) and "Ode to Joy" / Anthem of Europe (Ludwig van Beethoven).

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. 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"
• Interlude – Jimmy Carr [20]

• Official site
• Official site (BBC)