Three Years Ago: The London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony

On 27th July 2012, we entered the world stage to create the sound of 965 bucket drums in Danny Boyle's breathtaking masterpiece: The London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony.

The Ceremony was hailed internationally as a glorious success, won several awards, and burned itself into the memories of a generation.

For us, it was the culmination of one of the most intense periods in our lives, and none of us would have imagined to be drumming on the original Olympic buckets and bins three years later.

The Pandemonium Drummers today

Our group's members are still the original Olympic Opening Ceremony Drummers, drumming on the original buckets and bins, and wearing the original costumes, although we have added instruments, costumes, and rhythms since.

We appeared in several other Opening Ceremonies for local, national and international events, we played at a number of festivals, functions and cultural events, and we supported several charities as well as sport events, including some related to the Olympic Games, such as the Special Olympics and the London Youth Games.

We won two awards, were mentioned in the Cabinet Office's London 2012 Legacy Report, and lately, we tested the water for new activity streams by offering drumming workshops.

Have a look yourself, the two photo-slide videos below compile impressions from our gigs:

• 2013
• 2014

Happy Anniversaries

2013

Two years ago, we reminisced about the big day in three blog posts:

• 27 July 2012 - 13.00
• 27 July 2012 - 18.00
• 27 July 2012 - 20.12

We also returned to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for a performance close to the Olympic Stadium:

• Anniversary Performance: Pandemonium Drum Works at Open East

2014

Last year, we returned to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park again for a performance even closer to the Olympic Stadium - we were performing at the Great British Carnival!

2015

This year, the obvious location to go to was of course the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park: we drummed for the runners of the Great Newham Run on their way to the finish line inside the Olympic Stadium, and we took this opportunity to revisit 'our birthplace', the now revamped Olympic Stadium on the first day of its temporary opening!

Happy anniversary to us, our drummers, and all of our fellow Ceremonies Volunteer Performers, Games Makers, and Olympic & post-Olympic friends & supporters!

Celebrate by watching this five-minute sequence of our segment, Pandemonium:
The IOC's official Pandemonium summary video
Or better still, watch the whole ceremony!
The Complete London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony

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ABOUTPandemonium Drummers

The Pandemonium Drummers were originally put together by London 2012 Ceremonies for the Pandemonium segment of Danny Boyle's spectacular Olympic Opening Ceremony. Following the Ceremony, the volunteer drummers kept on performing at a variety of events.

Based on their extensive training, they performed at other Opening Ceremonies, including the UEFA Champions League Final 2013, the FA Cup Final 2014, and the Heineken Cup Final 2014, and at a variety of large and small festivals as well as sports and community events. The Pandemonium Drummers are a returning act in London's major parades, including the London New Years' Day Parade, St Patrick's Day Parade, and the Lord Mayor's Show, and they coined Cheer Drumming, supporting runners at major sports events across the capital and beyond. The Pandemonium Drummers have supported the Special Olympics, the Teenage Cancer Trust, and a wide range of other charities.

The Pandemonium Drummers are a constituted association with charitable aims, and are working on a non-profit basis as volunteers.

[ More about the Pandemonium Drummers ]