Welcome to the Pandemonium Drummers!

Charitable amateur performance group of ordinary people doing extraordinary things:

Community events, parades, festivals, happenings, specatulars, stadium performances.
We started life as the Volunteer Drummers in the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony.
Big developments ahead in the coming months!



Four Gigs and a Workshop: A Busy Week

It's like London buses: None for a long time, and suddenly three turn up at once. In our case, it was three Opening Ceremonies in the space of just eight days.

Add to that one parade and a workshop, and we had our own take on the popular movie Four Weddings and a Funeral:
Four Gigs and a Workshop!


Gig 1: London Youth Games

Our joyful July week kicked off with an early morning performance at the Opening Ceremony of the 40th London Youth Games Summer Finals at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre on 6th July 2017. 

This was our fourth time at the London Youth Games, and this year we performed our single Champion to motivate the school children for their competitions. 

#BiggerBetterBrighter 
#HarderTougherStronger

A full photoset with about a dozen Pandemonium Drummers photos is available on the London Youth Games Facebook page.


Gig 2: Pride in London Parade

At the biggest ever Pride in London Parade on 8th July 2017, we were invited to march with LGBT rights charity Stonewall, the largest group of the parade. 

Equipped with Stonewall's signature red "get over it" shirts, we samba-ed through London to bang our drums for equality and acceptance, and to celebrate diversity.

The parade generated huge traffic on social media.


Gig 3: Rathbones Women's Lacrosse World Cup

Apparently, Rathbones Women's Lacrosse World Cup never had a spectacular Opening Ceremony, so we travelled to Surrey Sports Park in Guildford to join forces with Rock Choir and showcase that the UK does sports presentations properly at all levels!


We were on the field of play throughout the ceremony on 12th July 2017, starting with an energetic backdrop soundtrack for the athletes' parade, and ending with a joint performance of All Over The World together with the Rock Choir and groups of local school children.

In between, we performed our single Champion - for the first time with a live singer! Fellow drummer and Champion composer Denis Fernando took to the microphone and boosted athletes' morale with an affirmative performance of our charity single.

Under the watchful eye of HRH Princess Anne, the ceremony was streamed live on YouTube by Lacrosse TV. Watch the performance of Champion below, or the full ceremony on Lacrosse TV.




Gig 4: World Para Athletics Championships London 2017

The final of this one-week series of gigs could not have been selected any better:

We returned to the location of our very first gig (which was the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony for those not familiar with our history): A welcome return back home to the London Stadium, as it is now known, to open another world sporting event: London 2017.

The Opening Ceremony of the World Para Athletics Championships on 14th July 2017 focused on the protocol items: Speeches, oaths and raising of the British and Paralympic flags. Our 30 drummers were effectively the only show element besides fireworks, and we drummed functionaries and athletes onto and off the stage, and provided an attractive visual backdrop.

More importantly, we created a symbolic narrative linking London 2012 with London 2017 thanks to our original bucket drums from the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony, as well as our original lightbulb bowler hats from the London 2012 Olympic Closing Ceremony, and in some cases even the original trousers and shoes from the London 2012 ceremonies!

Watch the full World Para Athletics Championships Opening Ceremony below.
It was fantastic to fill the stadium again with the sound of our bucket drums!



And the workshop?

In between the flurry of gigs, we delivered a health and wellbeing workshop on 11th July 2017, this time for the UCL Institute of Education.

We have previously delivered drumming workshops for organisations such as Waitrose, the National Trust and the East London NHS Foundation Trust.

Would you like a workshop or performance at your organisation? Get in touch for a quote!



Earlier in the year, we drummed at many other interesting events. A catch up will follow later!

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 ]

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