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Concert for Diana

Coordinates: 51°33′22″N 0°16′47″W / 51.55601°N 0.27963°W / 51.55601; -0.27963
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Concert for Diana
GenreConcert
DatesJuly 1, 2007
Location(s)Wembley Stadium, London, United Kingdom
Years active2007
FoundersPrince William (now Duke of Cambridge)
Prince Harry
Websitewww.concertfordiana.com (Archived)

Concert for Diana was a concert held at the newly built Wembley Stadium in London, United Kingdom in honour of Diana, Princess of Wales, on July 1, 2007, which would have been her 46th birthday. August 31 that year brought the 10th anniversary of her death. The concert was hosted by Diana's sons, Princes William and Harry, who helped to organise many of the world's most famous entertainers and singers to perform. Proceeds from the concert went to Diana's charities, as well as to charities of which William and Harry are patrons.[1]

The concert was broadcast in 140 different countries across the world[2] with an estimated potential audience of 500 million.[3][4] In December 2006, 22,500 tickets were made available for purchase for the concert, selling out in just 17 minutes,[2] while 63,000 people turned out to Wembley Stadium to watch the performances to commemorate Diana.[2][5][6] At the end of the performances, a video montage of Diana as a child was presented, accompanied by the Queen song "These Are the Days of Our Lives".[7]

The concert started at 16:00 BST and finished at approximately 22:15 BST – there were two short intermissions during the concert.[8] A 2-Disc DVD set of the full concert was released on 5 November 2007. A Blu-ray high definition release of the full concert and documentary was released in November 2008.

Timeline

  • Order of performances:[8]
Take That performing
Elton John's second performance
  1. Elton John (first performance) – "Your Song"
  2. Duran Duran – "(Reach Up for the) Sunrise", "Wild Boys" and "Rio"
  3. James Morrison – "You Give Me Something" and "Wonderful World"
  4. Lily Allen – "LDN" and "Smile"
  5. Fergie (from The Black Eyed Peas) – "Glamorous" and "Big Girls Don't Cry"
  6. The Feeling – "Fill My Little World" and "Love It When You Call"
  7. Pharrell – "Drop It Like It's Hot" and "She Wants To Move (Remix)"
  8. Nelly Furtado – "Say It Right", "I'm Like a Bird" and "Maneater"
  9. English National Ballet – "Swan Lake" (Act IV)
  10. Status Quo – "Rockin' All Over the World"
  11. Joss Stone – "You Had Me" and "Under Pressure"
  12. Roger Hodgson – Supertramp Medley ("Dreamer", "The Logical Song" and "Breakfast in America") and "Give a Little Bit"
  13. Orson – "Happiness" and "No Tomorrow"
  14. Tom Jones – "Kiss", "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" and "Ain't That A Lot of Love?" (with Joss Stone)
  15. Will Young – "Switch It On"
  16. Natasha Bedingfield – "Unwritten"
  17. Bryan Ferry – "Slave to Love", "Make You Feel My Love" and "Let's Stick Together (Extended)"
  18. Anastacia – "Superstar" from Jesus Christ Superstar
  19. Connie Fisher and Andrea Ross – "Memory" from Cats
  20. Andrea Bocelli – "The Music of the Night" from The Phantom of the Opera
  21. Josh Groban and Sarah Brightman – "All I Ask of You" from The Phantom of the Opera
  22. Donny Osmond, Jason Donovan and Lee Mead featuring the Chicken Shed Theatre Company – "Any Dream Will Do" from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
  23. Rod Stewart – "Maggie May", "Baby Jane" and "Sailing"
  24. Kanye West – "Gold Digger", " Touch the Sky", "Stronger", "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" and "Jesus Walks"
  25. P. Diddy – "I'll Be Missing You"
  26. Take That – "Shine", "Patience" and "Back for Good"
  27. Ricky Gervais – "Freelove Freeway" (featuring Mackenzie Crook), "Chubby Little Loser" (song unplanned due to Ricky having to unexpectedly fill time)
  28. Elton John (second performance) – "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting" "Tiny Dancer" "Are You Ready For Love"
  • Order of speakers:[8]
  1. Princes William and Harry as introduced by Elton John
  2. Sienna Miller and Dennis Hopper
  3. Kiefer Sutherland
  4. Ryan Seacrest, Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson
  5. Natasha Kaplinsky
  6. Dennis Hopper
  7. Fearne Cotton
  8. Gillian Anderson
  9. Boris Becker and John McEnroe
  10. Cat Deeley
  11. Patsy Kensit
  12. Jamie Oliver
  13. David Beckham
  14. Ben Stiller (pre-recorded message)
  15. Princes William and Harry
  16. Ricky Gervais
  17. Nelson Mandela (pre-recorded message)
  18. Bill Clinton (pre-recorded message)[9]
  19. Tony Blair (pre-recorded message)

Attendees

The Prince of Wales was not among the spectators. Together with Elizabeth II, Gordon Brown, and Tony Blair he was among the guests at the Diana, Princess of Wales memorial service on 31 August 2007 in the Guards Chapel.[10]

Planning

  • In pre-concert interview, Prince William listed Michael Jackson as one of Diana's most favourite music acts, but Jackson did not appear on the show.
  • In one of the many tabloid stories that surfaced relating to the concert and the following week's Live Earth event, it was alleged that Madonna, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Keane, and other acts were set to play at the concert but were lost to Live Earth. The concert organisers were apparently trying to secure their top acts, and are also being pressured into rethinking their lineup to appeal to younger people, and compare to Live Earth.[11]
  • Kate Middleton, now Prince William's wife, and Chelsy Davy, the girlfriend of Prince Harry, attended the concert. It has been rumoured that they were involved in helping to plan the event.[12]
  • Queen guitarist Brian May was expected to perform alongside Joss Stone in her version of "Under Pressure", but pulled out of accompanying after finding the new arrangement of his band's song "different... from the original".[13]

Broadcasting

The concert was broadcast in 140 countries. Jamie Theakston, Fearne Cotton and Claudia Winkleman interviewed acts backstage for the BBC and many other television channels across the world. In the United States, VH1's coverage was helmed by Aamer Haleem and Kate Thornton with Dave Berry interviewing performers backstage.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom the concert was broadcast on BBC One, BBC HD and BBC Radio 2 (from 3:30 pm BST).[14]

The concert was watched by an average of 8.9 million viewers, and peaked with 14.8 million. Over the 8-hour period it had a 44% viewing share.[15] It received considerably more viewers than the Live Earth concert which was broadcast a week later.[16]

Italy

Unlike other international events, the Concert for Diana wasn't broadcast by RAI—Radiotelevisione italiana, on any of its channels. The live feed was aired by satellite broadcaster Sky Italia on its Sky Vivo (today SkyUNO) channel from 17:00 (+1.00 DST local time) to 23:00. The concert was also broadcast on commercial radio by RTL 102.5.

United States

In the US, Palladia (then known as MHD), VH1 and VH1.com[17] broadcast the concert live from 11 am (EDT) The concert drew near double the viewing figures for the 2005 Live 8 concert with 1.4 million average over the 8 hours.[18]

NBC broadcast a highlights show between 8 pm-11 pm EDT. The NBC showing was the US most watched programme, averaging 8.7 million viewers.[19]

Canada

In Canada, the concert was broadcast live on CTV with a two-hour primetime special highlighting the best performances. The concert reached 2.8 million viewers and the primetime recap peaked at nearly 1 million viewers.[20]

Australia

Foxtel on FOX8 in Australia, which was hosted by Molly Meldrum (with a highlights package broadcast by the Nine Network)

Other countries

VH1 Latin America broadcast the concert in Latin America, the Caribbean and Central America.

DStv carried it in Africa by showing it on a dedicated channel for the event. Prior to the concert there were television specials on the channel. Star TV throughout Asia, except Japan where it was shown by WOWOW.

A number of broadcasters showed the concert in Europe. Some countries saw the entire show live, others had only highlights. In Germany the broadcaster RTL II showed the highlights from 8.15 pm- 12.15 am CEST

Video on Demand

VH1's site[21] for the Concert For Diana has videos of all the performances from the concert (except Fergie's "Glamorous" which lost her lead vocal during the live broadcast) on their VSPOT video on demand service in the United States

CTV's Concert For Diana mini-site[22] has VOD for the performances for Canadian viewers.

The BBC's site, Concert For Diana,[23] also had VOD for seven days, which showed the concert in three parts for viewers in the UK.

Virgin Media has over 4 and a half hours of the Concert for Diana on its "Catchup TV on Demand" service.

Ricky Gervais

As with many live televised events, the Concert for Diana had a few technical problems, the most obvious of which occurred during comedian Ricky Gervais's stand up routine, before Elton John's musical finale. As a planned seven-minute routine became twelve minutes, viewers saw Gervais play to the sympathies of the crowd as a stagehand held up signs saying 'two minutes', then 'one minute'. The stand-up comic delivered a rendition of a song that David Bowie performed on his show Extras before finally being told to 'throw to the BBC' (he could not perform jokes from his stand-up tour 'Fame' due to legal circumstances)[citation needed], before handing back to Claudia Winkleman and Jamie Theakston. During the extended piece, by popular demand from the crowd, he performed his famous "dance" from The Office.

It is thought that the delay led Elton John to drop his hit "Crocodile Rock" from his set.[24]

Charities

All net proceeds from the Concert went to the charities chosen by Princes William and Harry.[25] These charities include Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, Centrepoint and Sentebale, a charity founded in April 2006, by Prince Harry and Lesotho's Prince Seeiso. It helps vulnerable children and young people in Lesotho – particularly those orphaned as a result of AIDS.[26]

During the airing of the concert, Diana, was hailed for her generous charity work with the Chain of Hope, Luton Indoor Bowling Club, and British Deaf Association charities. She was also celebrated for her work with the British Red Cross in helping get the word out on land mines in Angola.

References

  1. ^ "What is the Concert for Diana?". BBC. 13 August 2015.
  2. ^ a b c "Kanye West, Rod Stewart to perform at Diana concert". ABC News. Retrieved 1 July 2007.
  3. ^ "Pop stars pay tribute to Princess Diana". Yahoo News. Retrieved 1 July 2007.
  4. ^ "Chelsy and Harry get close at the Diana concert ... but Kate and William keep their distance". Daily Mail. Retrieved 1 July 2007.
  5. ^ "Sir Elton launches Diana concert". BBC News. Retrieved 1 July 2007.
  6. ^ "The sons & the stars". The Telegraph. Retrieved 1 July 2007.
  7. ^ Old and new stars celebrate Diana BBC. Retrieved 16 July 2011
  8. ^ a b c "Concert for Diana - What happened minute by minute". BBC News. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Princes open Wembley Diana concert with joke". The Telegraph. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  10. ^ "Princes lead Diana memorial service tributes". The Telegraph. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  11. ^ "Princess Diana Concert loses top acts to Live Earth". Starpulse blog
  12. ^ "William Invites Kate To The Concert For Diana". The Royal List.
  13. ^ "Brian May turns down Concert for Diana". brianmay.com.
  14. ^ "Concert for Diana". BBC. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  15. ^ "Live Earth no match for Diana or Venus". Digital Spy. Retrieved 10 July 2007.
  16. ^ "The Earth didn't move for BBC1". Broadcast Now. Retrieved 9 July 2007.
  17. ^ "Shows + Celebrity + Music + Pop Culture". VH1. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  18. ^ "Diana Boosts VH1 ratings". Yahoo!. Retrieved 10 July 2007.
  19. ^ "Diana Concert attracts most viewers". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 10 July 2007.
  20. ^ "Concert for Diana reaches 3million Canadians". Channel Canada. Retrieved 10 July 2007.
  21. ^ "Watch Video of the Concert for Diana On-Demand | View Individual Performances Online | See Photos from the Concert for Princess Diana". VH1.com. 11 June 2007. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  22. ^ "CTV News | Top Stories - Breaking News - Top News Headlines". Ctv.ca. 11 March 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  23. ^ "Concert for Diana". BBC. 1 July 2007. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  24. ^ "This Is London". This Is London.
  25. ^ "Charity". Charity.
  26. ^ "Sentebale". Sentebale.

51°33′22″N 0°16′47″W / 51.55601°N 0.27963°W / 51.55601; -0.27963

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