Commonwealth Games open with celebration of host city Birmingham

With a 10-metre-tall raging bull, a union jack made from 72 cars, and an appearance by Malala Yousafzai, the Commonwealth Games kicked off on Thursday night with an unashamedly loud celebration of everything Birmingham.

The Brummie drag queen Ginny Lemon got a starring role in a lemon-shaped hot air balloon, while Duran Duran closed the show with a rendition of their greatest hits, as fireworks flared over the newly refurbished Alexander Stadium.

The opening ceremony was 18 months in the making, the work of a creative team featuring the Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight and the Super Bowl half-time director Hamish Hamilton.

The most visually impressive element of the show was the raging bull, a giant aluminium and steel puppet constructed around a forklift truck-like machine from materials sourced in local factories. It was dragged into the stadium by 50 women representing chainmakers from the Industrial Revolution.

There was also a group of giant puppets portraying regional pioneers such as Edward Elgar, William Shakespeare and Samuel Johnson, while another set piece involved a parade of trucks featuring Birmingham inventions such as pen nibs, police whistles and the Baskerville font.

Seventy-two red, white and blue cars, forming a union jack as the Red Arrows flew overhead, marked the entrance of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, who arrived in a blue Aston Martin DB6 Volante.

There were performances from the Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi and the alto-saxophonist Soweto Kinch, joined by rising Birmingham stars Indigo Marshall and Gambini. They played Hear My Voice, a reimagined version of the title track from the 2020 film The Trial of the Chicago 7.

Excitement about the Games has been building for months. A new aquatics centre in Sandwell opened earlier in the year, while Alexander Stadium in Perry Barr underwent a £72m renovation in time for the event, which Birmingham was awarded in 2017 as a replacement for Durban in South Africa, which was pulled as host over financial concerns.

The Queen was not present at the opening ceremony owing to ongoing mobility issues, so Prince Charles read out a message from her to mark the start of the Games.

Birmingham stars including Sir Lenny Henry and Joe Lycett also made appearances to introduce the Commonwealth nations.