World Cup 2010: Terry Venables performs ON TOP of The O2
Terry Venables launches The Sun’s World Cup single. MOST acts settle for performing at The O2, the world’s most popular music venue. But not Terry Venables...See the pictures HERE!El Tel, former England manager and Sun football columnist, made history yesterday with the world’s first ever performance ON TOP of The O2. In an amazing feat of engineering, Venables, London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and a professional choir were assisted by a team of abseilers on to the iconic roof, which was turned into a giant St. Georges’ Cross for the occasion. And once they had scaled the 52-meter-high roof, the ensemble performed ‘If I Can Dream’ - the track Tel sings in The Sun’s World Cup TV advert. Terry also took the opportunity to announce the paper’s plans to release the track as a single in time for this summer’s tournament, in aid of charities Help for Heroes and Malaria No More UK. Terry Venables commented: "Being the first performer ever allowed to sing from the top of The O2 is an incredible and exciting honour – what better way to show our support for the England boys as they head off to South Africa?" “But what’s even more exciting is that today we can announce that we are releasing ‘If I Can Dream’ in support of two brilliant charities - Help for Heroes, who do fantastic work for brave injured servicemen here in the UK, and Malaria No More UK, who are working to save lives from the totally preventable disease malaria across Africa.” Since it first appeared on British TV, the clamour for the track to be released as a single has been unrelenting, with over 100,000 people watching the clip online and readers creating Facebook sites petitioning The Sun to turn it into a World Cup anthem. With the excitement around El Tel reaching fever pitch, The Sun took the advert to Sony and online music distributor AWAL, who both agreed to waive their fees and get behind the charity single, which will be available to download from May 31. Barnaby Dawe, Marketing Director for The Sun, said: “We could have launched our World Cup single on the radio; we could have launched it on the TV; we could have even launched it on the internet. “But that’s all been done before. The World Cup only comes about every four years and we wanted to send our boys off in style – Sun style. “Getting Tel and the Royal Philharmonic up on the roof of The O2 was no mean feat – French horns, violins and trumpets are very much designed for solid land. “But with a little help from our friends at The O2 and a host of abseiling musicians from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, we’ve created what we hope will be not only a spectacular launch for our charity single, but also the most memorable send-off the England team have ever seen. Who knows? Maybe, just maybe, 2010 will be our year.” Fans can register their interest in the single at thesun.co.uk/dream ahead of digital release on May 31. The track will be hitting stores the following week. Download as PDF [85KB PDF doc opens in new window] |
