Key events
You know, maybe I’m onto something with the X Factor thing. It has been pointed out, for instance, that yesterday’s coronation had a smaller audience than a much more iconic performance:
Other acts were asked to perform tonight, because it would genuinely nuts for King Charles to have the most important weekend of his life to climax with a performance from Olly Murs. Among the refuseniks, we’re led to believe, were Adele, Elton John, Harry Styles, Spice Girls and Robbie Williams, the latter of whom couldn’t find time to perform for the king but could find time to recently sing a song about cat food in an advert for cat food. Priorities.
Obviously it’s worth pointing out that tonight’s concert won’t be a total X Factor rip-off. The full list of performers has already been announced, and it includes Steve Winwood, Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, Paloma Faith, Bette Midler and Pete Tong. So there’s something for everyone, really, so long as you’re either exactly 45 years old or 80 years old.
Welcome to the coronation concert!
Stuart Heritage
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Guardian’s liveblog of the Coronation Concert. After all the pomp and ceremony of yesterday’s main event, now is the time for the country to do what it really does best: watch a succession of mediocre musical acts with a sense of weary, duty-bound resignation.
Listen, I have to level with you here. I didn’t watch the coronation yesterday. I didn’t see a second of the ceremony, I haven’t read anything, or had a street party, or eaten anything even approaching a quiche. I genuinely couldn’t care less about any of the principal figures involved. So why, then, have I – an avowed buntingphobe – decided to liveblog the coronation concert? That’s easy. It’s because I know what this really is.
The concert is happening on a Sunday evening. It’s substantially longer than it needs to be. The musical acts involved include Gary Barlow, Nicole Scherzinger and Olly Murs. This isn’t a coronation concert at all – it’s a 2013 episode of The X Factor. And if I know anything at all in this cruel joke of a world, it’s decade-old X Factor episodes.
The coronation concert starts at 8pm, and will be broadcast on BBC One. If we all close our eyes and pray, maybe Louis Walsh will make an appearance.
