SW
I think Music Live was in the planning before 2000 Today, I think every part of the Beeb was expected to do something suitably millennial - of course there was a Controller of Millennium Programmes, and I think the idea was something like the Cultural Olympiad in 2012, something that would be marked in all genres. And this was what Music and Arts came up with.
Music Live had been running for a couple of years before it, where BBC Radio would decamp en masse to a city and all the stations would do special events and outside broadcasts over the May Bank Holiday weekend, with Radio 1 doing roadshows and Radio 3 putting on concerts and so on. The one I most remember was in Birmingham in 1995 where it ended with Radio 1, 2 and 3 all simulcasting a concert which had been specially devised to fit in with all three stations - https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/radio3/1995-05-29#at-22.00
To make the 2000 one suitably epic, they did it all over the UK and had the marathon 24 hour programme from 10pm on Sunday to 10pm on Bank Holiday Monday (cue another poster to point out it wasn't a bank holiday in Scotland). There was a motley selection of hosts, but what was a bit strange was that it kept flitting between BBC1 and BBC2 - https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/2000-05-28#at-22.00
As you can see, the swapping of channels seems a bit strange, most obviously at 11am on Monday when it shifts over to BBC2 for fifty minutes so BBC1 can show The Two Ronnies. The last hour had separate programmes on BBC1 and BBC2 and I remember at 9pm they did a great bit where the presenter on BBC1, whoever that was, and on BBC2, who was John Inverdale, were stood together but did their links into separate cameras, and if you flicked between the two you could see the pair from different angles. That was the best bit about it, actually.
One of the other items was that they'd create a boyband in 24 hours, a year before that kind of format would take up several weeks of primetime. You'll see the final hour also included highlights from Hot Press Uncovered in Dublin - https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/2000-05-29#at-21.00 - which I remember was pretty much a simulcast of RTE or whatever channel was covering it, because the presenters spent ages talking about who was coming up, most of whom we never saw. I also remember they managed to broadcast some of the talkback on air because you could hear the director saying "Oh God, blah blah blah" during one particularly dull link.
The big finale was a new version of Perfect Day with all the participants, flying across the UK, ending up with Lou Reed sitting alone in a studio in New York singing the final line (a couple of times, I think, cos he missed his cue). I remember it was released as a single but presumably it had a bit of a tidy-up before it was released, because it sounded awful on telly and probably more like a version of Metal Machine Music than Perfect Day.
Thank you, and you can see how amazing the cast list and the writers are, plus you note Paul Jackson directing at the time he was Head of Entertainment. Amazing you had a Two Ronnies reunion and a new Victoria Wood sketch and it got buried within 27 hours of 2000 Today then shown again once at 10.30 on a Sunday night and that was it.
No, but one thing that is online in Goodbye 2000 from the following year...
This was from the same production team as Goodbye to the Nineties, and is a bit of a cross between that show and Angus Deayton's End of the Year Show which he'd done for the previous few years. So Angus does his one-liners - which are often very funny, and as ever beautifully delivered - in between the same A-Z of clips which are again expertly chosen and edited. And like Goodbye to the Nineties, Z is for Zero Hour which is a really nicely produced collage of images, on Goodbye to the Nineties it was backed by Unfinished Sympathy by Massive Attack and here by Porcelain by Moby.
There was another bit with Jamie as well where Gaby and the rest were talking about some band or other they'd just seen and getting all their facts wrong and Jamie kept on trying to correct them, it was quite a night for him. There was also a Dame Edna interview where Barry Humphries seemed a bit, er, refreshed.
My mate said his favourite bit of the whole night was when Michael Buerk was called on to introduce the Manic Street Preachers. And fair play, he really went to town with it ("The Manic! Street! Preacheeeers!").
Of course, It’s a shame that this prompted them to do their awful BBC Music Live event a few months later.
I think Music Live was in the planning before 2000 Today, I think every part of the Beeb was expected to do something suitably millennial - of course there was a Controller of Millennium Programmes, and I think the idea was something like the Cultural Olympiad in 2012, something that would be marked in all genres. And this was what Music and Arts came up with.
Music Live had been running for a couple of years before it, where BBC Radio would decamp en masse to a city and all the stations would do special events and outside broadcasts over the May Bank Holiday weekend, with Radio 1 doing roadshows and Radio 3 putting on concerts and so on. The one I most remember was in Birmingham in 1995 where it ended with Radio 1, 2 and 3 all simulcasting a concert which had been specially devised to fit in with all three stations - https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/radio3/1995-05-29#at-22.00
To make the 2000 one suitably epic, they did it all over the UK and had the marathon 24 hour programme from 10pm on Sunday to 10pm on Bank Holiday Monday (cue another poster to point out it wasn't a bank holiday in Scotland). There was a motley selection of hosts, but what was a bit strange was that it kept flitting between BBC1 and BBC2 - https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/2000-05-28#at-22.00
As you can see, the swapping of channels seems a bit strange, most obviously at 11am on Monday when it shifts over to BBC2 for fifty minutes so BBC1 can show The Two Ronnies. The last hour had separate programmes on BBC1 and BBC2 and I remember at 9pm they did a great bit where the presenter on BBC1, whoever that was, and on BBC2, who was John Inverdale, were stood together but did their links into separate cameras, and if you flicked between the two you could see the pair from different angles. That was the best bit about it, actually.
One of the other items was that they'd create a boyband in 24 hours, a year before that kind of format would take up several weeks of primetime. You'll see the final hour also included highlights from Hot Press Uncovered in Dublin - https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/2000-05-29#at-21.00 - which I remember was pretty much a simulcast of RTE or whatever channel was covering it, because the presenters spent ages talking about who was coming up, most of whom we never saw. I also remember they managed to broadcast some of the talkback on air because you could hear the director saying "Oh God, blah blah blah" during one particularly dull link.
The big finale was a new version of Perfect Day with all the participants, flying across the UK, ending up with Lou Reed sitting alone in a studio in New York singing the final line (a couple of times, I think, cos he missed his cue). I remember it was released as a single but presumably it had a bit of a tidy-up before it was released, because it sounded awful on telly and probably more like a version of Metal Machine Music than Perfect Day.
The two parts if The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything are online:
Thank you, and you can see how amazing the cast list and the writers are, plus you note Paul Jackson directing at the time he was Head of Entertainment. Amazing you had a Two Ronnies reunion and a new Victoria Wood sketch and it got buried within 27 hours of 2000 Today then shown again once at 10.30 on a Sunday night and that was it.
"Goodbye To The Nineties" was, from what I remember of it, a great compilation. Sadly, it's not been repeated since 2000 and I've never been able to find it online.
No, but one thing that is online in Goodbye 2000 from the following year...
This was from the same production team as Goodbye to the Nineties, and is a bit of a cross between that show and Angus Deayton's End of the Year Show which he'd done for the previous few years. So Angus does his one-liners - which are often very funny, and as ever beautifully delivered - in between the same A-Z of clips which are again expertly chosen and edited. And like Goodbye to the Nineties, Z is for Zero Hour which is a really nicely produced collage of images, on Goodbye to the Nineties it was backed by Unfinished Sympathy by Massive Attack and here by Porcelain by Moby.
Super stuff. I was hoping Jamie was laying on the slurring for effect - but the 2nd viewing, I'm not sure he was.
No doubt the director had his finger hovering over the f**k fader in TC1's gallery during that little segement. It could have very quickly derailed.
So, it's a good job it's on You Tube, as I don't think the man himself would remember where he was a 5am on New Years Day 2000!
No doubt the director had his finger hovering over the f**k fader in TC1's gallery during that little segement. It could have very quickly derailed.
So, it's a good job it's on You Tube, as I don't think the man himself would remember where he was a 5am on New Years Day 2000!
There was another bit with Jamie as well where Gaby and the rest were talking about some band or other they'd just seen and getting all their facts wrong and Jamie kept on trying to correct them, it was quite a night for him. There was also a Dame Edna interview where Barry Humphries seemed a bit, er, refreshed.
My mate said his favourite bit of the whole night was when Michael Buerk was called on to introduce the Manic Street Preachers. And fair play, he really went to town with it ("The Manic! Street! Preacheeeers!").