Tour de France 2014 Yorkshire Grand Depart Opening Ceremony and Team
Presentation Thursday July 3rd, 2014 Leeds Arena
Editorial Notes for the Media
Background:
The Team Presentation Ceremony is a traditional part of the Tour de France, when
two days before the start of the race the riders are presented to the crowds at the
location chosen for the Grand Depart. Tonight the 198 riders competing in the 2014
race will be on stage at the Leeds Arena as part of a spectacular welcome by the
people of Yorkshire to mark the start of the 101st Tour de France, only the fourth time
the Tour has come to the UK.
Yorkshire is the UK’s largest county in terms of geography with a population of nearly
6 million, perhaps best known around the world for the wild and windy moors made
famous by the nineteenth century novels of the Bronte sisters, but modern day
Yorkshire is making its name as both a desirable tourism location and an economic
powerhouse.
Just two hours north of London by train, Yorkshire is a country within a county, with
seven great cities, each situated within minutes of amazing countryside – the rolling
Yorkshire Dales, the breathtaking North York Moors, the Pennine hills and the
impressive North Sea coastline. It is fast building a reputation for being one of
Europe’s top food and drink producers, with more Michelin star restaurants than any
area of the UK outside London and 190 breweries, sitting alongside a thriving
industrial base with advanced manufacturing across the county, and a fast expanding
renewables industry developing in the Humber.
Earlier this evening the Tour de France teams rode through the centre of the city of
Leeds – led by a group of cyclists from local clubs and community groups, as they
made their way from the team briefing at the University of Leeds to this award
winning Arena, cheered on by the waiting crowds at the start of a weekend of
celebration across Yorkshire and the UK.
Leeds is the UK’s third largest city, with a population of more than 750,000. It sits at
the heart of the Leeds City Region, which has a population of 3 million people. In the
17th and 18th centuries it was a major centre for wool trading and textiles, but today
it is the UK’s biggest legal centre outside London, and has one of the largest student
1
populations in the UK, with over a quarter of a million students. It is the leading UK
city for telephone delivered banking and financial services, with more than 30 call
centres employing more than 20,000 people. It is also the third largest manufacturing
centre in the UK, and home to Northern Ballet, Phoenix Dance and the Northern
School of Contemporary Dance, as well as the West Yorkshire Playhouse and the Henry
Moore Institute, which is part of the Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle, alongside the
Yorkshire Sculpture Park and the Hepworth Gallery, both in nearby Wakefield.
The Leeds Arena where we are tonight opened last year and has recently been
awarded the prestigious New Venue of the Year title at the Stadium Business Awards
in London, beating off competition from around the world, including the new Olympic
Stadium in Sochi and the Allianz Riviera Stadium Nice.
Tonight marks the culmination of three years of hard work by the county of Yorkshire,
led by the tourism organization Welcome to Yorkshire and its Chief Executive Gary
Verity in partnership with Leeds City Council and other local authorities across
Yorkshire. More than a hundred thousand people signed a petition to support a
campaign to bring Le Tour to Yorkshire, and they were finally rewarded when in
December 2012 the Amaury Sports Organisation announced that the 2014 Tour would
start with the Yorkshire Grand Depart – two days of cycling across the Yorkshire
landscape, with a third stage starting in Cambridge and finishing on the Mall in
London.
Welcome to Yorkshire, Local authorities, police and other partners across Yorkshire,
Cambridge, Essex and London have worked tirelessly with UK government support
since then to make the dream a reality.
The enthusiasm of businesses and individuals around Yorkshire is in evidence all over
the route of the Grand Depart. Thousands of Le Tour Yorkshire themed products have
been produced and communities across the county have been inspired to create their
own ways of welcoming the world’s biggest free sporting event to their towns and
villages. Hundreds of miles of bunting has been knitted and sewn and yellow flowers
planted everywhere alongside hundreds of yellow bikes which now mark out the
route.
A 100 day long cultural festival – the Yorkshire Festival – has been taking place all
across the county since March, with hundreds of thousands of people enjoying and
taking part in every kind of art form – from music and dance, to film and land art.
The festival has included 47 headline projects and 500 fringe projects, among them
‘The Grand Departs’ where 18 cyclists pulled a grand piano, while being played, up
England's longest continuous ascent Cragg Vale, the creation of a series of woolly
bikes, and an orchestra whose instruments were all made from bicycle parts.
Sponsored by Yorkshire Water and supported by the Arts Council and local authorities,
it is the first time a cultural festival has ever been staged alongside the Tour de
France. More than 7000 people have rehearsed, crafted and performed across 6000
square miles of the county.
2
Meanwhile keen cyclists, professional and amateur have been riding the spectacular
course ahead of the race, enjoying the sporting challenge and the sheer beauty
Yorkshire has to offer.
Stage 1 starts in Leeds City Centre on Saturday morning before making its way to
Harewood House, home to the Queen of England’s cousin, where the Duke and
Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry will meet the cyclists before they perform the
Official Ceremonial Start of this year’s Tour. The race then goes through Arthington
and Pool to Otley, through Addingham to Skipton, up into the Yorkshire Dales, through
Kilnsey, Kettlewell and Buckden to Aysgarth, Bainbridge, Hawes and Reeth to
Leyburn, before heading south again to Ripon and finishing in the beautiful spa town
of Harrogate.
Stage 2 sets off from the historic city of York, across to Knaresborough, back through
Harrogate across to Keighley and Haworth, home of the Bronte sisters, through
Hebden Bridge, Mytholmyroyd, Ripponden and into Huddersfield, across to Holmfirth
and up over Holme Moss before heading downhill into Sheffield.
Stage 3 starts in Cambridge and travels through Essex before ending on the Mall in
London.
Tonight’s Ceremony:
Entitled Yorkshire Welcomes the World, tonight’s world class Opening Ceremony and
Team Presentation is billed as the biggest and most spectacular Tour de France Team
Presentation in its 101 year history. It is produced by Martin Green, executive
producer of the London 2012 Opening and Closing ceremonies. Martin is an alumni of
the University of Leeds.
Ten thousand people will welcome the 22 teams of riders to the UK and more
especially to Yorkshire for the Grand Depart of the 2014 Tour de France. The show
will celebrate the history and modernity of Yorkshire through film, dance and music,
and showcase the county as an exciting and visually stunning place for people from
across the world to visit.
Presented by cycling broadcaster Jill Douglas and cycling presenter and the voice of
Radio Tour Sébastien Piquet, it features an all Yorkshire line up, with some of the
best talent Yorkshire has produced for the UK.
Jill Douglas is a respected and experienced sports broadcaster and journalist who
regularly appears on the BBC as well as other networks. She is best known for her
work in rugby and cycling and began her career as a print journalist in the Scottish
Borders before moving into television. Jill has followed the Tour de France for ITV and
most recently was involved in the BBC’s extensive coverage of the London Olympics.
She has followed the fortunes of British Cycling over the last ten years, traveling all
over the World to major championships and World Cups. Her strength is in live
3
broadcasting and reacting to major sporting stories as they unfold, engaging the
audience with the drama and excitement of the event.
Sebastien Piquet was born in Athens and lived in London for ten years before moving
to France. He has been a freelance sports journalist for the past 11 years, working
full time at Eurosport, broadcasting in English and French. He has covered 11 Tour de
France races as Radio Tour speaker and interviewer, and has worked as a
commentator/presenter/interviewer on major cycling races including the UCI World
Championships, Paris-Roubaix, Paris-Nice, Tour of Qatar, Tour of Oman, Dauphiné.
The ceremony which starts at 1830 UK time will be beamed live around the world via
Eurosport International to 60 countries, as well as shown live on TV2 in Norway and
Supersports across Africa. It will be shown in the UK on ITV 4 tonight from 1930, and
reports will feature in TV and radio news coverage across the world.
The Preshow warm up will begin at 17.31.00 UK time with an hour of entertainment
to warm up the audience before the TV broadcast begins at 18.30.00.
Presented by Adam, Danny and JoJo from the Capital Yorkshire Breakfast show,
it features a series of short films from the Berlin Velo Fest – films from around the
world that take an off-beat look at cycling culture.
Production Team:
Executive Producer Martin Green produces world-class, high-profile live events, most
recently the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in
London. The critically acclaimed Opening Ceremony, directed by Danny Boyle, broke
television viewing records around the world. Previously, as Director of Events at The
O2 in London, he oversaw the reopening of the now hugely successful venue. As Head
of Events for the Mayor of London, he produced global events such as the New Year’s
Eve fireworks, major music festivals and one-off spectaculars across the city.
John Farquhar Smith is a Producer with twenty-five years’ experience of working in
large-scale live production. He has produced projects including Eddie Izzard’s Arena
Tour “Sexie”, “Battleship Potemkin” for Pet shop boys in Trafalgar Square, the BAFTA
nominated Secret Policeman's Ball for Amnesty International, the Royal Gala Opening
of St Pancras International Station and the London 2012 Handover Ceremony at the
Beijing 2008 Olympics. More recently he has produced the ‘Illuminating of Hadrian’s
Wall’, The Sultan of Oman’s 40th National Day and 70 Evening Celebrations for the
London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic torch relays.
Durham Merenghi, who grew up in the Yorkshire port of Hull, was the lighting director
from the recent Sochi Winter Paralympic ceremonies. He is the first British lighting
designer to have lit the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of an Olympic Games – for
the Winter Olympics in Turin in 2006. He also lit the acclaimed Queen’s Diamond
Jubilee Concert for television in London in 2012.
Chris Clay is a Technical Director and Production Manager with over 20 years
experience working in Live Events, Opera and Theatre and a proven track record of
4
delivering complex projects in a variety of demanding locations both in the UK and
Worldwide. Chris’ experience includes, the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic
Opening and Closing Ceremonies; He was Head of Production at English National
Opera between 2002 and 2007 and Technical Director of the Young Vic Theatre from
2007 – 2011. He recently Production Managed ‘Grimes on the Beach’ an ambitious
staging of Britten’s opera on Aldeburgh beach which played to audiences of 4,500 and
enjoyed a successful cinema and DVD release.
Ala Lloyd is a Production Designer and Architect with a wide range of global
experience in the Live Events, Construction, Leisure, and Arts industries. Ala is a
Professional Member of the Society of British Theatre Designers and is also a fully
qualified and Chartered Architect. She has just been nominated at Total Production
Industry 2014 Set Designer of the Year. She began her career working with Rem
Koolhaas, Richard MacCormac CBE PPRIBA RA, Cezary Bednarski and Will Alsop OBE
RA. She designed and managed many projects for Mark Fisher OBE MVO RDI, known for
his innovative work with temporary touring structures and inflatable systems for
stadium rock and roll shows at his company Stufish. She was Design Studio Manager for
the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies. She is now
providing design services to a wide range of live entertainment and architectural
projects.
Philip Sheppard is a composer specializing in film and television soundtracks. He is
also a solo cellist and a Professor at the Royal Academy of Music.
Recent films include In the Shadow of the Moon (which won numerous awards
including the World Documentary Prize at Sundance), Henry Mind of a Tyrant for
David Starkey’s landmark C4 series and the forthcoming feature Sergio.
He was was commissioned to compose and produce the music for the London 2012
Handover sequence at the Beijing Olympics Closing Ceremony. This included a new
version of the UK National Anthem. He recorded and conducted the London
Symphony Orchestra playing his Olympic sequence (entitled This Is London), and
together with Steve Robson produced a new version of Jimmy Page and Leona Lewis
performing Led Zep’s Whole Lotta Love for the culmination of the ceremony.
Shot by Sodium have produced many of tonight’s films. Based in Leeds, they shoot
films and photographs for global clients from record labels to supermarkets to design
agencies. They believe that story is king and creativity is queen.
5
PRESHOW AND SHOW RUNNING ORDER
Time
Details
17.31.00 Two short films from the Berlin Velo Fest will be shown.
In CAMILO GUTIERREZ AUTUMN, Germany/ Peru 2012,
BMX Flatland Professional Camilo Gutierrez performs bicycle stunts around Berlin,
Germany during the Autumn season.
http://vimeo.com/53155080
Cool Unicorn Bruv, UK 2012
http://vimeo.com/58207848
17.40.00 Capital Radio Yorkshire Breakfast DJs Adam, Danny and Jo Jo will lead the warm up.
Twitter #TDFceremony
Another film from Velofest will be shown
Golden Tree, UK 2013, 3min – A Professional Display of No Handed Bike Moves
http://vimeo.com/29106106
17.55.00 DJs introduce team from ITV Calendar – local news programme in Yorkshire – who are
about to broadcast the start of their programme live from the Arena. Presenters are
Duncan Wood and Christine Talbot.
Calendar presenters get the audience in the mood for cheering for when Calendar goes
live in a few minutes.
18.00.17 Arena audience goes live into ITV Calendar regional news programme
To include intro and short film about Yorkshire’s enthusiasm for Le Tour
Calendar presenters talk live on air to the audience
18.07.00 Capital DJs back on to continue warming up audience
18.17.00 Time for another great short cycling films from the Berlin Velo film fest
This one is called The Man who lived on his Bike. Take a look.
http://vimeo.com/35927275
18.20.00 Capital DJs back on to warm up audience
Opera North orchestra and chorus begin to warm up on stage.
Opera North is England’s national opera company in the North and one of Europe’s
6
leading arts organisations. The Company is committed to producing work of the highest
quality that excites, challenges and entertains. It tours not only throughout the North of
England and to London, but also to opera houses on the continent in cities such as
Prague and Barcelona, and it performs at major international festivals including
Edinburgh and Ravenna.
Winner of the Theatre Awards UK Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera 2012
DJs introduce our hosts for the evening cycling broadcasters Jill Douglas and Sebastien
Piquet and ask them questions.
(see biogs above)
Hosts interview any well known cycling faces in the audience.
18.30.45 Film:The Ride of Your Life
Produced by Shot by Sodium, Leeds based film company who have made several films
for the Ceremony.
The ride of your life starts the show with energy. Shot on location on the route of the
Yorkshire Grand Depart it starts in the countryside and brings us into the urban – more
specifically Leeds, eventually arriving at the door of the Leeds Arena.
Shot in black and white, with a live score by Phillip Sheppard and the Opera North
orchestra and Chorus it communicates the ruggedness of the Yorkshire countryside and
the physical exertion, indeed pain, required by the elite athletes who ride the tour.
The rider in the film is Sam Marsters – a road cyclist and and triathlete from
Sheffield. When he’s not working on an oil rig he rides over 8 hours a week and has just
become a dad to a baby boy. He was very excited to be asked to be part of this year’s
tour as he’s watched it every year since his own Dad introduced it to him as a small boy,
during the years when Miguel Indurain won the tour 5 times.
18.34.00 Hope & Social
Local band Hope & Social affect a warm Yorkshire welcome through their Festival song
The Big Wide. Performed by 100+ members of the good people of Yorkshire they have
created The Band Anyone Can Join.
A project of infinite possibility produced with Grassington Festival.
The unique partnership of tourism organization Welcome to Yorkshire with Arts Council
England, Yorkshire Water and the Yorkshire’s Local Authorities has delivered the
Yorkshire Festival - the first ever arts & cultural festival to accompany the Grand
Depart.
Hope & Social have been marching a special brand of music around Stages 1 and 2 of
the Yorkshire Grand Depart during the 100 day festival.
7
1200 musicians have performed 12 gigs in 12 locations in just four days.
Tonight is their 13th gig and this is ‘The Big Wide’
Hope & Social are performing tonight with The Grand old Uke of York, Westgate Primary
School, Northern Song Birds, Spa Town Roller Girls, and fellow Members of the band
anyone can join.
18.38.30 Presenters Jill Douglas and Sebastien Piquet
We wanted to make sure we had the best knowledge on stage about the tour and there
are non better than Seb and Jill who between them know nearly all the riders on a
personal basis. It will make for an informative and entertaining evening for Tour
devotees and newcomers alike.
Jill Douglas is a respected and experienced sports broadcaster and journalist who
regularly appears on the BBC as well as other networks. She is best known for her work
in rugby and cycling, has followed the fortunes of British Cycling over the last ten years,
traveling all over the World to major championships and World Cups. Her strength is in
live broadcasting and reacting to major sporting stories as they unfold, engaging the
audience with the drama and excitement of the event.
Sebastien Piquet was born in Athens and lived in London for ten years before moving to
France. He has been a freelance sports journalist for the past 11 years, working full
time at Eurosport, broadcasting in English and French. He has covered 11 Tour de
France races as Radio Tour speaker and interviewer, and has worked as a
commentator/presenter/interviewer on major cycling races including the UCI World
Championships, Paris-Roubaix, Paris-Nice, Tour of Qatar, Tour of Oman, Dauphiné.
18.41.30 Team Presentation 1
The first of three sections of the show where the 22 cycling teams and 198 riders are
presented to the crowds as they begin this epic sporting event.
For the first time in a Team Presentation the riders are being split into three blocks with
entertainment in between.
Throughout the presentations short films presented by people from across Yorkshire
will welcome the riders and give facts about the Tour.
Team Katusha: Interviews with riders
Team Cofidis Solutions Crédits: Interviews with riders
Team Netapp-Endura : Interviews with riders
Team Orica – Green Edge : Interviews with riders
Team Tinkoff Saxo : Interviews with riders
Team Trek Factory Racing: Interviews with riders
Team Lampre-Merida: Interviews with riders
Team Omega Pharma-Quickstep: Interviews with riders
8
19.06.30
Time for more of that warm Yorkshire welcome now and a stunning visual treat. One
of the highlights of the Yorkshire Festival was Ghost Peloton produced by Leeds based
Phoenix Dance Theatre and NVA from Scotland in partnership with Sustrans.
This epic public art performance united dancers with a choreographed peloton of
stunningly illuminated cyclists who rode at night through towns and villages across the
county and then performed to huge crowds here in Leeds.
Phoenix Dance Theatre and NVA have taken the essence of Ghost Peloton to create a
unique performance just for us – Spectre.
From small beginnings in inner-city Leeds, Phoenix Dance Theatre has grown to be one
of the UKs leading contemporary dance companies. For over three decades Phoenix has
performed, educated and inspired people across the globe, often taking dance to
people who have never experienced the arts live before.
As a repertory dance company Phoenix has a clearly articulated artistic vision that
places diversity at its heart – diversity of the artists commissioned, the work it produces,
the company of dancers and the people it reaches. The company employs eight full time
exceptionally talented dancers and each year new works are commissioned from a
range of choreographers – from the biggest names in dance to new and emerging
talent on the first step of their career. The works created are curated as mixed bills and
tour extensively across the UK and overseas.
Spectre has been choreographed by Artistic Director Sharon Watson who collaborated
with Scottish Public Arts charity NVA, in partnership with Sustrans to produce both the
Ghost Peleton and tonight’s performance of Spectre.
19.13.00 Team Presentation 2
Team Europcar: Interviews with riders
Team Iam Cycling: Interviews with riders
Team BMC Racing Team: Interviews with riders
Team FDJ.fr: Interviews with riders
Team Lotto Belisol: Interviews with riders
Team Belkin Pro: Interviews with riders
Team Garmin Sharp: Interviews with riders
19.35.00 Yorkshire singer songwriter Alistair Griffin and former Girls Aloud singer Kimberley
Walsh will perform The Road, the official song of the Yorkshire Grand Depart.
It’s the first time a song has been specially commissioned for the Grand Depart and it
will be played in spectator hubs lining the route.
The song will be accompanied by a film celebrating the wonderful Yorkshire landscape.
Kimberley Walsh who grew up in Bradford in Yorkshire rose to fame after auditioning
9
for the reality UK TV show Popstars: The Rivals on ITV. She won a place as a member of
the girl group Girls Aloud, which achieved massive success including twenty consecutive
top ten singles and four number ones. She is expecting her first child.
19.40.45 Team Presentation 3
Team Bretagne-Seche Environnment: Interviews with riders
Team Giant-Shimano: Interviews with riders
Team Ag2r La Mondiale: Interviews with riders
Team Cannondale: Interviews with riders
Team Astant Pro :Interviews with riders
Team Movistar: Interviews with riders
Team Sky: Interviews with riders
20.02.30 Film The Tour and the English
A film produced by the Amaury Sports Organisation to celebrate the success of the
British riders in the Tour over the years as it makes its start in Yorkshire, UK this year.
Using black and white archive and a combination of French and English commentary the
film takes us through the early success of Yorkshire’s Brian Robinson now 84 right up to
the present day with Chris Froome’s success a year ago.
Brian Robinson was the first Briton to finish the Tour de France and the first to win a
Tour stage.
His success as a professional cyclist in mainland Europe paved the way for other Britons
such as Tom Simpson and Barry Hoban.
Brian Robinson will be in the audience at the Arena tonight, along with other former
champions, who will be saluted by the presenters.
20.08.35 To celebrate this great French race in style and pay tribute to the renewed links
between Yorkshire and France the Orchestra and Chorus of Opera North will perform
Habanera from Carmen by the French composer Bizet.
The soloist is mezzo soprano Helen Sherman and the conductor is Justin Doyle.
Habanera is the popular name for the aria "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle" (Love is a
rebellious bird) from Georges Bizet's 1875 opera Carmen. It is the entrance aria of the
title character, a mezzo-soprano role, in scene 5 of the first act.
The score of this aria was adapted from the habanera "El Arreglito", originally
composed by the Spanish musician Sebastián Yradier. Bizet thought it to be a folk song;
when others told him he had used something that had been written by a composer who
had died only ten years earlier, he had to add a note to the vocal score of Carmen,
10
acknowledging its source.[1]
The French libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. It is based on a
descending chromatic scale followed by variants of the same phrase in first the minor
and then the major key, corresponding to the vicissitudes of love expressed in the lyrics.
20.13.00 Welcome speeches
Christian Prudhomme, Director of the Tour de France
Bonsoir Leeds, good evening Yorkshire!
Thank you for being so many people here tonight at Leeds Arena.
Le Tour de France was created in 1903. It is one hundred and eleven years old but it is
only the second time it has started from the UK and for sure it’s the first time ever there
are so many people attending the Team presentation ceremony.
It is, in Yorkshire, the most northern Grand Départ in the history of the race, just one
year after the most southern start on the French island of Corsica in the Mediterranean
sea. Thank you for helping us spread the Tour fever further and further.
I am thrilled and I am impressed with what you have done…and I haven’t even seen
everything for sure.
Le Tour de France is the world’s largest annual sporting event. It is the world’s greatest
cycle race. But it is much more than that. It is more than just a great bike race. It brings
out the best in people.
Every year Le Tour attracts several million spectators along the route. Up to 12 million
people ! And on everybody’s face there are smiles and emotions.
Le Tour highlights the regions and the territories the riders pass by. This weekend tv
helicopters will explore the beauty of Yorkshire. God’s county offers an outstanding
backdrop, stunning scenery…and a very challenging route for the riders.
The images of Le Tour are broadcast in 190 countries. You will showcase for the world
your passion for cycling, your love for Le Tour de France.
Gary Verity told me and I feel it : it will be massive. It will be humungous.
Et je peux déjà dire, with my thick French accent : merci Yorkshire, merci beaucoup
Gary Verity, Chief Executive, Welcome to Yorkshire
It is a huge honour to welcome you all, the champions of cycling and the world to
Yorkshire. The dream we had four years ago to bring the Tour de France to Yorkshire is
tonight, a reality.
11
And of all the milestones in the long and distinguished history of our county which has
helped shape our country, and the world, when people look back at this time, July 2014,
this will be seen as a defining moment if not the defining moment for the people of
Yorkshire and beyond.
And I promised you Christian, the Grandest ever Grand Départ in the history of the Tour
de France, starting here tonight here and over the next three days, that promise will be
fulfilled.
To get us here, has taken three years of hard work, tenacity and commitment - all 3 of
those qualities from will manifest over the next 3 days for all the world to see in miles of
bunting, thousands of yellow bikes and the thousands of tour makers who will along
with the people of Yorkshire Welcome the Worlds to our county.
The values of the people of Yorkshire are the same as the true champions of cycling,
hard work, perseverance determination, passion, enthusiasm, pride and a wilful refusal
to take no for an answer.
And so my greatest thanks is reserved tonight for every man, woman and child, who
supported, encouraged and believed in that dream.
As I speak, 600 bell ringers in 60 churches across the county are ringing 420 bells in
celebration of this moment. In itself an inspirational example of what we can achieve
together.
Equally, I am certain that thousands of young people across the UK will be inspired by
the champions of cycling this weekend; the Tour de France starting in the great city of
LEEDS will be life changing for so many in so many ways.
This is our destiny.
You are part of history.
Vive L'Yorkshire, vive le Tour de France!
To mark the celebrations 600 bell ringers in 60 churches across Yorkshire will ring 420
bells to mark this formal start to the Yorkshire Grand Depart of the Tour de France.
20.18.40 Hosts goodbye
20.19.40 The headline act – the band Embrace will take to the stage to perform four songs. They
are one of the biggest bands Yorkshire has ever produced and come to Leeds Arena
straight from their recent sell-out comeback tour celebrating their top 5 self-titled
album, with three number 1 albums, six top ten singles and over two million UK album
sales in the UK alone.
12
Embrace, originally from Bailiff Bridge in Yorkshire, return to the music scene in 2014,
releasing their first album in eight years with their self-titled new album ‘Embrace’
released on 28th April through Cooking Vinyl.
With three #1 albums, six top ten singles, sold out arena shows and well over a million
album sales behind them, Embrace were on the crest of a wave when they suddenly
vanished without a trace. But now they are back with a fantastic new album conveying a
rawer, darker sound whilst still keeping their signature anthems and huge choruses.
They will play four songs
‘Follow You Home’
‘Ashes’
‘I Run’
‘All You Good People’
Finishing with a tribute to the Good People of Yorkshire who have worked tirelessly to
bring the Grand Depart of the Tour de France 2014 to the part of the world known as
God’s Own County.
20.45.00 Credits
13