The 2024 Olympics are to begin on Friday with a grand opening ceremony in Paris. And the lineup of performers is expected to chock full of stars.
There have been lots of rumors and secrecy surrounding the performers — big, big names — but first let’s start with the people we now feel certain will be there for the opening ceremony.
Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga, one of the biggest pop stars in the world, is a confirmed act, Time Out wrote, citing the local French newspaper Le Parisien. What kind of performance can we expect? Well, that leads us to our next big name.
Celine Dion
The Canadian powerhouse vocalist is expected to perform at the opening ceremony. As we wrote at Mashable this week, people are very excited to see her sing after Dion took years off due to her being diagnosed with Stiff Person Syndrome.
Gage and Dion are reportedly set to perform together. They are expected to do a duet of Édith Piaf’s classic French song ‘La Vie en Rose,’ The Guardian reported.
Le Parisien wrote that Dion was expected to perform Piaf’s “L’Hymne à l’amour,” however, so there may still be some confusion about what, exactly, to expect.
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Aya Nakamura
While perhaps not a household name in the U.S., Nakamura is a big deal in France. Time Out reported Nakamura, the country’s most-listened to singer, is expected to perform “a Charles Aznavour classic, accompanied by the Republican Guard.”
Nakamura is a French citizen who was born in Mali. It would be a triumphant performance, considering she was subjected racist attacks about her heritage when it was rumored she would perform.
French President Emmanuel Macron
French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to deliver a speech once the Olympic torch is lit at the end of a procession through Paris’ most famous landmarks, NBC reported. Sure, it’s not as exciting as a Gaga perforamnce, but it is a big name.
Other French performers
There will be a number of other French performers, Time out confirmed. Among them: pianist Sofiane Pamart, singers Juliette Armanet, Marina Viotti, and Philippe Katerine, the metal band Gojira, rapper Rim’K, and the drummer Cerrone.
The other rumors
The opening ceremony, as we mentioned, has been shrouded in a bit of secrecy. Macron himself was cagey about the plans from show’s director when asked Dion’s reported appearance.
“I will not reveal anything, what [opening ceremony director] Thomas Jolly and all his teams have prepared,” Macron said on TV channel France 2, via The Guardian. “There is also a surprise.”
Naturally this secrecy had led to lots of rumors. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Dua Lipa and Ariana Grande, two of the biggest names in pop, have been rumored. Don’t get your hopes up too high, however. While Gaga and Dion have had more concrete reporting, there hasn’t been much in the way of proof that Dua Lip or Grande will perform on Friday. Grande was spotted at an event in Paris this week, but that hardly means she’ll be performing. Still, that would be an amazing line-up should it come to fruition.
