Closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics: Tom Cruise, Snoop Dogg, Billie Eilish… Which stars will be present at the Stade de France ?

From Tom Cruise to the princes of the French Touch like Air and Phoenix, the Stade de France welcomes huge stars on Sunday evening for a futuristic closing show that will ensure the relay between Paris and Los Angeles, host city of the next Summer Olympics.

With one of the largest stadiums in Europe as a setting, this show is intended to be very different from that of the opening ceremony, relocated along the Seine, which had launched the Paris Olympic Games in style. It takes place from 9:00 p.m. under high security, after the cancellation of Taylor Swift's giant concerts in Vienna, where a suicide attack was foiled.

Also read: Closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics: at what time and on which channel to watch the show at the Stade de France ?

Wave of joy

The same artistic team is at the helm, led by Thomas Jolly, whose work, celebrating diversity in all its forms, has been widely praised.

But his opening ceremony also irritated conservative leaders and far-right standard-bearers, even earning him, as well as certain artists, death threats and an online harassment campaign on which the justice system French survey.

Also read:Paris 2024 Olympic Games: Léon Marchand and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot should be the standard bearers of the French delegation for the closing ceremony

For the writing of the closing show, "absolutely all our freedoms have been preserved because this country is that of creative freedom", assured Thomas Jolly on Friday.

The director of ceremonies, Thierry Reboul, specified that the closing show was "more universal" , and would allow "to finish the race in the same spirit as these Olympics, on this wave of joy that surrounds us". The artists will celebrate "the values ​​of sharing, universality but also the fragility of the world".

Past and future

In detail, the show, about forty minutes long, is called “Records” (a word that also means “archives” in English, Editor's note) and mixes “wonder” and “dystopia”, a dark genre describing apocalyptic worlds, explains Thomas Jolly.

It tells the story of an interstellar traveler who discovers the remains of the Olympic Games, in a distant future where they will have disappeared, and will undertake to rebuild them. French breakdancer Arthur Cadre will be the common thread of this story and will take place in the air, while the giant sets, costumes and lighting effects will project the spectators into a journey between past and future.

More than a hundred performers, acrobats, dancers and circus artists promise to transform the stadium into a gigantic performance hall, with a 2,800 m2 stage. We will see dance, contortion, gesture theatre and the influence of street arts.

American stars

All eyes will be on the stars. The opening ceremony had set the bar very high with Lady Gaga, Aya Nakamura and the final comeback of Céline Dion on the Eiffel Tower. For the closing, Air and Phoenix, legends of French electro who are very popular in the United States, will conclude Thomas Jolly's show.

Expectations are also focused on the fifteen minutes then entrusted, as is the tradition, to the organizers of the next Olympic Games, in Los Angeles.

The City of Angels promises to mobilize its most famous representatives, such as Tom Cruise, the most daredevil of Hollywood superstars, who filmed some of his most memorable car chases in Paris.

Read also: Closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics: discover the two iconic French groups that will be there

According to American media, the actor could perform a spectacular stunt for the Stade de France crowd and ensure the passage of the Olympic flag between Paris and L.A. with video sequences filmed on both sides of the Atlantic.

Who will accompany him? Veteran rap artist Snoop Dogg, a special correspondent for NBC TV who has become a viral icon on social networks outside of Paris, is expected to perform Sunday night, according to Variety.

This media outlet also cites singer Billie Eilish, a native of L.A., or the Red Hot Chili Peppers, an iconic West Coast rock group from the 1990s, who are likely to rock a stadium.

In addition to the passing of the Olympic flag between the mayors of Paris and Los Angeles, several ceremonial events are planned: the presentation of the last medals, a parade of athletes, the extinguishing of the flame and the proclamation of the closing of the Games by the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach.