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J.Lo and company electrify at World Cup opening ceremony
Jennifer Lopez, rapper Pitbull and singer Claudia Leitte bring down the house for the first time at the World Cup Thursday by performing the official song "We are One" at the end of a very Brazilian opening ceremony.
(L-R) US singer Jennifer Lopez, US rapper Pitbull and Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte perform during the opening ceremony prior to the FIFA World Cup 2014 group A preliminary round match between Brazil and Croatia at the Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo, Brazil, 12 June 2014. Photo by EPA/Mauricio Duenas
John Bagratuni, dpa
The three top acts emerged from an unfolding giant football in the middle of the pitch some 80 minutes before the host nation and Croatia were to contest the opening game of the 32-team event, which runs to July 13.
The 62,600 crowd at Sao Paulo stadium cheered the trio wildly, even more than the 660 performers earlier in the show which highlighted Brazil's treasures of nature, people and football with dancers, gymnasts, trampolinists, capoeira, performers and stilt walkers.
The 25-minute show, directed by Belgian Daphne Cornez, under sunny blue skies contrasted with the bright white arena and the predominantly yellow-and-green of the Brazilian fans in their national team's shirt.
The show featured no speeches from Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff or world football supremo Joseph Blatter.
Instead, the official World Cup opening was a symbolic act right before the game's kick-off, with three children, dressed in white, letting white doves fly into the Brazilian sky from the centre circle between both teams who had formed a circle.
Brazil and Croatia came on after a noisy rendition of AC/DCs classic Thunderstruck to get the fans into a wild mood, and the fans, as always, sang the last part of the Brazilian anthem on their own before kick-off.
Rousseff and Blatter were in attendance along with United Nations general secretary Ban Ki-Moon, eight heads of state and other dignitaries and VIPs.
The atmosphere in the stadium was cheerful and full of anticipation ahead of the first game of the hosts who are the big title favourites.
But security was tight outside and there were clashes between police and several hundred protesters in Sao Paulo.
The World Cup buildup has been marred by delays in construction - two people died when part of the roof collapsed at the stadium in Sao Paulo - and protests for better living conditions in Brazil as well as against the World Cup and its high costs, as well as against FIFA.
Brazil has invested around 11 billion dollars into the tournament played in 12 cities.
