Party at the Palace: It was quite a show for those there, but perhaps even better for those who weren’t

The face-painted, Union flag-waving crowds converged on Green Park on Saturday night for the Platinum Jubilee Party at the Palace anxious to get in, but not knowing quite what to expect.

A stellar performing line-up, for sure. Rain later, possibly. But also the threat of something with the charm of an extended Olympic closing ceremony themed in red, white and blue, with (much) longer queues for the bar, albeit one held at the Victoria Memorial - easily London’s most celubrious roundabout.

We never did manage to get a drink. But it didn’t rain. And what unfolded on the three stages before Buckingham Palace - and across the Palace itself, of course - was an extraordinary exercise in stadium showmanship, a coherent whole with emotional highs and lows, and an underlying message of change.

Ostensibly, we were all there - in person around us, on TV around the globe - to celebrate the Queen’s life through the music that formed a soundtrack to her 70-year reign.

The Platinum Party at the Palace in front of Buckingham Palace

That was going to prove a tall, and rather unfulfilled, order. But the music was, mostly, spectacular. Unlike any closing ceremony you’ve ever seen, artists of world renown were invited to not outstay their welcome: to belt out their greatest hit - or two - and clear orf.

Music aficionados will undoubtedly sneer at both the choice of artists, and the songs they performed. But that would be to miss the point of this stadium-scale exercise in Royal mythmaking, and to ignore the fact it simply made for a breathless show - acts you’d have spent hundreds to see by themselves, stacked up like the aircraft coming into Heathrow to the west.

The only surprise was an absence of any Scottish acts - unless a stumbling Rod Stewart, wryly introduced by compère Lee Mack as coming “all the way from the bonnie wee lochs of Epping Forest” - counts (comedian Mack was one of the winners of the evening, his off-script quip about PartyGate going viral on social media for hours after the event).

Her Majesty was first on - almost. Really, it was Paddington Bear first on screen, in an inspired pre-record vignette that showed the Monarch’s sense of humour, a delightful echo of the James Bond sketch she played in for the opening of the 2012 London Olympics.

Rod Stewart performing during the Platinum Party at the Palace

As she tapped her teaspoon to the opening drumbeat, the operatic Adam Lambert, standing in for the late Freddie Mercury as the front man for Queen, got the music started started with We Will Rock You.

His flamboyant performance - strutting from the Palace’s gates to a stage in front of the tens of thousands in stands and down The Mall - set the scene for a global TV audience estimated at well north of 100 million.

We imagined the Queen, absent because of her health, to be one of those millions, watching on a TV in Windsor. And there was something deeply appropriate that, in this democratic age, those watching on TV undoubtedly got the best views.

Even her family, sat in the Royal box, would have had their sightlines of the three stages disrupted by the huge Victoria Memorial, a golden centrepiece to the event.

Trumpeters during the Platinum Party at the Palace

But the setting was stunning, and came into its own as the sun set. If the first two thirds of the show had been about the music, the final act began with the weaving of some Royal narrative.

The Queen’s voice once more echoed round the darkened arena as the music faded to the ethereal, giant projections lit up the front of Buckingham Palace, and members of the Royal Ballet danced beneath it all.

She spoke of her dear late husband’s passion for the environment, and made clear the continuation of that Royal mission through her eldest son, the Prince of Wales, and his first-born, William. Both men would appear on stage to warm receptions, to speak of their mother and of their environmental mission, before the night was out.

And, as with the other Jubilee events this week, there was the unmistakable sense that this was not only celebration of a royal life lived, but of a handover; a very modern remake of a continuation of reign that has taken place countless times over centuries.

Lee Mack during the Platinum Party at the Palace

Stephen Fry was the person to voice it most pointedly, referring to us all living through an Elizabethan era of enormous change. But the lightless of his tone could not lift the underlying seriousness of his message: eras end, and this one is coming to a close.

Cynics might say this was The Firm at work, securing the next phase of their centuries-old business. But the weight lended to the environmental message - and the emotion of our elderly, frail, much-loved Monarch continuing the process of passing on the flame - gave this party a gravitas, an emotional grounding, greater than any variety performance.

From that darkness, to almost surreal light - and the sight of Corgis, the flag and guardsmen being rendered in 3D high above the Palace by a fleet of drones, as we got back to the music.

Diana Ross - almost as regal as an actual Queen - rounded off the show with her own brief medley of hits. That, too, sounded much better on TV than it did in real life - those of us in the arena could hear Ms Ross struggling with some sound issues, but some showbiz magic made sure her performance came across note perfect for the watching world.

And that, perhaps, was the metaphor of the entire night, made real. It was quite a show for those there, but perhaps even better for those who weren’t.