London 2012: Ceremony 'huge moment' for British music

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Page last updated at 15:15 GMT, Monday, 30 July 2012 16:15 UK

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By Greg Cochrane
Newsbeat music reporter

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Alex Trimble talks about singing at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics

The lead singer of Two Door Cinema Club has described the London 2012 Opening Ceremony as an "absolutely huge" moment for British music.

Alex Trimble performed in the show along with other UK artists like Dizzee Rascal, Emeli Sande and Arctic Monkeys.

"It felt huge," he said. "So huge that I couldn't take it in. It was more surreal than anything else."

Trimble sang a track called Caliban's Dream written by Underworld's Rick Smith for the event.

'Big' acts

The show, at the Olympic stadium in London, was watched by more than 26 million people in the UK on TV, and an estimated 1 billion worldwide.

Trimble said he felt the programme was a "real, true celebration of the music of Britain".

"What Danny [Boyle] did with the acts he got to play and the sequence celebrating the history of British music - that spoke for itself," he said.

I think the big, huge mainstream acts were something that Danny [Boyle] wanted to avoid because he didn't want to draw too much focus to any one person or one act

Alex Trimble, Two Door Cinema Club

"There will be a lot of people who who heard those songs - I think there will be a lot of people running into record stores and looking them up."

Trimble said he thought the mixture of artists Boyle selected was "perfect".

"I think the big, huge mainstream acts were something that Danny [Boyle] wanted to avoid because he didn't want to draw too much focus to any one person or one act.

"I thought that was amazing. He mostly wanted young people, up and coming people. He didn't want the spotlight shinning on people too heavily."

'Dream' offer

The singer and guitarist found out that he has been asked to be part of the ceremony when he received a phone call from his manager while on tour in America earlier this year.

"I'd had a pretty heavy night the night before, so I wasn't feeling great and the phone call woke me up," said Trimble.

"I hung up and wait straight back to sleep. I woke up a few hours later. As far as I was concerned that was a dream, so I text him and said, 'I had this really weird dream...'.

He first went to meet Danny Boyle and his team at the stadium at the end of June.

"I wasn't allowed to tell anyone, apart from my band mates. I couldn't tell any other friends, any family."

He said he hoped his part in the show would help boost the international profile of his band.

"The main thing going through my head was, 'Remember this moment'."