Denver-based multiplatinum pop act OneRepublic will play in Whistler, British Columbia, at the 2010 Winter Olympics, The Denver Post has learned.
“We are beyond excited to play the Olympics this year,” said lead singer Ryan Tedder.
The band, touring Europe in support of its “Waking Up” album, will play after an awards ceremony near the ski run area, Tedder said. The band’s current single, “All the Right Moves,” is massive in Europe and is climbing the charts in the U.S. OneRepublic’s breakthrough single, 2007’s “Apologize,” was the biggest Top 40 single in the history of radio monitoring group Mediabase’s history – until it was knocked out by Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love,” a song also penned/produced by Tedder.
“It was a goal of mine just to attend the Vancouver games four years ago when I found out that’s where they’d be in 2010,” said Tedder, also a Denver-based hit producer. “I never dreamed OneRepublic would actually be playing them four years later.”
And they might not be alone. The Fray might also play during the Feb. 12-28 Vancouver games, Tedder said, although an Epic Records representative couldn’t confirm the Fray’s Olympics plans.
“I’m not sure where the Fray are playing,” Tedder said, “but (the Fray’s) Joe King told me a few weeks ago that they were playing the Olympics too, so we’re gonna have to have a Fray/OneRepublic ski-off followed by peppermint schnapps and reindeer sliders – and maybe some of that Clark Griswold eggnog.”
A representative for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic Games wouldn’t confirm either band’s presence there but said there are still many shows to be confirmed.
Tedder is psyched nonetheless.
“I’m hoping Nancy Kerrigan makes a comeback,” he joked. “It’s her year. I can feel it.”
