by Alex Hoad at the Olympic Stadium

12.33am - I've been asked to leave. It was always going to end this way.

Thanks for enjoying the Olympics with me. It's been the best 17 days of my life.

Really hope I see you in Rio.

Be proud tomorrow, of our athletes for their 65 medals, 29 golds, by all means, but also of the people who made the last couple of weeks so very, very special.

When we do things, we do them properly. Proud to be British.

12.07am - The Who finished with My Generation, surely a nod at inspiring the next generation.

And we finished as we began, with a spectacular firework display and billions of pieces of ticker-tape fluttering through the air.

The only sound in the stadium is the noise of footfall on the stairs and the incessant rhythm of the Brazilian samba drum in the centre of the Stadium floor. Yes, yes, it's yours now, you don't have to rub it in! :(

12am - It really has gone now. The crowd groaned audibly when they announced the flame would be extinguished and then began clapping spontaneously when the last flicker disappeared.

Hugely emotional, I'm not going to lie.

Anyway, The Who are playing us out here and perking people up a bit.

11.52pm - Speeches done. Jacques Rogge says the Games have been 'happy and glorious' which they have been.

Seb Coe was clearly choked up and said "When out time came, Britain... we did it right!"

We've seen the samba of Rio and the green and yellow of the Brazilian flag has lit up the stadium. It's done.

Fireworks and Take That now. We know how to party!

11.32pm - Ughhh. It's really over isn't it? The bloomin Brazilian flag is hoisted and the anthem played and now there's samba on the streets of Stratford.

London 2012 has minutes to run... :'(

11.19pm - That was special. A 2012 crowd interacting with a 1986 Freddie Mercury at Wembley.

Roger Taylor and Bryan May then performed We Will Rock You with a VERY vocal Jessie J. She's got a voice, that's for sure!

11.10pm - Eric Idle came out to perform Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. The Serbian reporter next to me looks absolutely bewildered. I on the other hand whistled along.

This is our party!

We also saw a chap blown out of a cannon, not quite sure why, but it was very impressive, and now we have Muse performing the official song of the Olympics - Survival!

11pm - The Spice Girls got the reception you'd expect the Spice Girls to get, and now Liam Gallagher and his group Beady Eye are singing a song that his stupid pig-headed brother wrote and now won't perform with him.

Robbed. I feel robbed. Get them back together.

Mr Blue Sky, that's a feelgood song!

10.53pm - To give them credit they were actually all really good!

Now, er, here come some people you might not have seen in a while!

10.45pm - Fat Boy Slim in a giant inflatable neon Octopus... what could be more British than that?

Now we have Jessie J, Tinie Tempah and Taio Cruz in the back of open top limos....

Anyone see a grassy knoll?

10.38pm - After Annie sailed off on a spooky ship, Ed Sheeran sang Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here with original Floyd drummer Nick Mason and Mike Rutherford of Genesis.

Then it got weird.... Russell Brand atop a psychadelic bus singing Willie Wonka. Bit of Beatles has raised the bar a little since though.

10.27pm - Kaiser Chiefs followed George Michael with a cover of the Who's Pinball WIzard, complete with spectacular light displays and mopeds racing round the stadium.

Then we had another homage to fashion, billboard of British models wearing British clothes were paraded round the Stadium and lo-and-behold the actual models were only hiding behind their own pictures!

Now we get to enjoy a spooky Annie Lennox performance of Little Bird!

10.13pm - More emotional scenes here. A never-before-seen version of Imagine by John Lennon follows on from Freddie Mercury's voice ringing around the OS.

Now we have George Michael performing Freedom and then White Light.

10pm - The medals for the men's marathon this morning are being handed out in time-honoured tradition.

Before that we saw 303 white boxes brought into the centre of the stage, forming a pyramind onto which iconic images of the Games were beamed.

Why 303? It's the number of events in the Olympics!

9.51pm - And still they come...

They're filling up the spaces in the middle of a very colourful Union Flag, when seen from above.

They are also about to be the most energetic mosh pit the world has ever seen for possibly the best concert we're ever likely to host!

9.35pm - As Elbow perform Open Arms and in a minute, One day Like This.... which is definitely going to make me cry, the athletes are flooding into the stadium and being asked to get a jog on. THEY'RE KNACKERED ORGANISERS, THEY'VE BEEN COMPETING FOR TWO WEEKS!

9.29pm - Emeli Sandi out again to finish of Read All About it. Really nice.

Want to see some athletes? Well you're in the right place!

9.24pm - Ray Davies singing Waterloo Sunset after arriving in a black cab. It's all a little cliche, don't you think!? ;)

That's the end of the street party by the looks of it!

9.18pm - Our House has been pretty welcoming the past couple of weeks, I reckon.

Madness were followed by a spot of Blur, a typically-odd performance from the Pet Shop Boys, showcasing Britain's fashion and then the world went mad.... One Direction raised the roof with their song. You know. The one.

9.09pm - HUGELY emotional national anthem following the depiction of a London morning rush hour at Waterloo Bridge.

We saw Timothy Spall playing Churchill reading Shakespeare out of the top of Big Ben. Pretty much a full-house in your British cultural card game.

This is Madness showing off Our House.

9pm - We're off and running with Emeli Sande performing Read All About It.

What do you think of when you think of London? Rush hour traffic? The City? The press? You're not alone it seems....

8.52pm - Calm before the storm here.

8.34pm - Great crowd in this evening. We're having a few singalongs.

Nothing like 80k banging out Wonderwall in unison. Immense.

Not sure the journos around me are massively impressed with me joining in, but, it's a party, right!

7.55pm - Just over an hour to go until the start of the ceremony. The Stadium is over half-full already and there is a spectacular London skyline on the ground, where discus and javelins were flying just a couple of days ago.

I've posted a pic on my twitter, for those who are interested in seeing it now. It is pretty special looking.

6.55pm - It's not just music though. There are stars of stage and screen too, lots of laughs, but of high culture, plenty of history.

If you love London you simply HAVE to watch it.

I reckon people will be breaking out in spontaneous conversation on the tube tomorrow morning for the first time in 60 years.

Do. Not. Miss. Out.

6.30pm - I've now read through my media guide and, no I still can't tell you, but the musical line-up is literally amazing. I couldn't believe it.

If you are aged 5-80 then there's someone who you'll love playing here tonight.

6.18pm - I'm here. And I'm not going to spoil the surprise.

Just know that I've been sat down for five minutes in my seat, watched a soundcheck by 'them', seen some massively impressive displays of 'this' and 'that' and can just honestly tell you NOT TO MISS IT. You will regret it, I PROMISE YOU.

5.11pm - Right. I'd better get going. I've got an Olympics to say goodbye to! :(

4.57pm - It's GOLD for the USA. They won 107-100 and were always just that bit too good for Spain. They never needed fifth gear, though Spain battled right to the end. Great game.

4.30pm - You know what, we got the great second half! This is fantastic. 83-82 at the end of the third and Spain just will not go away. Both teams are scoring freely, unable to prevent the other. Anything could happen.

4pm - Everything set up nicely for a great second half here, USA pull away, Spain come back repeat ad infinitum.... It's finely poised at 59-58 at the break.

Juan Carlos Navarro leads all scorers with 19 at the break. USA's Kevin Durant has 17.

3.25pm - Blistering start here. Spain raced out to an early 12-9 lead but the USA have hit their threes and rallied to lead 35-27 at the end of the first quarter.

2.30pm - Welcome to the North Greenwich Arena, now know (to me at least) as the Kat Basket, after trampoline star Kat Driscoll's roof-raising turn here eight days ago.

I'm here because I am lucky. I hit the jackpot. I was able to secure a press ticket for the basketball gold medal match between the USA and Spain.

I'll be honest, there's no Kent angle, best I could hope is maybe some of the players have been on Eurostar, however USA's quest for gold in the basketball arena is always one of THE spectacles of any Games and I feel priviliged to be here.

I'll be hot-footing it back to the Olympic Stadium afterwards to enjoy the Closing Ceremony of, let's be honest, the Greatest Olympic Games The World Has Ever Seen.

Check here for live updates on the basketball and live commentary on the ceremony this evening, which promises to be a feast of British music with plenty of susprise guests!

You can also get live twimmentary on twitter via @kentonline2012