The closing ceremony of the

2015 Pan American Games Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak alb ...

took place on Sunday July 26, 2015, beginning at 8:00 p.m. EDT at the

Rogers Centre Rogers Centre (originally SkyDome) is a multi-purpose retractable roof stadium in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated at the base of the CN Tower near the northern shore of Lake Ontario. Opened in 1989 on the former Railway Lands, it ...

(Pan Am Dome) in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. The closing ceremony was produced and directed jointly by three companies B5C Productions, BaAM Productions and FiveCurrents. The tickets for the ceremony ranged between and .

Production

In 2014

Live Nation Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American global entertainment company and monopoly that was founded in 2010 following the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The company promotes, operates, and manages ticket sales for live entertainme ...

was announced as a sponsor of the games; organizers stated that the company would leverage its resources to invite Canadian and international acts to perform at the ceremony. On July 15, 2015, organizers confirmed that American hip-hop artist

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

would headline the closing ceremony, joined by

Pitbull Pit bull is a term used in the United States for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed. The term was f ...

and

Serena Ryder Serena most commonly refers to: * Serena Williams (born 1981), professional tennis player Serena may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Serena (genre), 13th-century Occitan poetic genre * ''Serena'' (1962 film), a British crime t ...

. The announcement of West's participation was controversial, as critics and others believed that the closing ceremony should have been headlined by a Canadian artist; over 30,000 signatures were made on a

Change.org Change.org is a worldwide nonprofit petition website, based in California, US, operated by the San Francisco-based company of the same name, which has over 400 million users and offers the public the ability to promote the petitions they care abo ...

petition to have him replaced.

Mayor of Toronto The mayor of Toronto is the head of Toronto City Council and chief executive officer of the municipal government. The mayor is elected alongside city council every four years on the fourth Monday of October; there are no term limits. While in ...

John Tory John Howard Tory (born May 28, 1954) is a Canadian politician who has served as the 65th and current mayor of Toronto since 2014. After a career as a lawyer, political strategist and businessman, Tory ran as a mayoral candidate in the 2003 ...

, was also criticized for mistakenly referring to West as being a "proud product" of Toronto, despite actually being born in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Program

The cultural portion of the ceremony took place on a stage with a scale model of Toronto's skyline, featuring a medley of dances representing various ethnic communities and music styles of Toronto. Following closing speeches by

Ivar Sisniega Ivar Sisniega Campbell (born 29 May 1958) is a Mexican modern pentathlete, politician, and businessman. He competed at the 1980, 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics. He was formerly the head of CONADE as Sports minister under President Ernesto Zedill ...

, vice president of PASO, and Saad Rafi, president of the Toronto 2015 Organizing Committee, as per protocol, the Pan American Sports Organization flag was handed over by

Luis Castañeda Lossio Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

Mayor of Lima The following is a list of Lima's mayors through the 20th and 21st centuries. '' Alcaldes ordinarios'' of the first and the second vote Mayors of Lima See also * Timeline of Lima {{Peru lists Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded ...

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, host of the 2019 Pan American Games. This was followed by a cultural presentation by Peru, culminating with a sequence set to La Sarita's song "Carnaval". Serena Ryder performed "Together We Are One", the official theme of the 2015 Pan American Games, along with her own hit "

Stompa Stompa is a fictional extraterrestrial supervillainess and goddess appearing in books published by DC Comics. Created by writer/artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in ''Mister Miracle'' #6 (January 1972). Publication history Stompa fi ...

". Pitbull's segment featured songs such as " Fireball" and "

Give Me Everything "Give Me Everything" is a song by American rapper and singer Pitbull featuring Dutch DJ Afrojack & fellow American singers Ne-Yo and Nayer. Written by the former three and produced by Afrojack, it was released on March 18 2011, through Polo Grou ...

". Kanye West opened his set with " Stronger". After calling upon the lights to be turned on, he continued on with a set that included "

Power Power most often refers to: * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events ** Abusive power Power may a ...

, "

Black Skinhead "Black Skinhead" (also stylized as "BLKKK SKKKN HEAD") is a song by American rapper Kanye West, from his sixth studio album '' Yeezus'' (2013). It was produced by West and Daft Punk. The song's lyrics center on racial tensions and the crumbli ...

", "

Gold Digger Gold digger is a term for a person, typically a woman, who engages in a type of transactional relationship for money rather than love. If it turns into marriage, it is a type of marriage of convenience. Etymology and usage The term "gold ...

", " Touch the Sky", "

All Of The Lights "All of the Lights" is a song by American rapper Kanye West, released as the fourth single from his fifth studio album, ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'' (2010). It was produced by West and features additional vocals from several other record ...

" and " Good Life". During his performance of "Good Life", West abruptly threw his microphone up in the air and walked off the stage; his performance had been afflicted by audio issues that caused his microphone to only be audible to television audiences. The ceremony concluded with a fireworks display on the

CN Tower The CN Tower (french: Tour CN) is a concrete communications and observation tower in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Built on the former Railway Lands, it was completed in 1976. Its name "CN" referred to Canadian National, the railway c ...

Flagbearers

Anthems

* Layla Claire,

Ben Heppner Thomas Bernard Heppner (born January 14, 1956) is a Canadian tenor and broadcaster, now retired from singing, who specialized in opera and other classical works for voice. Early life and career Heppner, of Mennonite descent, was born in Mur ...

and Children's Choirs – National Anthem of Canada * Flag of PASO

Instrumental Version – Anthem of PASO * Estefania Castilla – National Anthem of Peru

References

{{Pan American Games ceremonies

Closing ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

Pan American Games closing ceremonies Ceremonies in Canada