Liverpool wrapped up its year as European Capital of Culture with fireworks and a singalong. Vicky Anderson was there

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"TO BE continued” was the promise emblazoned across the giant outdoor cinema screens, as the curtain went down on Liverpool’s Capital of Culture year at the weekend.

Saturday’s Transition Light Night, the first official handover event of its kind, saw the city passing on the Culture Year mantle with spectacular fireworks – and a good, old-fashioned Scouse singalong.

There were no international icons, famous faces or celebrities, as there had been at the opening weekend a year to the day, but still nearly 60,000 visitors turned out to see the conclusion of the programme at the Pier Head, lovingly dubbed the People’s Celebration.

The hour-long outdoor event saw animated film beamed onto screens at the Pier Head and using the windows of the new Museum of Liverpool, still under construction – taking a quirky look at the history of the city from its prehistoric beginnings through to the amazing achievements of 2008.

The new canal link was open to the public and littered with paper lanterns, already looking impressive.

There was an en masse singalong to Liverpool anthems All Together Now by the Farm, and The Beatles’ Here Comes the Sun, with footage of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra playing along, conducted by Vasily Petrenko.

At one point, Lord Mayor Steve Rotheram appeared on the roof of the Mersey Ferry Terminal – in the same container used by Ringo Starr a year to the day at the official opening event – to hand over celebratory wreaths to Juozas Imbrasas, mayor of Vilnius, and Ulrich Fuchs, Linz’s equivalent of Phil Redmond, to mark the start of their tenures as European Capitals of Culture 2009.

And, although 2008 went out with a bang after nearly ten minutes of striking pyrotechnics set off from a barge in the Mersey, things ended on a poignant note.

The fireworks were accompanied by more musical classics from the city – from Imagine to There She Goes, and Echo and the Bunnymen’s Nothing Ever Lasts Forever. Then a photograph of George Harrison appeared on the giant screens as his album title, “All Things Must Pass . . .” put into words the sombre feeling in the midst of the party as the end came.

After the show, the city's arts venues stayed open into the night. City officials said it was an emotional evening, and said that, at £500,000, it was a quarter of the cost of the opening weekend.