The opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games had John Barrowman, the closing one had Kylie Minogue in thigh-high boots and a basque, which made the last night camper than the first, although only just.

It was simpler too, which was a relief for those who thought the opening ceremony clunky. Hampden also benefited from the lack of the anxiety you could feel in Celtic Park 11 days ago about whether it would all be any good. Last night, there was a more confident feeling: the idea was for Glasgow to party.

Sadly, no one had told the Games and council officials, whose speeches did a pretty good job of killing the atmosphere. Thankfully, it was rescued by Kylie, who had the worst warm-up act of her career: the Earl of Wessex.

On the whole, the performances were better than the ones at Celtic Park though: there was Lulu, Deacon Blue and a bin lorry which did its loop of the stadium without a hitch. But like the opening ceremony, the event on television seemed to be less impressive than the one in the stadium. All the way through, friends were texting from Hampden telling me how good the atmosphere was, but on TV the cameras, too often, went too close up and you could see the joins. TV cameras can't pick up warmth and atmosphere - you need to go out on the streets to feel that.

Things did loosen up towards the end, as they do on a night-out in Glasgow, although the fact that the athletes were left to mill about on the pitch highlighted a problem with both ceremonies: the weird lack of sport.

And again: where was contemporary Scotland? Perhaps, at the sight of old Scotland, military Scotland and especially cheesy Scotland, it decided to stay at home.