Everyone bickers furiously with everybody else during the preparations but, on the day itself, it all comes together.
That's certainly how the opening weekend turned out, with more than 38,000 in the street for the People's Opening on Friday and another 10,000 in the new Echo Arena on Saturday, joyously celebrating the past, present and future of Liverpudlian culture at Liverpool - The Musical.
As stars of television, theatre, pop and sport - and even favourite WAG Coleen McLoughlin - mixed with the people of the city, there was a striking sense of community energy and determination that felt nothing like our own very different, albeit very successful, inaugural Manchester International Festival last year.
You could easily have found yourself next to Les Dennis or Kenny Dalglish, cheering as Marc Almond led the applause for Ken Dodd after his appearance on Friday along with Heidi Range of The Sugababes, The Royle Family's Sue Johnston and Claire Sweeney.
Pretty much every aspect of culture was touched on, and it boded well for more than 350 forthcoming events, the majority of them free. But not so long ago, it all looked very different.
Political infighting, the sudden disappearance of Artistic Director Robyn Archer and the last-minute cancellation of the Mathew Street Festival had rung alarm bells that were still echoing as the New Year dawned.
So Redmond was feeling pretty relieved on Saturday night: "I thought it was great and now we've got through the weekend, we're exactly where we wanted to be.
"We've got the rocket fuel to get us through the year and there's a real buzz out there. This is just the start, though."
The other thing about weddings is that you're pretty much bound to get a couple of Beatles' tunes.
Ringo Starr got proceedings off to a high-flying start on Friday night, perilously perched a hundred feet above the ground on the roof of the city's newly-refurbished St Georges Hall to deliver his new autobiographical single Liverpool 8.
Then he headlined at Liverpool - The Musical, doggedly plugging the single again (out today!) before leading more crowd-pleasing renditions of With A Little Help From My Friends and the John Lennon rabble-rouser Power To The People.
Paul McCartney is due to play as part of the festivities on June 1 at Aintree. I can also reveal that `there's something really special to do with George Harrison coming up later in the year'.
For non-Beatle highlights, there is the re-opening of the Bluecoat art gallery, the World Premiere of classical composer John Tavener's Requiem at the Metropolitan Cathedral on February 28.
If you're into more popular music there's the MTV awards show or the Electric Proms, and The War Requiem at the Anglican Cathedral in the summer.
You can get more information about Liverpool 08 events from www.liverpool08. com.
Tweet
