Singing in the rain.
*Here;s a note from Bern a couple of days ago.. originally scrawled on a scrap of paper*
I’ve just run out of the pouring rain. My hoodie is soaked and my trousers, rolled up, to avoid soaking up any more puddles. Out of the front lounge window, on the tour bus, I can see a constant flow of people hurrying home. Like a river of people flowing out of the exits of the Stade de Suisse, and splintering off into tributaries. The reverse of what I was taught about river systems in Geography.
A few minutes ago, just behind the stage trucks to my right, popping - fizzing - banging pyrotechnics lit up the sky to compete with the lightning, spotlights and camera flashes, and bring another triumphant Coldplay show to a close. 40′000 more people have seen the spectacular open-air show in an incredible summer for one of the world’s biggest bands. And here we are.. Oxfam is playing it’s part in this event too. *I think* .. this was the 150th show of the VIVA world tour. A lot of people have passed through the gates, sung along, clapped hands, campaigned with Oxfam, in that time.. and a few have got a bit wet too.
The rain took nothing away from the atmosphere tonight. When the band ventured into the stormy weather, lightning flashing over the stadium, thunder multiplying the bass, steam rising from the crowd, they must have almost flooded their guitars. It fell down. Rivulets forming on the side of sound mixing tents, the giant stage, and the little Oxfam tent. I was impressed by the crowd. Just pulling out their raincoats in unison and getting on with singing.
Bern has been a stormy city for the tour. Similar downpours endured by the crew during Production day. But the show wen’t on (of course), and it was a cracker!
Today, Oxfam teamed up with a partner organisation here in Switzerland, called Clean Clothes Campaign, which campaigns for fairer production of clothing, and better working conditions for manufacturers. It relates to the Oxfam Make Trade Fair campaign, which Coldplay have supported strongly in the past. The Clean Clothes Campaign aims to connect us all more to what we buy, to know where it came from, who made it, and to ensure they wern’t exploited along the way.
Most people in the audience pulled out a raincoat when it poured tonight - so it is about knowing more about what got that there. Simple stuff. Something we can all do. Everyone deserves a fair chance. A fair wage for a product they have made. The same rights that people would expect here in Switzerland. As it says in Oxfam International’s Coldplay concert flyer.. a woman in Switzerland can expect to live to 84. A woman born in Swaziland, Southern Africa, can only expect to live until she’s 39. That’s crazy. That’s people’s lives. Not just numbers.
Huge amounts of people can change the world. Make change happen, which makes life fairer for all of us. So we need lot’s of people to shout for the same cause, to change the world…..
Good job we’re here on the Coldplay tour then, eh?
This entry was posted on Friday, September 4th, 2009 at 9:46 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Coldplay has invited Oxfam on their mammoth Viva La Vida World Tour. Throughout 2008 the band played huge shows across 3 continents and 18 countries. Oxfam volunteers were there every step of the way, talking to 100,000s of people about how they can take action to overcome poverty. Now in 2010, Coldplay continue this tour with shows across in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. Oxfam groups around the world will again join the tour, blogging as they go.
