The finishing straight.
We are nearly there. It’s a couple of days until Christmas. Time for the holidays and to welcome in a new year. Soon we will be travelling home. Getting over coughs, colds and extreme sleep deprivation weirdness. Just one more Coldplay show to do this year. The pillows are in sight.
I hadn’t seen much of the set for a while. Tonight, I stood, stage-left, with some of the Oxfam volunteers, to watch the amazing show. OK, so most of the songs may be the same, but I love seeing the crowds every time. People jumping around, singing the words, clapping at every opportunity, stamping their feet, holding their heads in disbelief, watching the show through a mobile phone - when the band are right there.. Stamping their feet - (whether they’re out of time or not.. Who really cares?) It’s great to see how captivated people are when seeing the show for the first time. It reminds me how great it is, that Oxfam is on the tour. How great it is that the volunteers get to see the show. How much people love this band. How awesome it is that the band want these people to be involved with Oxfam’s work. 1348 people joined Oxfam tonight. That’s 2319 people at the two Dublin shows. 1 in 7 people across the two nights. That’s a great response, and something for our volunteers to be proud of. There were a famous pair of sunglasses in the audience tonight too, which caught the eye of a few of our campaigners.. I saw you there Bono.. bobbing your head and singing along to ‘Viva’ at the Coldplay show.
The sprinter van that I’m in, is.. erm..sprinting along the motorway to Belfast. The driver isn’t even bothering to change lanes if there is nobody to overtake. He’s getting us there, and fast. It’s amazing to think that in about 28 hours, we will all be heading home. The band will be home. The 2008 Viva La Vida tour will be over. The curtain (or more appropriately, the giant ‘Viva’ banner on the stage), will have gone down, for the final time. I will miss it all when it’s gone. I’m sure I will also miss all the other roadies, when they are no longer around in the crew rooms and catering tables of various venues around the world. It will be good though, to unpack my bag, try on some clothes that aren’t stage black, catch up with people that I’ve lost touch with, buy some new socks, you know, that sort of thing.
It was the Christmas party last night. Personally, I think there may have been a tactic in there somewhere. Because today, it was another Band v Crew match. Goals were flying in from everywhere, as were injuries, and scuffed shots. It was a fun time. I’m sure the friendly rivalry will continue long into the future.
I’m not thinking too much about that for now though. Just enjoying the moment. On tour with a great bunch of people, with one of the best bands in the world. Thousands of people joining Oxfam’s amazing work. One more show to go.
This entry was posted on Monday, December 22nd, 2008 at 8:59 pm 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.
Team Jenn December 30th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Amazing how time flies when you are having fun! I can’t believe it has already been over a month since you were celebrating your birthday midwestern style and now the tour is coming to a close! It feels truely amazing to have been given the oppertunity to get involved with the awesome work Oxfam is doing and it has been such a treat to have the blog to read along the way. You have a way with words Pete! Good luck in all you continue to do!