Oxfam America Tour Blog: 21 November 2008
From WikiColdplay
Denver and back to Dallas.
No. Not physically. That would be very silly. That’s a long old drive. Plus, let’s face it. There is not much to look at on the way. I spent much of the trip in the darkened cocoon of my bunk. The rest, faced with the slow realisation, as I peered out of the bus window, that this country is just vast. As soon as we headed out into that nothingness the day after the Dallas show.. the temperature dropped. We eventually hit the Colorado mountains on the way into Denver, and it fell again. Tumbled even. -6 last night (20 Farenheit I think.. crikey). Nothing like the heat of Dallas.
Back in Dallas, Texas, it was more like a summer’s night than a winter freeze. No scarfs required. No jackets even. I was sweltering when I donned the Oxfam jacket to go and meet the patiently waiting volunteers. It was another night of activity for them. Getting the word out there, meeting fans, explaining Oxfam’s work and getting excited about the show ahead. One of them came back afterwards, and described the concert simply as “life-changing”. There are a lot of happy fans leaving these venues once the confetti has fallen.
The same volunteer was telling me about how 1 in 3 children in her town in Texas, goes to bed hungry. It’s just two hours drive from the polished arena where the show was held. That is astonishing. I have learnt so much about this country on my trip with the tour. I am pleased to say that Oxfam also works to overcome poverty here in America too. It’s amazing how poverty can often go so unseen. This is not a poor country. But poverty exists here. It must not be ignored. Hopefully Oxfam’s presence on this tour, can help to improve awareness of poverty, and make it less invisible.
Denver is not a place I know much about. Not that I knew much about Dallas either.. I heard it’s a mile above sea level, which might explain part of that temperature tumble. I know it’s home of the Broncos too.. Today we sit in the warmth of another huge modern arena. It’s just a fairground away from that Broncos stadium, which sits under the watchful eye of those mountains. Today, this will be the home of Coldplay, and 20 Oxfam volunteers, of course.
Oh.. I just wanted to share this with you. I couldn’t help laughing earlier, when I saw the catering area being hoovered before lunch. The hoover (vacuum) was strapped to the back of a busy person, looking more like a proton pack out of Ghostbusters, than a cleaning device. I half expected Peter Venkman and Egon Spengler to appear and fight the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man..
http://www.oxfamblogs.org/coldplay/?p=109
