Oxfam America Tour Blog: 7 August 2008
From WikiColdplay
What’s that I hear? .. (silence)
The quiet hum of a computer. The muffled bleep of a printer. The distant mingled voices of the office. Grey clouds outside and the smell of freshly brewed tea. It’s all very different sights, sounds and smells to life on the road. No radios, no lines of cables on the floor, no waiting crowds filling arenas.. Most of the crew, myself included, have returned home after the first leg of the tour. Only a select few crew members have travelled on with Coldplay to Japan, for the two dates at Summer Sonic Festival. If you happen to be at the festival, why not check out Oxfam Japan, after catching the headline set..
It’s time to re-charge batteries (and not just those belonging to the radio sets). I’m exhausted. My eyes feel like crutons. It’s past home-time in the office, but it feels like lunch-time. From what I hear, we are all going to need our rest. Europe is going to be intense. From Spain to Germany, Coldplay are popular, wherever they go. Oxfam will be there all the way. The tour left North America screaming for an encore, with two final shows in Washington and Boston. My views of which were a walk around the block, peering through the bus window, and of course, inside the organs of two more huge sports arenas. Boston TD Banknorth Garden, the home of Boston Celtics, and of their first NBA Championship triumph since 1986. Oxfam/Coldplay volunteer and outgoing intern with Oxfam America, Jack, was fairly pleased that Coldplay were playing at the home of the Celtics, on his last day, across the road from the Oxfam office! Not a bad way to go out.
One fan signed up at the Oxfam table with the Make Trade Fair = symbol on his hands, and said to me “I heard about Oxfam from Coldplay, I wan’t to get involved with your work, how can I help?” It’s so powerful to hear people saying these things time and again at the concerts. So many people have been inspired by Coldplay’s support for Oxfam.
Chris Martin himself once said, whilst visiting Ghana.. “Everybody coming together to make one loud voice, is the only way that things get changed”. When you hear the volume of that voice singing the chorus of ‘Yellow’ each night there is a Coldplay show, wherever they are around the world, it makes you realise the noise we can all make with Oxfam too. There is no point in us all sitting behind our quietly humming computers and just thinking about it. Add your voice now.
I am looking forward to a rest, to walking a few streets I know and catching up with myself and those i’ve missed. There is a part of me already looking forward to getting out there again. Touring the world and hearing that loud voice get louder.
http://www.oxfamblogs.org/coldplay/?p=40
