Oxfam UK Tour Blog: 7 December 2008
From WikiColdplay
Warm up room.
I’m sitting on a road case, which says C O L D P L A Y, in spray paint across the top. On my right, is a label which says ‘Coldplay. Viva. Viva La Vida 2008/2009. Location: Warm-up room. Truck: Backline. Contents: Piano.’ It’s the ‘Dressy Piano’ case, ready for the band to warm-up for another show on their world tour tonight. Today, we have made it to Liverpool’s Echo Arena. It sits proudly overlooking the Docks, and this famous city of music. It’s also European Capital of Culture this year. A week today, the hosts of the venue will be Sue Barker and Gary Lineker for the annual BBC Sports Personality awards ceremony. Tonight, the hosts will be Will, Jonny, Chris and Guy. Greeting people as they enter the venue, will be another 20 amazing Oxfam volunteers, full of energy and ideas for people, to get involved with Oxfam’s work around the world.
Reflecting on last night. It was a great 2008 debut in Scotland for the band. The long wait for those fans seemed to have paid off. It was a cracking atmosphere. I’m hoping for more of the same tonight. There is always the chance of another group of record breakers..
http://www.oxfamblogs.org/coldplay/?p=126
1 in 4 at the Echo.
The capacity of the Liverpool Echo Arena is 8000 tonight. 2044 of them made the Health and Education For All pledge, in just under 3 hours, thanks to our incredible Oxfam campaigners. For many of them, it was their first time volunteering with Oxfam. That’s a pretty good first time campaigning, by any account.. 1 in 4 signed up. Wow.
Chris Martin is currently singing ‘The Hardest Part’. The volunteers effort tonight has certainly ensured that Liverpool is not the hardest part of this tour for me. I think it’s great when so many people join in. That’s like the whole floor area of the arena standing up at once, in unison, against poverty. All those people believing that governments should do more to provide people with their basic rights to good quality healthcare and education. Imagine if you just took away all the running taps, plasters, first aid workers, and hygienic cooking areas in this venue. The show probably wouldn’t happen. If nobody had access to an education, there might not even be anyone working here. But they are. Why couldn’t the same thing happen anywhere? Good quality and affordable healthcare and education are some of the things many countries’ prosperity is built on. It’s not a new idea. Oxfam believes it’s about time everyone had the same chance.
2044 people can make a lot of noise if they want to. When joined by all the tens of thousands of others, who have signed up with Oxfam on this ‘Viva’ Coldplay tour, in 2008, the noise is loud and clear. Change is possible. One person can make a big difference.
Just look at those 4 people on stage singing the last chorus of ‘Viva La Vida’. They wrote a song. Now people are singing it even when they have stopped. That’s quite a powerful thing. When people join together on a cause they can be even more powerful. That’s what governments need. They need to know that people care and want to help change the world.
Who knows.. All those people screaming for an encore in there could be the tipping point.
I can hear the volume has dipped inside. ‘Green Eyes’ is now being sung out in the arena. I still can’t quite get over 1 in 4. Incredible stuff. We only had 20 volunteers.. Imagine if we’d had 80!
http://www.oxfamblogs.org/coldplay/?p=127
