A day in the park with Madge, Robbie and friends

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When we arrived in London we were astounded by the sheer volume of exciting and fabulous things there were to do in this vibrant city. At home in Adelaide it seems you can go months without anything too interesting coming along, but in London the problem seems to be there are so many things to do that they are often all on at the same time.

We were very excited by our tickets to U2 and we could hardly believe when the Live8 concert was announced, with a lineup that included the likes of U2, Madonna, Cold Play, The Who, Robbie Williams, Pink Floyd, Paul McCarteny, Sting, The Killers and Annie Lennox ... and the tickets were being given away, for free! The only drawback was you had to enter a draw to get them, which over 7 million people did to recieve the just 150,000 tickets that were available. Alas we were not lucky on this occasion but we did manage to get ourselves 2 of the 55,000 tickets made available to watch the concert via the big screen in the centre of Hyde Park.

Travelling in on the tube that day we were once again astounded by the scale of the events that happen in London. It was midday on Saturday but the trains were packed to the rafters. The atmosphere in the park was amazing and I can only imagine what it would have been like in front of the main stage. We stood and clapped, cheered, danced and sang until just before midnight when we ran to get on the last tube home - the concert having run over time by more than two hours leaving many people stranded and unable to get home. The Westminster Council even had to enable their 'emergency' plan of providing blankets and water to people forced to sleep in the park for the night. Only in London!

We were cold and exhausted by the end of the night but elated to have experienced a great moment in history. We saw Bono and U2 sing Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band with Sir Paul McCartney, English pop icon Robbie Williams whip the crowd into a frenzy and the amazingly fit and fiesty Madonna strut across the stage. We saw Pink Floyd's first performance as a band in 25 years and heard the beautiful and haunting voice of Annie Lennox. We also witnessed a mass of humanity - black, white, young, old, backpackers, students, families and business people coming together to support the worthy cause of helping the starving millions in Africa. The aim was not to provide them with short-term assistance in the form of donations, but suggestions and hope for how we could change the world to make it a fairer place and their place in it just a little more fulfilling and their lives a little easier.

The critics said it was all rhetoric, that it was nothing but a publicity stunt and not rooted in the real world. Unfortunately the G8 summit was overshadowed by the terrorist attacks in London, or who knows what the response might have been, but progress was made towards making trade fairer.

In any case what would the world be like without those people who dream big and believe they can make a difference and that anything is possible?

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Comments

[mum and dad m]

wow that was some concert. Glad you experienced it