Oxfam Tour Blog: 19 March 2009

From WikiColdplay

New Zealand’s 6 year drought is over

No I don’t mean the early March storms that blew across Aotearoa, I mean the Coldplay drought! It’s been 6 long years since the band plucked a single note on these shores and tonight’s sold out crowd at Vector Arena in Auckland didn’t let them forget it for a minute.

The evening started off with our posse of Oxfam campaigners, 20 strong, heading downtown on busses, trains, bikes and feet to tell people about our work…and to rock. I’m happy to report we did both.

Big ups to the band for providing some great autographed gear. That was the inspiration for our text-to-win contest. And while we were giving people a chance to score a signed Asian umbrella that Chris used on stage, a drum skin or a tour book, we had a great opportunity to talk to thousands of them about Oxfam’s work to deliver clean, safe water to communities in the developing world.

In the unlikely event that you were at the show but didn’t happen to spot any of us with the 20 litre containers on our heads, highlighting the fact that way too many people still have to walk for hours each day to fetch dirty water for their families, fear not – you can still enter the contest by going to www.oxfam.org.nz/coldplay.

After sufficiently getting the word out, we were lucky to catch a few songs from Kiwi soulstress (and Oxfam supporter) Hollie Smith, followed by the atmospheric feedback of Mercury Rev. A couple of crowd surges and one break dancing stage-sweeper later, the crowd went ballistic as the lights dropped and Coldplay walked out, sparklers afire. The unifying force of this band was obvious as I looked around—from 13-year old kids to 70-year old grandparents, with a cultural mix as diverse as New Zealand itself—all cheering, dancing and singing along together.

Big thanks to Chris, Will, Johnny and Guy. Not only do you keep coming up with undeniably catchy songs, your social conscience continues to be a beacon for millions of people waking up to the fact that injustice is not inevitable. It’s an honour to work with you and everyone we talked to tonight so that we can all create a fairer world together.

See you tomorrow!

Blogging from the New Zealand Coldplay shows is Oxfam Communications Coordinator and appreciator of guitar and piano driven rock, Jason Garman

http://www.oxfamblogs.org/coldplay/?p=164