#coldplayberlin

Oxfam On Tour volunteer Sylvia Galati regularly campaigns at concerts across Germany with Oxfam Deutschland. She joined us to bring the Stand As One campaign to Coldplay fans in Germany - and tells us why it was such an amazing experience!

After Jan Delay, the Beatsteaks and the Editors it’s now the fourth time I’m joining Oxfam on Tour as a volunteer activist. With Coldplay I once again got to experience that music is a real door opener when it comes to inspiring people to advocate for others, and in the case of Oxfam’s STAND AS ONE campaign those “others” are the 65 million people who have had to flee their homes due to conflict and persecution.

I work at a school for refugee children. My students are kids, who have fled their homelands to leave the violence they had to endure behind. Their dreams are humble – almost all of them revolve around a life of security without fear. They wish for nothing more than to finally be able to attend a school. 

Entering the arena, I realized I wasn’t the only person who thought standing as one with people on the move is important; over the course of the evening over 500 Coldplay fans supported our action! That really knocked my socks off ‘cause fans go to a concert to celebrate, not to take part in a campaign. But like the band - who have been supporting Oxfam for over 14 years now - their fans also supported Oxfam, this time by supporting a campaign for a cause they believe in. This motivated me to even go out and continue to promote our action in the heavy rain that had finally caught up with us during the evening!

The most colourful concert of my life

When the first chords of the concert began to play all of this was long forgotten. Because this engagement was not only the wettest but also the most colourful and beautiful concert of my life, and we got to experience it super close to the stage. After the first song I thought to myself that the band must have already used all their special effects, combining a stunning video animation, confetti cannons and lighted Xylobands which bathed the entire stadium in various colours matching the rhythm of the music. Yet as it turned out the action-packed night had only just begun…!