Inaugural Weekend Part 1 – The Concert

After watching Senator Barack Obama win over Iowa, after countless hours spent following election coverage on CNN, every debate, dissection of every debate by political analysts and after that momentous night of November 4th… there was no way that I was missing the inauguration day! I was determined to be there, rain, shine or even bitter cold would not have stopped me.

A few weeks before the inauguration day I found out that there was an event being organized at the Lincoln Memorial on Jan 18th. And as the day grew nearer, I found out that it was going to be a concert and read with excitement the long list of awesomely awesome artists... all right all right, I was only focussed on Bono! But wait, not just that, the president elect was going to enjoy the concert as well. Which meant, I had to plan for another day of standing in the cold.

It was little past noon when I headed out to the “ We Are One” concert on Sunday. V chose to stay at home and complete some work (whatever!). Fortunately, the metro ride was not as bad as I thought it would be. However, when I walked out of the Foggy Bottom stop, all I could see was a sea of people… I just followed the crowd and taking in the excitement. It almost felt like I was in some kind of carnival! It also reminded me of famous pilgrimage spots in India, Tirupati to be precise, except that this was an orderly crowd.

There was tight security all around, including army, regular cops and crowd control officers. We were a bunch of really well behaved people on the roads… until we were stopped at one point when the officer told us that the concert grounds have reached its capacity and that she can’t let us move forward... Really? Did she think that would work? It was one officer against about a hundred of us, so you decide who won.

By the time I got to Lincoln Memorial, the area around reflecting pool was bursting with people. They must've had some strong barricades surrounding the pool, withstanding all the people leaning on them!

I was happy to get a spot that was far away from the memorial... so far away that I could see just dots near the memorial. The plus side was that it was not very crowded (at that point) and I was right in front of the JumboTron. It was close to 2 p.m. and all I had to do was wait…

The place was packed before the concert started and I must mention that people were so courteous, there was a lady taller than me who let me get in front of her just so my view won’t be blocked!

I could feel my toes getting numb and the slightest of breeze made me shiver and just when it was beginning to get uncomfortable… they announced the arrival of Obamas and Bidens and before I knew it the concert started… I didn’t have time to focus on my numb toes or my freezing fingers any more. The show was on and it was GRAND! I couldn’t believe that in the span of two hours, I got to watch performances by U2, Stevie Wonder, Bon Jovi, Mary J Blige, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Bruce Springsteen, John Legend… and many many more artists… and got to see actors like Denzel Washington, Tom Hanks, Jamie Foxx to mention a few. It was one helluva performance! And I don’t think I’d ever witness any other event with such diverse and fantastic and well-known performers.

We moved to the beat of Reggae when Will.i.am and Sheryl Crow sang Bob Marley’s “One Love One Heart.. Lets get together and feel alright”.

We laughed and cheered uncontrollably when Jamie Foxx imitated Obama.

We watched on the big screen when they showed Obama enjoying and following the beats of “Bye Bye Miss American Pie”

And we all sang along as Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen sang “This Land Belongs To You and Me”

Beyonce and Shakira gave a rather mellowed down performance with no b**ty shakes (obviously!)

Towards the end of the concert, there were people balancing themselves on top of trees to get a decent view of the Memorial!

As I was heading home, I see a missed call from V and apparently he had hiked up to the mall to watch the concert a little after me! So much for his work! Well, thanks to all the TV networks that kept playing the footage of the mall area and the throngs of people gathered there, the man felt that it would be really stupid to just stay home! I was tempted to say “I am always right, you should’ve come with me quietly” but I was too cold and weary to even give him a nasty look.

It was no surprise that the metro stops had what looked like a mile long line… we decided to skip the lines and warm ourselves with a cup of coffee. We sipped our coffee and chatted with some Kenyan men, some of them who came all the way from Nairobi, sitting next to us. Their smiles said it all!
And yes, we reached home just in time to see the whole thing on TV. Call me mad, but just being there wouldn’t do for me. I had to see that on TV!

Note: For anyone who missed the concert, you can see it on HBO , Jan 24th at 6 P.M. EST or Jan 25th at 3:30 P.M EST