U2 and me

A few months ago, I walked past a poster advertising the Joshua Tree Tour by U2. I thought to myself: „I'm about to turn 50 and I've never been to a big concert in a stadium in my life. It would actually be nice to have experienced that...“ My biggest concert to date was a few thousand people at Mercedes Sosa in a hall - many, many years ago.

And so yesterday I went to the first big concert of my life in the pouring rain. And I found it uniquely beautiful. Because I didn't know whether standing for several hours was the right thing for me, I treated myself to a seat... in practice, I ended up standing most of the time... because there is music that you can't listen to sitting still.

I was touched by the concert. I'll probably never forget the U2 version of „singing in the rain“....

I was touched by the fact that the musicians were so relaxed. Even though it was of course a huge show with everything that goes with it, it never seemed as if they needed to put on a show. They made good music. But they moved to it in a pleasantly unagitated way. The videos in the background were also much quieter than expected.

A fade-in showed a refugee Syrian girl who was asked. „If you could speak in front of thousands of people - what would you say to them?“ Your answer: „Don't stop dreaming. I also dream that one day I can be a lawyer to help people who need help!“ Instead of formulating things in their own words, the musicians gave a teenage girl a platform to share her dreams with the world in her mother tongue (with translation).

While U2 played the next song, a huge portrait of the girl on a banner was passed through the rows and at the same time pictures of a huge refugee camp in Jordan were shown - and the first three articles of our constitution. I was touched by the fact that they gave a person space, a voice...and reminded us strongly and directly of our humanity and responsibility.

Then the lead singer Bono spoke about the fact that women often suffer the most in conflicts and military disputes. They mentioned the young Pakistani Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who was celebrating her 20th birthday that day, and asked all visitors to join her, Happy Birthday to sing for them.

They then honoured the women in their lives. Namely their own four wives. But then - while they played the next song - they also honoured the women in their world, our world, who had made a difference. They said that there are countless women whose names nobody knows. But they didn't just want to HIStory, but also HERtell a story. To do this, they blended the portraits and names of many courageous and strong, artistic and clever people. World changerSophie Scholl, Marie Curie, Anne Frank, but also Angela Merkel and Christine Lagarde - I didn't recognise many of the names of the African and Asian women on the screen.

But when I saw the many faces of all the different women, tears ran down my face. I asked myself why this touched me so much. I myself have rarely experienced being treated with contempt by men (or women) because I am a woman. That was probably not the reason. But I have also rarely experienced strong, successful, pithy men respecting and honouring women in the way that U2 did last night.

This morning I imagined what it will be like in heaven. I guess there will be a big concert there too. Whether God is more into Handels Halleluja or U2 remains to be seen. But I can imagine,

that will visualise the faces of all the women (and men) who lived their lives as best they could and - where it was in their power to do so - made a positive difference in the world.

So last night was a little taste of heaven for me.