Standing at the Lincoln Memorial waiting for the big concert to start. Quite crowded already.
645pm: Just got back from the all-day concert event. I was hoping to update this more in real time, but my phone was jammed pretty much all day — no texts, no internet, no calls — due to the amount of people I’d guess.
I would estimate there were a few hundred thousand people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial, down the length of the Reflecting Pool, and all the way up past the WWII Memorial and to the Washington Monument… but hard to judge and get the scope of it all when you’re a tiny speck in a sea of people. It was cold, but not overly freezing when packed in relatively tightly near all those people and when you’re rocking a sweet pair of Marmot capiline long underwear.
All in all, it was a pretty well run, show full of celebrity readings and rock stars playing well known songs. Quite mainstream acts for sure, but hard to deny the power of seeing U2 or Stevie Wonder or Bruce Springsteen or even Beyonce. There were also a lot of interesting pairings: Betty LaVette with Jon Bon Jovi, Herbie Hancock with will.i.am. and Sheryl Crow; Wonder with Usher and Shakira; Springsteen with Pete Seeger. Other acts included John Mellencamp, John Legend, James Taylor, Mary J. Blige.
Anyway, it was a cool thing to be a part of — to say one day ‘I was there;’ doesn’t happen very often. And then long after all the celebrities did their readings, President (elect) Obama came out do do a concise but moving speech. After all this time in the last few years of hearing him speak on television, there is something incredible about being there in person to hear him.
On a day filled with honoring Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln and Rosa Parks, aned especially in those historical surroundings where MLKJr. delivered his most memorable speech and in the shadow of Lincoln, it was hard not to get caught up in the epic moment.
Tuesday looks to have even more crazy crowds, cold weather and long lines, but if Obama’s official Inaugural Address is anything like today’s speech, it should be well worth it.
I will be adding some more (crapy) photos I took today on our Flickr page, but until then here are a few places to find more:
Read a fuller description on NYTimes and see a photo gallery.
More from NYTimes’ Caucus blog. And another about the crazy Obama market that opened up all along 17th street.
See the PIC Flickr photo stream and live blog.
HBO looks like it might be offering chances to stream the event on their site.
A few other notes:
Location: We were situated on the south side of the Reflecting Pool (left hand side of stage) about 1\4 of the way back. The above photo is more or less where we were standing, so while relatively close, still pretty freaking far away. I think the VIPs were sitting in chairs up on the makeshift stage on the steps.
Sound: Besides not having the speakers closest to us working during the invocation at the beginning, the sound was pretty durn good for everything else. A little noise here and there but good.
Security: Easy and fast to get through.
Food lines: Painfully long lines, but orderly and polite* for the most part.
*I did almost get in fight with some dude in the general crowd near our spot, when I told him to watch out for small child he was in danger of barreling over as he pushed through the crowd. He then started getting in my face and I had to talk him down from furious anger at making such an obvious suggestion: ‘I have no fight with you — Just watch out.’