35 Jahre Mauerfall - I've played with hundreds of other musicians in Berlin at Brandenburg Gate - How did it feel?

SONG START

Intro

On the night of November 9, 2024, I've played bass with hundreds of other musicians in Berlin, in front of the famous Brandenburg Gate, for more than 100,000 people.

It was the celebration of the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, that happened on that day in 1989. This marked the beginning of the end of the separation between East and West Berlin, East and West Germany, and eventually the collapse of the USSR.

The concert marked the climax of the event, that also had an exhibition of drawings along a 4km path where the wall used to be. Also along that path, 5 stages were built to accommodate the 700 musicians who played songs about freedom, songs about the wall, and songs of East Berlin bands. The event was also broadcast by rbb.

In total, the organization claims that over 500,000 people visited the 4km open air boulevard, while it's estimated that over 100,000 watched the concert that happened at night.

But how did I end up there?

🎞 rbb

Verse

The musical part of the celebration was powered by a project called Rockin'1000. It started as a way to bring attention to Foo Fighters in 2015, so they went to Italy on their tour. It worked, but the project continued. Now the 1000-member band has played in stadiums all over the world, including São Paulo, Leiria, Paris, and now Berlin.

For this concert, "only" 700 musicians were selected. I've applied as a bass player through their website, with few expectations, and some days later I got accepted. It was thrilling. Then the rehearsal phase began. One month to learn all the songs by heart.

Chorus

We were going to play 7 songs selected by the Kulturprojekte Berlin. So Rockin'1000 provided the material to practice: music sheets for my part, a clicktrack and a video tutorial by our instrument guru, Biaggio. The songs had a simpler arrangement, suited or playing by many people at once, but they were great. Who wouldn't enjoy playing Heroes, by David Bowie, in the city that he wrote the song, near the studio where he recorded it?

But for me, the surprise was some of the german songs. "z.B. Susann", by City, was a powerful ode to (East) Berlin. "Tage wie diese", by Die Toten Hosen, although a little overplayed, when playing for a crowd it really makes an impact.

As I learned from other participants, the only certainty that you have in R1000 is that things are going to change, and you have to be prepared for it. So 2 weeks before the concert, another song came in: "S.O.S.", by Silly. It had a somewhat difficult bass line, so I had to practice more to get it done. And days before, came an intro song, short, but again more practice, plus one of the songs had the arrangement changed. That's fine, in the IT industry we are used to changing.

I mentioned there were 5 stages, right? They were: Futurium, Marie-Elizabeth-Lüders-Haus (part of Bundestag), Brandenburger Tor, Potsdamer Platz and Checkpoint Charlie. We were assigned our stages by Rockin'1000, and my surprise was that I was assigned to the main stage, Brandenburger Tor. Anxiety started to kick in.

Bridge

The day before the concert was for rehearsals and preparations. People from different places, states and countries came together in Uber Arena for our first collective rehearsal. Yes, Uber Arena (previously known as Mercedes-Benz Arena, and O2 World), one of the biggest stages we have in Berlin, where I've watched Tool, Roger Waters, The Cure, Placebo, and now I've also played there.

What is remarkable is that we all rehearsed separately, but were able to pull it all together thanks to the clicktrack and the competence of Daniel Plentz, the music director (he's also a fellow Brazilian). So the rehearsals went really well, and we even recorded the tracks.

We gathered at 8:00 at Brandenburger Tor to prepare for the concert, which would take place at 20:00. It's a patience game, but we were treated very well, with a backstage inside Axica Convention Center, a beautiful building at Pariser Platz. There was coffee, food and a space to rest and talk. We set up our space, and only in the afternoon we rehearsed for sound check and, for the first time, the syncing of all stages. There was already a considerable crowd in front of the stage. We rehearsed some of the songs and left.

Chorus

At 19:30, it was time to enter the stage. Anxiety was starting to hit. I played in concerts before, but way smaller. The sensation of being in front of thousands of people, that were there to see you playing, was spectacular and at the same time terrifying. At least I had other 699 musicians to share this feeling. There were some interventions in the beginning and in between songs, so we had to be completely silent and static. At the same time, it was cold (around 2ºC), so we had to keep moving and our hands warm.

📷 Edi Fortini

But soon the cold went away, due to the adrenaline and the pleasure of finally playing these songs. And it was a fantastic sensation. Everything went well, and it all went too fast, just under an hour.

As we exited the stage, people were asking for more, but unfortunately, it was not possible. But here is the full televised concert.

Outro

Berlin is a historic city. I'm glad I could be a tiny part of that history.

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