Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
My Profile
Top News
Reuters top ten news stories delivered to your inbox each day.
Subscribe
You are here:
Home
>
News
>
Entertainment
>
Article
Home
Business & Finance
News
U.S.
Politics
International
Technology
Entertainment
Film
Music
People
Television
Arts
Industry
Sports
Lifestyle
Oddly Enough
Health
Science
Special Coverage
Video
Pictures
Your View
The Great Debate
Blogs
Weather
Reader Feedback
Do More With Reuters
RSS
Widgets
Mobile
Podcasts
Newsletters
Your View
Make Reuters My Homepage
Partner Services
CareerBuilder
Affiliate Network
Professional Products
Support (Customer Zone)
Reuters Media
Financial Products
About Thomson Reuters
In Berlin, music fans build a new history
Fri Nov 6, 2009 3:06am EST
Email | Print |
Share
| Reprints | Single Page
[-]
Text
[+]
By Mimi Turner
BERLIN (Hollywood Reporter) - Twenty-year-old Emilia was desperately trying to get a ticket to the MTV Europe Music Awards Thursday, shivering outside the O2 World stadium on a chill grey evening in what used to be East Berlin.
"I've come all the way from Portugal with my friends. Do you know of anyone who could help us?" she queried, her youthful voice rising with a sense of desperation.
When it was suggested that she head to the Brandenburg Gate, where U2 was playing a free set for 10,000 people to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall, she seemed unimpressed.
"But I really want to see Jay-Z and Beyonce," she said. "And I love Katy Perry."
Emilia neatly illustrates a point about Berlin's recent history.
While one generation prepares to commemorate the 20-year anniversary Monday of an emotional and political landmark for all who lived through it, a whole new generation has grown up for whom the past is ancient history.
"Most of our fans were born after the wall came down," said Bill Roedy, president of MTV International.
In many ways, the MTV story has been part of a larger technological evolution that, in its own way, was an agent of political change. The launch of the Astra satellite in the late '80s brought a free-to-air signal to East Germany. Together with cable systems opening up in other parts of Eastern Europe, the new television opportunities meant that for the first time the homes behind the Iron Curtain could see what they were missing.
Adverts for the glossy lifestyle and the wealth of choice enjoyed by their Western counterparts played a part in driving a demand for change.
"We were intertwined with all of this," said Roedy. "You can credit a whole lot of people with the fall of the wall: You can credit Gorbachev, you can credit the border guards for not shooting, you can credit a whole lot things. But one reason you can add to all the other reasons is technology."
Across town, U2 sought to "deliver a love letter to this incredible city" from the Pariser Platz, an area that two decades ago was part of the eerily empty no-man's land between the two halves of a divided city.
The band opened its performance with "One," a song written to symbolize the city's reunification.
"Twenty years ago this week we were playing in a studio in Berlin, and as this beautiful country was coming together we were struggling as a band, but we wrote this one song," said guitarist the Edge. "Berlin, this one is to you."
Beneath a freezing night sky, the band also played "Beautiful Day" and an electrifying version of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" with a special appearance by Jay-Z that sent the masses wild.
But the real star of the show was the six-pillared Brandenburg Gate, light-washed with illuminated projections of the Stars and Stripes, the Hammer and Sickle and mounted missiles, against a backdrop of hundreds of criss-crossing lasers lighting up the sky. Continued...
View article on single page
Share:
Del.icio.us
Digg
Mixx
Yahoo!
Facebook
LinkedIn
Next Article:
No decision yet on Oprah Winfrey move to cable
Also On Reuters
Full Coverage: The Route to Recovery
Central banks lead subtle shift away from dollar
Common office experiences can destroy brainpower
More Entertainment News
Hollywood calls on Clooney for holiday movie cheer
Beyonce nets three prizes at MTV awards in Berlin
| Video
"Golden Girls" star McClanahan has heart surgery
Muhammad Ali's former brand maker takes on opera
Carrie Underwood on track to top U.S. pop chart
More Entertainment News...
More News
Witness: The news conference that toppled the Wall
Wednesday, 4 Nov 2009 04:33pm EST
WITNESS: The day that changed my life
Wednesday, 4 Nov 2009 09:09am EST
TIMELINE:The rise and fall of the Berlin Wall
Wednesday, 4 Nov 2009 09:09am EST
Berlin holds MTV awards, 20 years after fall of Wall
Tuesday, 3 Nov 2009 06:40am EST
Editor's Choice
Slideshow
A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours. Slideshow
Most Popular on Reuters
Articles
Video
Death toll hits 13 in Fort Hood shooting spree | Video
Flu shots for Wall Street stirs ire in New York
Senate panel approves Democratic climate bill
Underdog role no concern for Cotto against Pacquiao
Business Books: The human brain in the workplace
Pakistani forces enter Taliban headquarters
Hollywood calls on Clooney for holiday movie cheer
Death toll from U.S. base shooting up to 13
U.S. jobless rate hits 10.2 percent
Central banks lead subtle shift away from dollar
Most Popular Articles RSS Feed
Video
Shooting rampage at Texas army base
Video shows Fort Hood aftermath
Shooting rampage at Texas army base
Fort Hood shooter alive, named
Japan's high-tech cemeteries
Mongolia eyes horse meat amid H1N1
Unemployed in West Virginia
Healthcare fight heats up
EU offers file-sharers protection
China pushes peaceful military
Most Popular Videos RSS Feed
Reuters.com:
Help and Contact Us |
Advertise With Us |
Mobile |
Newsletters |
RSS |
Labs |
Journalism Handbook |
Archive |
Site Index |
Video Index
Thomson Reuters Corporate:
Copyright |
Disclaimer |
Privacy |
Professional Products |
Professional Products Support |
About Thomson Reuters |
Careers
International Editions:
Africa |
Arabic |
Argentina |
Brazil |
Canada |
China |
France |
Germany |
India |
Italy |
Japan |
Latin America |
Mexico |
Russia |
Spain |
United Kingdom |
United States
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.