On September 23, 1997, the Irish band U2 held a concert in Sarajevo. Almost 45,000 people enjoyed the concert, and today they are talking about this spectacle with a melancholy.
“I think that all that war energy, a bad one, and all the horror that we accumulated in those 4 years, came out at that concert, but it came out in something positive, and I think that it is one of the experiences that I will never forget,” said Boba Lizdek.
The concert of this famous Irish band took place on the stadium “Kosevo” 20 years ago, which made them one of the first famous performers that held a concert in the capital city of BiH after the end of the war. On their repertoire was the song “Miss Sarajevo”, which was devoted to the Miss BiH Pageant that was held in the besieged Sarajevo in 1993.
“I have been to many concerts in my life because I belong to that lucky generation that listened to rock and grew up on good music, but that feeling of flying… we were jumping so much that I thought that we are not touching the ground at one point,” added Lizdek.
Bands Sikter and Protest performed as a pre-band for the Irish band. To Enes Zlatar, as he says, it marked the end of suffering and agony in which BiH was for 4 years.
To many people, memories are the only thing that they have from this concert. Those who kept their tickets, pictures or some memories that linked them to this event gave them to the Mixer House in Sarajevo to share their memories on that great event.
“We are organizing a photo exhibition or a memorial exhibition on that concert that was held on Kosevo, exactly 20 years ago. The exhibition is scheduled for 7 PM, which will be followed by the concert of Real U2 Tribute Band,” said Stihomir Klepic from the Mixer House.
Although Bono and the others wanted to gift this humanitarian concert to Sarajevo, without large organization, a show and visual spectacle, the organizers wanted the concert in Sarajevo not to be different from concerts in other world metropolises. The concert gathered people from all parts of the former Yugoslavia and the world, and for many people, it marked the beginning of normalization of the state of our country
(Source: N1)
