It’s West Berlin, 8th June 1982, and a ragged-throated Mick Jagger is more than ready for some post-show refreshment. Staring out at the mesmerised crowd assembled at the city’s Olympiapark Waldbühne amphitheatre at the conclusion of an emotive, hit-spanning set, Jagger was surely conscious that playing here, in the still-divided Berlin, meant more than a usual show.
For the Berliners in the seats of this Nazi-built open-air stage, this wasn’t just an entertainment spectacle. Rock shows of the magnitude of those put on by The Rolling Stones were pointing toward a liberated future. Prefiguring that day, at the decade’s conclusion, when the Wall finally fell. A day when the people of this detached city could come together as one.
