The performance that really made it for me – Bruce singing The Rising:

Sublime.

I don’t go off-topic on this blog too often, but this seemed worth recording somewhere. I’m sitting listening to the concert from the Lincoln Memorial, the concert to celebrate President Obama’s Inaugural.

From a few hours before the concert, Bruce and Pete warming up for their performance, accompanied by a gospel choir.

I was born in England, and now live in Israel. Although I lived in the US for many years, I never became a citizen (no reason particularly, I just didn’t) … yet I feel a profound sense of history being made. The thought that a black man could be elected President of the US was unfathomable in the Sixties, when I was born, and even in 2008 it seemed an unattainable summit.

Yet it happened. Millions of Americans put their hopes and trust in Barack Obama, and today the National Mall is swarmed with people listening to a celebration of an historic moment. The concert is coming to a close as I type this, and I just listened to Bruce Springsteen and the 89 year old Pete Seeger lead the crowd in a singalong of “This Land is Your Land. What an extraordinary day.

Got an email from Barry Schwartz yesterday letting me know that SMX Israel won’t be taking place this month as hoped. The plan is to postpone it till the summer … given the current economic outlook, coupled with what’s going on in Gaza, I understand the decision, frustrating though it is.