Sword Beach D Day rock concert. Disrespectful?

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

You may or may not agree with this petitioner that to hold a rock concert on Sword Beach on the anniversary of D Day next year is disrespectful. If so this petition campaigns against it.

See here

[Captain Colonial]

Of course it’s disrespectful to hold it there ANY year on 6th June.  Ridiculous.

[Peter (Monty)]

A devil's advocate could argue that we fought the war to preserve the freedom we still enjoy, to have concerts and whatever else. And there's no rule saying that a memorial has to be a solemn affair. Music is very good at bringing people together, like Live Aid and during the Vietnam war. 75,000 people gathered in one place holding a minute's silence halfway through a gig could be quite something.

Having said that, I think the chances of this not being tasteless are extremely low, so probably a bad idea.

[Captain Colonial]

If it was a concert with 40s music and a flyover commemorating D-Day...maybe.  Maybe.  But definitely not for this.  Plenty of places to hold rock concerts without the historical significance.

[TAFKARM]

No one deserves to have to see Sting in concert. 

[Rory's Dad]

Forgive and forget is what I'd say... 

[corsechris]

It’s a tough one isn’t it. Yes, I get the point that this sort of freedom is exactly what it was all about, but conversely, it doesn’t hurt to show some respect for those who gave their all. It does rather smack of dancing on a grave.

personally, I think I tend toward the ‘find another venue’ line.  Yes, we should forgive, but I don’t think we should ever forget.

 

JMV

[DamperMan]

I think the dead would rather be remembered positively than forgotten on stone plaques.  If as long as people are reminded that their freedoms are only what they are due to the sacrifice of others.   The proceeds go towards helping others who suffered to protect us...     my objection if it’s organised just to line the organisers and artists pockets.    Which saddly is probably the truth! 

 

[pistonbroke]

As noted above , nothing to do with rememberance just another excuse for a big commercial enterprise , would be OK by me if ALL the proceeds were donated to veterans and families .

I voted against,  although I strongly believe these voting sites have ulterior motives other than the case in point , more in the way of collecting personal data for commercial reasons  

 

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Aside from what’s already been said.

I don think I’ve visited Sword beach, though having done a rapid fire tour the other week of various beeches and museums, I could be wrong. 

However, having visited Utah beech last year, with its very impressive museum, memorials, and deeply moving in-shore memorial art(?) it was quite a shock this year to see, outside of the memorials themselves, how mundane some of the beeches actually are now, and how in many ways, they are just beeches again. Places of fun, enjoyment and kids paddling in the water.

As even one museum itself said, in this part of France, it’s impossible to go anyware without tripping over a memorial, moving location or a museum of some kind. So if people are going to move on with life, there will always be these clashes. The only time I really find it objectionable is when the past events themselves are used as promotional tools for strictly commercial enterprises.

[Exitus]

Difficult one. I'm a soldier and until very recently was involved in taking recruits on trips to Normandy to study the invasions.

It's always felt strange to me that the beaches are now often just that - seeing people sunbathing on Omaha beach, or playing games on Gold has never sat well with me. Then again, they are beautiful beaches, and there is no reason for people to not be allowed to have fun on them. Normandy also heavily relies on tourism, so it's not hugely surprising that the locals want people to turn up and use them.

That said, holding the concert on the 6th is pretty disrespectful. I have no issue with it being on the beach itself, but not on the 6th when many veterans will be there, and memorial ceremonies taking place along the coast.

[Steve (sdh2903)]

3 minutes ago, Exitus said:

It's always felt strange to me that the beaches are now often just that - seeing people sunbathing on Omaha beach, or playing games on Gold. Then again, they are beautiful beaches, and there is no reason for people to not be allowed to have fun on them. Normandy also heavily relies on tourism, so it's not hugely surprising that the locals want people to turn up and use them.

That said, holding the concert on the 6th is pretty disrespectful. I have no issue with it being on the beach itself, but not on the 6th when many veterans will be there, and memorial ceremonies taking place along the coast.

Agree 100%. Our vets fought to keep our freedom to do just things as use and enjoy the beaches etc. However no way on that date. Totally disrespectful. 

Remember the uproar when top gear and ken block were doing donuts near the cenotaph. And that wasn't even on a significant date in history.

[Captain Colonial]

1 hour ago, Steve (sdh2903) said:

Remember the uproar when top gear and ken block were doing donuts near the cenotaph. And that wasn't even on a significant date in history.

And it wasn’t actually that near it either, at least 150 yards away from it, but the camera angle foreshortened the visual perspective.

[jeff oakley]

To my mind it is wrong to hold the concert there, plenty of other beaches to use, but let's be honest doing this has got them huge publicity and do the young of today care? 

History to many is what happened on love island last week and they cannot imagine the horror of war on that scale. Hollywood has trivialised war, it is only fought by good looking people and CGI. We saw Dunkirk last year, with Harry Stiles utter tosh which when compared with the 1958 film Dunkirk with John Mills, which had actors who looked like your average man in the street.

Beaches should be used for recreation by families, as all of these in Normandy have significant monuments so no one can forget, as a backdrop for a rock concert should not be sanctioned.