Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, Sting and other top performers entertained 81,000 people this week in Budapest, Hungary, in an eight-hour concert organized by Amnesty International that mixed music and politics.
"You have the right to be free," folk singer Tracy Chapman told the capacity crowd at Nep Stadium, many of whom came from across the Soviet bloc for the concert. "Tell the government to support your rights."Gabriel, speaking in Hungarian he learned for the concert, urged Romania to respect the rights of ethnic Hungarians.
A song by Sting, "Set Them Free," dedicated to children in South African jails, was especially well received.
Springsteen, who played for nearly two hours, was joined by spectators in singing his opening number, "Born In The U.S.A."
The concert was the only Soviet bloc stop on the six-week global tour and was unusual because it was sponsored by a Western human rights group.
Spectators included Soviet government spokesman Gennady Gerasimov and Janos Berecz, chief ideologist of the Hungarian Communist Party.