Remember.

Remember what those first few days and weeks of the COVID-19 outbreak were like. It’s been three whole years since the coronavirus outbreak was officially declared a pandemic and the world came to an abrupt stop.

By April 2020, we were all deep in the thick of it. Friends and families had been separated under lockdown for weeks; trafficless streets and highways felt eerily post-apocalyptic; grocery store shelves lay empty; rising infections, deaths, and an unclear r-naught dominated the news; global healthcare systems were nearing collapse or collapsing despite the tireless efforts of frontline workers; and societal fissures became full-on amputations as differing ideologies clashed. Meanwhile, no one knew exactly how bad things were going to get. Nothing was certain anymore as the future took on an ominous shade.

Italy was being particularly ravaged by this time. Hospitals were overrun and the mandatory closure of all non-essential industries, along with a complete lockdown of the country in mid-March, had left the perennially-busy vias of la Repubblica virtually deserted.

It was under this shroud of uncertainty that the great Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli performed “Music For Hope” in an empty Duomo de Milano on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020. The 30-minute concert was livestreamed across the globe offering a message of love, healing, and hope through music when it was needed most. Nearly three million viewers tuned in live, and within 24 hours the concert had reached close to 30 million views. I tuned in alone from my living room.

Bocelli would sing four songs inside Il Duomo accompanied by only an organist before making his way out to the cathedral steps for a final hymn. What followed was a rendition of Amazing Grace that will forever be emblazoned in my brain as the soundtrack of that time—perfectly encapsulating the wistful yet hopeful spirit in all of us.

There were many elements that made the live stream performance so moving, but concluding the concert with Amazing Grace was the work of genius. Hearing Bocelli sing the iconic refrain from John Newton’s hymn given his personal story—Bocelli was born with congenital glaucoma that reduced his eyesight before he became completely blind after a football accident at the age of 12—further dampened already welling eyes.

I will remain forever thankful to the production crew and Maestro Bocelli for the gift of this concert.

See the whole concert if you like or go directly to minute 18:12, crank up the volume, and imagine yourself watching this live along with millions of others across the globe in 2020. I feel strongly it’ll be the best five minutes you’ve invested in some time.