06 August 2005: Tweeter Center, Mansfield, MA, USA
From WikiColdplay
Setlist
- Square One
- Politik
- Yellow
- God Put A Smile Upon Your Face
- Speed Of Sound
- Low
- The Hardest Part
- Everything’s Not Lost
- White Shadows
- The Scientist
- ’Til Kingdom Come
- Don’t Panic
- Clocks
- Talk
Encore - Swallowed In The Sea
- In My Place
- Fix You
Reviews
For a band riding as high as it is right now, Coldplay gave an admirably down-to-earth performance last night at the Tweeter Center. The British quartet - which has gone multiplatinum worldwide in the last five years - didn't exude a hint of arrogance as it took the stage. And for the next 90 minutes singer Chris Martin, bassist Guy Berryman, guitarist Jonny Buckland and drummer Will Champion put their backs and their hearts into playing an engaging set of their enveloping, dreamy pop rock for a blissed-out capacity crowd.
It was a feel-good show in the best sense of the term with Martin whirlybirding his way across the stage as he sang in his sighing falsetto of the vastness of space and the intimacies of daily existence with a goofy sort of grace. He amiably chatted with the crowd as well and managed to shoehorn the word Massachusetts into interesting places, even singing an impromptu verse on Everything's Not Lost about people tailgating in the parking lot that managed to avoid pandering.
The band drew heavily from its current release, 'X&Y', switching its well-oiled gears easily between loose grooves and soaring melodies of 'Speed of Sound', the pinging guitar licks and propulsive rhythms of 'Talk and the ethereal 'Swallowed in the Sea.
Older hits such as 'Yellow and 'Don't Panic were dropped unpretentiously in the set without a lot of build-up. The former, a chugging guitar anthem, was accompanied by the dropping of big, yellow, confetti-filled balloons and Martin promised the band would never get sick of it, saying this was the song that brought them here five years ago and it will still be bringing them here in 20 years.
When Martin wasn't skipping across the stage he was vehemently rocking back and forth on his piano stool pounding out the circular riffs of 'Clocks,' much more vibrant in concert with Champion's stuttering beat crashing through, or crooning along with the audience during the Beatlesque ballad 'The Scientist.' The crowd - representing everyone from soccer moms to frat boys to 20-something and teen couples - was tuneful enough that during 'Everything's Not Lost' Martin just sat back and had a listen.
Continuing the theme of graciousness, during 'Low' the large center-stage video screen instructed fans to "Get your camera ready and then counted down to a perfect Kodak moment as the overhead lights dropped away leaving only white shafts of backlight piercing through to illuminate the band. Expect to see that dramatic-looking shot on a lot of camera phones today.
A brief two-song acoustic set included the country amble 'Til Kingdom Come' originally intended for Johnny Cash that appears on 'X&Y,' and Martin exhorted the fans to sing along for the late Man in Black. Berryman, whom Martin ribbed as being handsome enough to be a Backstreet Boy, added a low, sweet harmonica to the proceedings.
The quartet closed the night out with the gentle ballad 'Fix You' and took its leave to the lovely Lennon-McCartney lullabye 'Goodnight' -and it was indeed.
Openers Black Mountain played a resoundingly loud set of psychedelic noodle rock whose merits were aptly summed up in the title of their final song, 'No Satisfaction.'
Source: http://theedge.bostonherald.com
MANSFIELD -- The buzz is that England's Coldplay hopes to be -- and just may become -- the next U2. That's a grand goal that may border on hubris, but Coldplay stayed on that course Saturday with a thoroughly magnificent show that pulsed with themes of spiritual hunger and human connectedness -- the two essentials of any great U2 performance.
Coldplay's effort in front of a sold-out crowd of 19,900 (the Tweeter Center manager said it was the hottest show of the summer in terms of ticket requests) went far beyond that of its CD-release party at Avalon in May. This time, the band unveiled all of its bells and whistles, starting with a light show that reached Radiohead/U2 dimensions. They used two levels of panoramic video screens in back of the stage to project live footage and computer graphics, and had spotlights mounted on the pillars at each side of the pavilion. Strobe lights also seemed to be everywhere, and dozens of confetti-filled yellow balloons were set loose during the song Yellow."
But the focus was on the very likable Chris Martin, a welcoming singer whose upbeat streak was magnified early in Politik" (as he sang in Bono-like fashion, Give me heart and give me soul") and the spiritually soothing God Put a Smile Upon Your Face." He also had his dynamic moments, including running through the pavilion (he took off like a shot and had only one security guard behind him) during an encore and racing around stage, then finishing Speed of Sound" while lying on his back. The band's unplugged interludes on Til Kingdom Come" (originally written for Johnny Cash) and Don't Panic" were also highlights, as was the group's shimmery colors on the hypnotic Clocks" and Talk." Coldplay's not quite U2 yet, but it's getting competitive.
Opening act Black Mountain, though, was an inappropriate choice for this show. The Vancouver group's drearily cliched '60s-influenced rock didn't have much life. When Oasis played the Tweeter this summer, it had Jet as an opening act. Coldplay should have had a band of that stature and excitement.
Source: http://www.boston.com
