13 June 2003: Madison Square Gardens, New York City, USA
From WikiColdplay
Setlist
- Politik
- God Put A Smile Upon Your Face
- A Rush Of Blood To The Head
- Daylight
- Trouble
- One I Love
- Don’t Panic
- Moses
- Everything’s Not Lost
- The World Turns Upside Down
- Yellow
- The Scientist
Encore - Clocks
- In My Place
- Amsterdam
- Lips Like Sugar
- Life Is For Living
Fan Reviews
I had waited 6 months with my friend, payed $80 to a scalper site, and had the 2nd to highest seat in the stadium. They were so phenomenal it didn't matter.
They began around 9:30 with Politik which I found amazing. God Put a Smile on My Face was great especially when Chris started doing a little jig around Guy. Chris added a bit of humor when he said "I hope you didn't come to see Cher because you just missed her, she was here last night" Then he proceeded to play Trouble and at the end sang Cher's Do You Believe in life after love or something along those lines. He had the whole place singing along with that one. Then at one point this rich girl Christy came out and sang In My Place in accoustic form with the band because she donated $350,000 to The Big Noise. Another person donated more but declined to go on stage. A Rush of Blood to the Head was great, with Everythings Not Lost he had the whole crowd going. I love The Scientist and his voice was perfect that night.
The Encore: Clocks, Full Band version of In My Place, Amsterdam. 2nd Encore:Cover of Echo and the Bunnymen and Life is For Living.
On Coldplay.Com the band said it was their best gig yet. I don't dissagree with them. I never heard a mistake or a problem and Chris sounded even better then on the CD. He hit every note perfectly.
With our binoculars we saw Gwyneth Paltrow in the couple first rows.
I'm not much of a reviewer since they were too good for words and I can't say anything horrible about them but the whole experience was great. Chris really stayed in touch with the audience and his dancing and joking around kept the whole place up beat.
Set List: Politik, God Put A Smile Upon Your Face, Rush Of Blood To The Head, Daylight, Trouble (with a snippet of Cher's I Believe at the end, as she'd played there the previous night), One I Love, Don't Panic, Moses, Everything's Not Lost, The World Turns Upside Down, Yellow, The Scientist.
The encores were listed above.
Cheers.
~Frenchie.
Having seen the band at the small Oakdale theator in Connecticut in February I was curious to see how they would make the transition to the Garden. Actually, I was more than curious -- I was a little concerned that they would not be able to fill the space. I should not have worried.
Even from our nosebleed seats, the hour and forty minute show (ten minutes longer than in Connecticut and a respectable length for a band with only two full albums) Coldplay's (really Chris's) charm and charisma came through even up in Section 404. The crowd deserves its fair share of the credit as it stood through the entire show and displayed an impressive familiarity with the lyrics. I am personally very partial to crowds that sing along with the band (not surprisingly I am very partial to U2 and Bruce concerts) so I found this a large part of the evening's success. Chris obviously sensed the crowds ability in this area and played to it throughout -- Everythings Not Lost, Yellow and In My Place in particular.
A moment of note came at the end of the main set (ending with The Scientist) when the band was joined on stage by the daughter of a donor to the Robin Hood Foundation that had contributed $350,000 to have his daughter sing a song on stage with Coldplay. The fivesome performed an accustic In My Place with much help from the crowd. My concern that this meant no In My Place in the encore proved unfounded (thank god).
My only disappointment remains with the new songs. Even on a second hearing I did not warm to them. I had a hard time with the pacing and following any lyrics. They are all guitar based which is interesting. Will the piano play a lesser role in the next album? We'll all see. I hope soon.
As we left the Garden, I found myself looking ahead. U2's third album was War and by the end of that tour they had also moved into arenas. My guess is that the real test for Coldplay will be whether they can put together a third album that further expands their fan base. With three albums in hand, a band can play 2+ hour shows and cement a reputation as a band of real and hopefully lasting significance. I hope that happens here.
~Name supplied
Madison Square Garden, the final show of Coldplay's North American tour. The band open's with a loud, bright Politik, I take out my notebook to make a comment, and that's the last time I do. I'm just too enthralled to divert my attention away from the stage for the next hour and forty-five minutes.
A friend of my wife got us backstage passes. We arrived too late to hear the opening act, but just in time to grab a cold one from the catering area in the back. We heard that there were star sightings already; Bowie was there, as well as Mike Myers, and of course Gwyneth. But we were really only interested in one thing, the show.
The band came on at 9:45 and played basically non-stop till 11:30. I don't have the set list and don't really care. It was a terrific show.
Chris came out wearing a black shirt/jacket over a white long sleeve shirt, and black pants. Right hand bandaged. The rest of the boys all looked like the kids that work in my video store. But man, they're tight! I've read reviews where they complain that the rest of the band doesn't have the same energy as Chris or as the songs “require”, but I can't say that it matters much; their music speaks for them. Guy Berryman on bass is a blast to watch, legs spread, curly hair backlit; he can sometimes be the real “bottom” of Coldplay's sound.
I'm not going to do a song-by-song breakdown, because I was just to overwhelmed to look at it that way. The crowd was promised their “hit” so long as they listened to the new stuff. Everyone did, it was all right; I don't know what the third Coldplay album is going to sound like. But I'm sure it will be good whatever it is.
Chris mentioned a charity called Robin Hood, said it had something to do with rich people giving away money…. I dunno, but anyway, a young woman gave $350,000 dollars to have the chance to play with the band on stage. The boys all grabbed acoustic guitars for a wonderful version of In My Place. He asked the crowd to treat this woman as a rock star, and they did. I was worried about the audience's response to her; I've seen an MSG crowd get ugly. I was there in 1992 at the Dylan tribute show when Sinead O'Connor was booed off the stage. I didn't want to experience that again. But this night was different and thankfully so. The band was having a good time backing up this rich girl, and the crowd went along with it.
I just asked my wife for other highlights of the show and she said, “It was all a highlight.”.
After the show we went on to a party being thrown for the band at Joe's Pub, a very nice “upscale” joint on the fringe of the east village. There was a DJ there spinning records, mostly soulful covers of popular `70's songs. Drummer Will Champion, who also seemed to prefer soul, later replaced him. Although I was surprised to hear him spin Buffalo Springfield's For What It's Worth.
All the boys in the band were at the party, and I got to speak to each of them. I was a little too drunk to remember clearly what I spoke to them about, but I do know I asked Chris if he really was a Dylan fan, (an important question for me). I'm hoping I planted a seed of a cover song in his head. I talked for a bit with guitar player Jon Buckland, I was curious if the band did have a “special” feeling towards playing the Garden. He said they did, and talked to David Bowie about it before the show.
Chris left early with Gwyneth, Guy left early as well, but Jon was still sitting there and Will was still spinning records as my wife and I stumbled into the warm night.
I'm writing this the next morning and I still hear a humming in my ears.
~Hodah 6/14/2003
I just went to the concert at madison square garden on june 13th ... it was amazing... my favorite concert ever.
The gig was sold out, even though there were a few seats available in the crowds... but everyone was wild.
Coldplay's opening acts were Eisley and Ron Sexsmith i believe... they were okay, one of Eisleys songs were a reasonable listen... and the lead singer to Ron Sexsmith was rather good.
When Ron Sexsmith was playing their last song, a guy came out on stage and started to sing with him...of course everyone would assume it was Chris Martin... but you couldn't tell cause of the hat and he wouldn't show his face...so pretty much we can all assume it was him :o)
At about 9:55, Coldplay came on and everyone went wild.
They started off with Politik and after the first 4 songs, said hi and thanked everyone for coming.
Of course when Yellow came on everyone sang along, and Clocks and pretty much every song anyone knew. A few people on the floor drew out their lighters making the scenery look like stars in the night... really cool.
Other than that the show was great, and i am already planning on going to another one ...hopefully next time in England :o)
~Jess
Media Reviews
In the famous space that made it’s name with boxing’s greatest, Coldplay score a knockout of their own at New York’s Madison Square Garden, a perfect ending for the closing night of their U.S. tour.
It’s a career defining mile stone, a sure sign of their arrival in mainstream America, and the largest U.S. venue they’ve headlined to date. From the beginning it has all the makings of a great show -- sold out, a big light show, towering video screens, Chris Martin’s stories and dancing, David Bowie hanging out backstage, Gwyneth sightings, an impromptu diversion into Cher.
Now reserved for basketball games and big ticket concerts like U2, Bruce Springsteen and *NSYNC, the 20,000 seat arena seems just as comfortable hosting the humble foursome from London. The show is full of strong performances of mostly songs from ‘A Rush Of Blood To The Head’, but also surprises the crowd with a number of new tracks including ‘The World Turns Upside Down’ and ‘Moses’ (the latter which Martin has previously admitted to writing about his current girlfriend)
By fourth song ‘Daylight’, Martin is ready to address the crowd and let them know that it is also an important night for them. “This is our last U.S. concert for a long long time, so it’s great that you are here. Our tour has been absolutely bonkers,” and he went graciously about how thrilled they were to have toured the country. He also added his characteristic humor, “And if you came here to see Cher, that was yesterday,” and after ‘Trouble’ Martin even playfully sings the chorus of ‘Believe’. At times the boys seem a little too comfortable with the material, definitely a symptom of playing so many U.S. dates. They did not stray too far from their regular set list which included opener ‘Politik’, ‘God Put A Smile On Your Face’, and ‘A Rush Of Blood To The Head’. However, the band’s energy doesn’t kick in until they do a rocking version of b-side ‘The One I Love’, which also gets the audience roused, followed by ‘Don’t Panic’, ‘The Scientist’, ‘Everything’s Not Lost’ and ‘Yellow’.
Closing with an acoustic version of ‘In My Place’ sang mostly by a woman named Kristy, who won a charity auction that the band participated in. She bid an insane $350,000 to sing with them at the concert and Martin asked the crowd to “treat her like a rock star and cheer madly for her.” The money will go to the Robin Hood Foundation, a New York charity devoted to helping poverty in the city, which has a long-list of celebrity supporters including Paltrow. The band return for the encore of ‘Clocks’ fully equipped with a major lazer show reminiscent of a planetarium show set to music or even Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s ‘Relax’ video. Their second encore of Echo and the Bunnymen’s ‘Lips Like Sugar’ seems a little unknown to the young crowd who are more touched by the emotional closer ‘Amsterdam’. After which, it’s a somewhat weepy but triumphant goodbye until next time. Let’s hope the wait isn’t too long.
Katarina Pond
http://www.xfm.co.uk/coldplay-madison-square-garden-june-13-2003
