14 September 2008: Colorline Arena, Hamburg, Germany (Fan Reviews)
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Fan Reviews
All fan reviews have been submitted to us by the members of Coldplaying.com[1], unless stated otherwise.
Whoa, what a great night. My first Coldplay concert ever and I absolutely loved it. At first I thought I had to go alone, but then my little cousin said she'd go with me, which is kinda crazy, because she's not really into Coldplay and such music ... She like US5, a crappy boygroup.
Our seats weren't that good and our block and especially our row was lame ... there were some elderly couples who just sat there. I was lucky that they at least clapped their hands from time to time ...
It was so cold in the hall. The support act already said that it was freezing in there. My cousin never took off her coat and I never really stopped clapping my hands in order to stay warm.
I just had to get up for the opening, although many people around me didn't. And suddenly I was the only one standing, I felt so stupid, so I sat during "Clocks" and "In my place". However, that couldn't keep me from screaming "Yeeeaaaah!" and singing along ... desperatly trying to motivate the people around me.
"Chinese Sleep Chant" was amazing. I really felt like banging my head. Jonny did the best job ever! I was blown away.
My favourite part of the show was definitely "Viva la Vida" and then "Lost!". The floor was vibrating under my feet. I stood there and danced and sang. And an elderly guy behind me looked at me like I was some kind of lunatic. Anyway, I just had to dance! I was so happy and overwhelmed by the atmosphere and the rythm. I really loved the "oooooohhhhh ooooohhhh ooooohhhh ohhhh" during Viva la Vida. AMAZING.
Chris was really funny. At some point he apoligised for his German skills saying "My German is scheiße (shit)". Although I must admit that the few words he said weren't that bad after all. He also said that they had some kind of "special connection" to Germany and the German fans and it just keeps on getting "better and better and better and greater and greater".
There was a medley of "God put a smile upon my face" and "Talk". I must admit that I didn't really like this version of GPASUMF, what Jonny did whith his guitar sounded kinda weird.
Chris also rambled something about their concert philosophy and that it had to get worse to get better again. Then he played "The hardest part" on the piano. I really melted away. That was so beautiful. I really don't get why he doesn't like that song.
On the second stage somewhere at the back of the hall (of course not on my side) they played "The Scientist" and "Death will never conquer me". Will looked so cute while he sang. Chris said something like "We thought we'd give the people here at the back a chance to see how lovely-looking we are".
I think after the break they played "Politik", which is great, because that's the one song I desperately wanted to see live. At that point I didn't really care about the people around me anymore. I just screamed "Open up your eyes!" as loud as I could. (Of course weird guy behind me was looking at me again ...)
The beginning of "Death and all his friends" was quite funny as well. "Chis started "All winter we ...." and then again "All summer ..." and then asked someone for the lyrics commenting the whole thing with "It's so freaking cold in this room I can't even remember which season it is" ... I absolutely agreed.
"Lovers in Japan" was sooo beautiful and I already started to feel sad, because I knew that this is usually their last song. I was literally living that song, so I forgot to take pics of the beautiful confetti effects. And at the end I was trying to remember what song they haven't played. I knew something was missing. But then the band came back to stage and "Yellow" started and I just screamed "For you I bleed myself dry!!!". I sang along the complete song. It was overwhelming ...
My cousin really enjoyed the concert. She even bought a poster of the band. And then she asked me who the guitarist whithout the cap was, because he looked really cute. She meant Guy of course. But according to her the singer was kinda "yucky" and the drummer looked "strange" ... oh well, she's a pubescent teenie after all. She just doesn't know what's good! It took us about 15 minutes to get out of the arena. The exit doors were completely blocked.
Despite the lame people around me, I really enjoyed my first Coldplay concert. Next time I'll be part of the huge crowd in front of the stage. And they played a lot of songs, I can't remember missing one. And Chris' voice was just fine, not shaky anymore, absolutely amazing! The songs they played, in no particular order: Life in Technicolour, Violet Hill, Chinese Sleep Chant, Clocks, In my place, Speed of Sound, Viva la Vida, Lost!, God put a smile upon my face, Talk, The Scientist, Death will never conquer me, Politik, Lovers in Japan, Death and all his friends, Yellow, Cemetries of London, 42, Strawberry swing, Fix you, The hardest part (Hope I didn't forget one)
[Ekmi]
hey guys, felix (winnie) and i are finally back from berlin as well and i have many things to tell you. problem is, i don't know where to start ^^
let's try it this way... as we went to the gig in hamburg the day before yesterday as well, these two days were really tough. my timing was horrible, as i got sick three days ago. but i somehow pulled through.
it's funny that we were focusing on the hamburg gig so much during the last weeks, that we almost forgot about berlin, to be honest. felix lives in hamburg, we went there really early, it was the first gig, etc. but now i have several reasons why i have to agree with lars (and felix) that berlin was far better than hamburg:
~ i finally didn't feel sick anymore, so the gig wasn't as exhausting as the previous one
~ the whole band but esp. chris seemed much more into it than the night before. no idea, why. both chris and albert hammond jr. said in hamburg, that it was "freezing cold" on stage. maybe that was the reason, but i'm just guessing.
~ probably most importantly: the sound in berlin was so so SO much better than in hamburg! but since i read that someone in this thread said the sound was bad, i guess it might depend on where you're standing... but seriously, in hamburg it was too loud and you could barely hear chris' voice. that was a million times better in berlin.
and i think that last reason is why those two gigs felt completely different for me. hamburg was fun. it was a great day with great people, we were laughing so much and joking around. it was a brilliant day AND (as i already said in the other thread) a great gig.
berlin, on the other hand, was personally for me much more emotional. i think it was mainly because of the better sound but also because from our point of view (directly in front of the right sidestage, where i could see the whole stage, the lights and everything) that there were so many moments which brought tears to my eyes. and i'm so thankful for that!!! because, you know... hamburg was great fun - but this gig brought so many feelings back that i had in 2005 when i saw them for the first time.
so yeah... i dunno what else to say. last night was simply PERFECT. it was so, so amazing. and it was funny because i knew they'd come to our side of the stage, but i somehow never expected them to be THAT close! it was so awesome! and when chris started playing trouble, i seriously almost died. i so hoped i would hear that song live one day <333
i got some nice pics from both gigs which i'm gonna upload tomorrow, if you like. right now i'm way too tired and exhausted and all i need is sleep.
i'll never forget these two days, everything was far beyond brilliant and i'm so sad that it's over. it went by too fast!
[*Sarah*]
Well now I’ll try to write some lines about my concert in Hamburg, before I’m going to forget the details. Sorry for some mistakes. My English’s crap, but I hope it’s comprehensible.
My journey started at 11.30am and I decided to use the car. The whole time I didn’t realise that it’s THE day until I spotted the first cranes of Hamburg’s harbour and the traffic-jam around the Elbtunnel. Suddenly I became very nervous and exciting. I left the motorway at Volkspark and thought the electronic parking system would show me the way to a car park. Far from it!!! All signs showed “closed” and I spent more than 30 minutes driving around the arena and finding a car park.
Well afterwards I parked in front of the HSH Nordbank Arena, the biggest enemy for a football supporter of Werder Bremen like me haha. I was so glad Coldplay performed in the Colorline Arena next to it. So I arrived there and I saw absolutely no one. I was like WTF and couldn’t believe it. So I went around the arena until I’ve found Sarah and Felix. There were only a handful of fans in front of the entrance. We sit back and talked a bit. Later on Dennis (Felix’s flat mate) and Nele arrived; my mate from Kiel came at 4pm. We tried to spot Coldplay behind the arena, but weren’t successful. We had so much fun and were joking the whole time though. Then at 5pm it began to rain and we decided to queue in front of the entrance. There were a lot of British people and nearly everyone around us was English lol. No wonder for me after the big disappointment as you don’t have a chance to get front row in UK. At the car park I also spotted lots of Danish cars. I realized they didn’t stop in Copenhagen this tour. But well that’s another story.
At 6pm they opened the gates and it became a nightmare! Everyone tried to be the first one in so it was really tough, but Sarah and I somehow managed to be one of the first ones and we were running for a good position. Then we had to wait again and I was very glad that some people have sold pretzels as I was very hungry. The security was very nice. I had nightmares when I heard about yellow wristlets in Cologne. At 7.40pm Albert Hammond Jr. entered the stage and his show began. Very early and surprising for all of us.
I only knew his first record (Yours To Keep), I like it and that’s why I was very exciting. But in the end I have to admit that I was disappointed about his performance. Don’t really know why… The sound was very very loud, he played more songs of his second and new album, he wasn’t very communicative, the whole performance seemed to be half-hearted somehow. I was glad when he finished…
Then we were waiting again and after a while we listened to Jay-Z and the Viennese Waltz. I knew we were so closed to the start!!! Shortly before 9pm Coldplay came on stage. Everyone around me went nuts. “Life And Technicolor” began and I liked the idea of only be able to see their silhouettes, because a very thin curtain was between us and the band. “Violet Hill” was following, then “Clocks” which was amazing. I think especially Will was amazing here. During the very short breaks Dennis was always screaming “Fix You” and everyone around us was laughing. It was too funny.
“In My Place” and “Speed Of Sound” were following. Personally the last one is probably the most important song, because “SOS” was the reason why I decided to pay attention to Coldplay. I knew them, sure, but I wasn’t really addicted to them beforehand. The next songs were “Cemeteries Of London” and “42”. I was a bit disappointed about the atmosphere. Hamburg’s citizens have the reputation of being very cold and unemotional and I had the same feeling first. Luckily it completely changed with “Fix You”. Then we listened to “Chinese Sleep Chant” and of course “Strawberry Swing”. First I always skipped this song, but after a while it grew on me and now it’s one of my favorites on “VLVODAAHF”.
After a short break Coldplay appeared on the right side stage to perform the techno versions of “God Put A Smile Upon Your Face” and “Talk” which is extremely famous here due to the riff from Kraftwerk’s “Computerliebe”. Chris came up with “The Hardest Part” and “Postcards From Far Away” solo. From one moment to another “Viva La Vida” began and the atmosphere changed in between seconds. Will’s bell looked a lot bigger than I expected. The chorus was just classic. “Lost!” followed before they disappeared again and came back at the end of the arena.
It was so strange in that moment. We tried to get front row the whole time and now we were so far away from them haha. Chris did “The Scientist” before Will was singing “Death Will Never Conquer”. His voice is so beautiful and I hope more songs of him will follow someday. I watched his performance on one of these big magic balls. A few minutes later a “Viva La Vida Remix” has been played and we waited for them to come back on stage.
Then the guys did “Politik” and I was so glad!!! It’s one of my favorites from “AROBTTH”. I had no clue that the climax will be reached with the next song. It’s “Lovers Of Japan”. Damn… how amazing was it?! First all these incredible pictures in regard to Japan on the screen behind them. That was completely astonishing! And of course… the butterflies!!! It was so wonderful and I nearly had tears on my eyes. Very emotional! Well done Coldplay!
“Death And All Of His Friends” followed before they said “goodbye” and left the stage. Chris wasn’t sure about the first line of the song. He sang “"All winter we got carried" before he stopped. Now he began with "All summer we got carried" but wasn’t satisfied either haha. So he asked Will and continued with “winter” a few seconds later.
I thought the concert was over then, but Felix reminded me that “Yellow” is still coming. I totally forgot that haha. So Chris, Will, Guy and Jonny came back on stage to perform their very last song. The concert ended with “The Escapist”. Now it was the moment when you became very sad, because it’s over, but I knew Berlin will follow tomorrow yeah.
It took ages to leave the Colorline Arena and outside we decided to spot the guys behind the arena. I went to my car to get my jacket, because it was sooo cold outside like it was December. There has also been a car accident. So back behind the arena we tried to take some pictures with the band. The security men told us that they already left to get their plane to London. We didn’t believe them… I mean Berlin followed the next day. What a waste of kerosene… Then some members of Albert’s band left the arena so I asked one of them about Coldplay. He was very friendly and said he doesn’t know but heard they already left for London. We waited for a very long time and it was extremely cold, until we decided to go home. Sarah, Felix and Dennis had to catch their S-Bahn to Central Hamburg. Perhaps the band was already sitting in their tour bus as the movie channel was on there.
Back on the car park I was shocked. The gate has already been closed! AAAAARGH! Then this asshole kind of parking attendant appeared and was very mean. He asked if I know how late it was and said he will tow away my car soon. I tried to stay calm, until I realized that my car was standing on the other car park which wasn’t closed lol. Fucking asshole though!!! I came home at 2.30am.
Thanks again to Coldplay, Felix, Sarah, Nele, Dennis and my mate from Kiel. What a wonderful day!
[Larry]
a.k.a Hamburger anyone…?
I flew out to Hamburg on Saturday, to catch Coldplay’s gig at the Colour Line arena. As mentioned before, it was standing as well as seated, which appealed to me muchly. Plus, I wanted to see the whole of Coldplay’s new ’show’ before the December O2 dates [you really think I was gonna wait that long? Yeah, right...]. The flight was short at 1hr 20mins, but the descent was awful. The turbulence was fierce for most of the flight and the plane kept bobbing around as it was landing. I did start to pray under my breath [I have no desire to die in an air disaster anytime soon, thank you very much!] We landed ok - everyone started clapping when the Captain showed his face before we got off the plane. Why are BA flights so hair-raising?
So, I found my hotel and crashed out because I didn’t sleep the night before and had been up for 36 hours solid, so no sight-seeing for me, which was a pity because I did want to have a look around. From what I could see Hamburg is a lovely city, really spread out and very green/leafy, with some nice old buildings and a canal/river going through it. I wanted to see the harbour, just I just didn’t have the energy. I did do a recon to see where the Color Line Arena was. It’s bang smack next to Hamburg’s Nordbank Stadium, a bit like how Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena are next to each other, but their’s are much closer together, with a good transportation system. You could walk from the station about 1100 metres or take a free shuttle. When I got there, the footie had just finished and there were fans everywhere, plus DJ Bobo was rocking the house at the arena. Um, ok…
I got to the arena about 10.30 the next morning I was quite surprised when I realised I was the first person there. Usually, well at the Earls Court dates last tour anyway, people would get there early [like 9am] to secure a good spot at the front of the stage. I worked out where you were meant to enter [the inneraum] and just waited until another human arrived. It didn’t take long. A lovely girl called Caro came along. It was her first Coldplay gig, so she was well excited. Others came afterwards, but we were few [hello to Caro 2, Vipka, Zabina, Jacob and The Polish Posse] . More people rocked up about 3pm or so.
There was this crazy girl, that kept walking past us, going round and round the arena, marching like a thing possessed. I must of seen her about 20 times. I was wondering what her deal was, but I was guessing, she wanted to try and meet the band or something. Kinda hard at a big arena show [although, apparently, the boys did sign for folks at the first Paris gig, so, you never know...]
The lovely security guard allowed us to use the loo, which was just inside the doors. We started to hear the band soundchecking, so, you can image, more people ‘needed the loo’ [funny how that happens...LOL!]. I nipped in and heard Coldplay soundchecking ‘Crests of Waves’, which I went absolutely nuts about. They also played a b-side from the last album, but for the life of me, I can’t remember the name of it [that's been bugging me ever since]. They weren’t full versions, they were just playing around. Mostly I could hear Will knocking out some beats on the drums. I wanted the guy to leave the door open, so we could all hear, but there was no chance of that happening…
Anyway, it started to rain just before 6pm when they let us through into the arena. Luckily, most of the crowd were under this bridge type thing, so not many got wet. We ran walked really quickly to the front of stage. I got smack in the centre, with a good view of Will and everything. They had these floor flights, which I always find annoying. If you’re short, you’ve got no chance of seeing the band properly. The two ramps on either side of the stage were in place, looking shorter than I’d imagined. I could see the ‘magic balls’ hidden away - 3 front of stage, 2 on either side of the stage, above the ramps and one big one in the centre. They also had 2 video screens on either side, sort of level with the big magic ball in the middle.
We had to wait 2 hours for Albert Hammond Jr to come on stage. That’s taking the proverbial a bit. That was agonising. He was really really good though. A lot of reviews have said they didn’t like his set, but I thought he and his band were great. I especially liked ‘Rocket’, ‘ Holiday’, ‘In My Room’, ‘& So We Go’ and another song , which has a funky bassline [but I can't remember the name of it!]. ‘In Transit’ sounds very Strokes like - I really like the lead guitarist’s descant during the chorus of that song and was singing along. He plays all kinds of styles - retro, indie, a bit of reggae, a real nice mix. The sound is really beefy, solid rock too, much different to his studio albums. Albert complained that he was cold and I yelled ‘jump up and down’. He said ‘jump up and down…?’. Then his drummer starts playing this beat. And he goes ‘what you doing?’. The drummer said ‘I’m playing a beat so you can jump and and down’ LOL! He’s also very thin in person and didn’t have that massive bush of hair he normally has. And, he keeps his eyes closed when he sings, so it was hard to get a good pic of him.
There was another 30-45 min wait for Coldplay. The crowd were getting restless and started the slow clap thing, then the Johann Strauss’ Blue Danube waltz started to kick in, so I knew Coldplay were hitting the stage and started conducting and the audience were clapping on the 3rd/1st beats.
I decided to film the entire gig, which was exhausting. My hand was shaking sometimes, so I had to hold it up with the other hand. I think it was a mixture of excitement and tiredness that caused the trembling, but I managed it.
It was cool to see the band behind the sheath curtains during ‘Life in Techinicolor’. It’s one thing watching the videos on YouTube, but it’s different thing altogether seeing it live. There was some floor level lights behind them flashing on and off, which gave it good atmosphere. They seemed to get into the swing of things straight away. The curtain went up just as they launched into ‘Violet Hill’, which was a good old stomp. Chris teased us a bit at the end by stopping and starting ‘If you love me…’ over and over again.
‘Clocks’ was rip-roaring with it’s red and yellow lighting. I don’t think this song will ever come off the setlist, it just rocks! I also loved the multi-coloured lasers that hit the back end of the arena, strategically placed, so as not to blind anymore. Chris was piano humping so much that the stool fell down from underneath him. That was funny.
Will then kicked off ‘In My Place’ which sounded absolutely blinding. His kick-drum filled the whole arena and people responded in kind. The place erupted. Chris was all over the place - right in front of us, really close, then he’d go off down the ramps to get everyone involved, dancing away. Guy and Jonny were on the right hand side of the stage at the top of the ramp, rocking out. Then Chris joined them, then was off again on the other side, Jonny following. They ended up on the left ramp and Chris was at Jonny’s feet and had to be helped up. I love it when that happens. I miss the Chris/Jonny lurve of last tour. We need more!
Chris played a little riff of the theme from Back to the Future, just before ‘Speed of Sound’ [he's such a fanboy LOL! Don't worry, I love the movie too dude! Michael J Fox is the man!]. The lighting was quite low for this song. I like how the magic balls on the sides of the arena were lowered down and spun with the map of the world on them. That was a cool effect.
Chris started talking to the crowd in German then said how his german was ’scheißen’ [i.e. 'shit'], before launching into Cemeteries of London! I was hoping they would play this and they didn’t disappoint. It was lovely to see Guy on the piano, playing the riff, before taking up his bass duties. The song sounds well good live. I was so chuffed to hear it. Chris gave this cackle of a laugh at the beginning. During the final chorus Chris sang a harmony and Jonny played the last remnants of the song on his guitar. Lovely!
The band played some crazy computery sounding guitar stuff before launching into ‘Chinese Sleep Chant’. I like the song, but Chris sings something different each time I hear it. Plus, the lyrics aren’t in the tour programme [as far as I could see]. It’s a bit annoying - but still great live. They obviously love playing it because Chris is spinning and jumping about and Jonny is getting his groove on. Guy looked immaculate throughout [when does he never..? :D] and was in foot thumping mode.
‘42′ is definitely one of my other favourite ‘Viva’ tunes of this tour. The four guys have hit a home run with this song. Will’s amazing drumming, together with Guy’s motoric bassline, together with the two riffs that Jonny and Chris play, just makes this song monumental. It is just such a quality tune! And the visuals that go with it - the giant video screen, showing the guys rocking out fleetingly, in strobe fashion, changing every half-second, just adds to the excitement. I just love it! When Chris jumps backwards off his stool before the song takes off cracks me up every time. I’m glad they’ve sorted out the end of the song. There’s no backing track to be found. Chris played a melody on his acoustic guitar before ending the song in the normal way. Sorted!
Crowd favourite ‘Fix You’ is always rousing. Chris came down to the front and was doing his crouching hand clapping thing then jumps backwards and nearly falls over, then keeps doing it like he’s some human rag-doll all the way down the ramp and then he remembers he’s gotta sing the chorus and runs back to his mic. It’s fun to watch. The 4-part harmony is as lush as ever and seeing Will, Guy, Jonny and Chris on the 20ft video screen, just turned me to mush.
Will and Guy start the clapping to ‘Strawberry Swing’. The place goes dark again and the 3 magic balls on stage are all you see. There is no huge video screen like how they had on the US leg of the tour, which I was a little peeved about [just a little]. Apparently, the imagery is by Brian Eno from his “Luminous” installation, which was at Selfridges early last year. And, I saw boobies! I know I wasn’t seeing things. There were definitely boobies on the screen. What’s up with that? LOL! Chris sang the right words this time around. He also started to sing Jonny’s riff at the end of the song, trying to hit the high high notes. Awwwwww
Then the band walk down the right ramp to where their ‘disco’ stage ‘B’ is already set up and start ‘God Put A Smile Upon Your Face’. They’re quite far away from us now, so all I see is the back of them [not complaining.... :)]. Then Chris takes off his guitar and jumps on the piano ready to segway into the new dance version of ‘Talk’, which is wicked. Everyone was clapping along. Chris referred to it as ‘our German song’ and ‘we’re glad to give it back to you’, referring to the Kraftwerk motif. I liked the end of it when the boys leave the stage and it’s just Chris hammering out some quite grandiose chords. He starts chatting and says ‘get ready for the concert to get better. But it has to get a little bit worse for it to get better’ then he starts playing ‘The Hardest Part’, referring to it as ‘a bit of a shit song’. LOL!
There were guys sitting up in the rigging above our heads. One of them was shining a solitary spotlight on Chris, which showed some lovely shadowing. His shoulders and back looked nice and broad and you could see the contours of his arms [ok, somebody throw some cold water on me]. Alls I can say is, Gwyneth, you’re a lucky gal…
Then Chris starts playing ‘Postcards From Far Away’. It’s a lovely instrumental piece. I reckon they should use it in a movie or something. The fact that Chris is having classical aspirations is quite a joy. I don’t see why he should not get involved with movie soundtracks etc. You never know, he might do a Macartney and write an opera!
As soon as he’s done ‘Viva La Vida’ starts straight away with Will blasting out the ‘Whoahhhhhhhhs’, eyes fully closed, for all he’s worth. That was a lovely surprise and got the crowd jumping up and down, singing and clapping along. Chris runs back on stage to start singing and comes right in front of us. Caro is screaming her head off LOL!. And I’m grinning like a Cheshire cat [I swear he looked at my camera for a second]. Then he’s off again down the left ramp. Jonny stays on keys for a while until Chris comes back to take over. Then Chris is in front of us again and gets down on his knees and bends over backwards [*dies*]. Then he’s back down the ramp for the ‘Whoahhhhhs’ and stays there till the end of the song. Then he starts staggering about singing more ‘Whoahhhs’, then falls down, lies on the ramp for a bit, twists himself around and rolls over. This guy just makes me laugh so hard. Go Chris!
‘Lost!’ starts immediately and as it’s my favourite song, I’m going mental! Chris spends most of the time on either ramp, only to come back and play keys towards the end of the song. I was admiring Mr Berryman’s bass drum technique. He’s a cool fella. The only video screen is the Terry vision monitor on stage, which switched between Jonny and Chris and Will and Chris’ singing at the end was spectacular.
Then the guys leave the stage and make their way through the crowd to the ‘C’ stage up in the rafters at the back. You could see them on the magic balls on stage, jogging like they were in the army or something. I bet it was a lovely treat to those way at the back to see the guys at such close proximity. I might be so lucky when I go to the O2 gigs in December [yeah, they're practically nosebleed seats].
When they got to their position, Chris commented on how cold it was in the arena. He was sweating like anything and he was cold too? Weird…
They start with their ‘cheesy old ballard’ of ‘The Scientist’. Chris puts a black towel over his head, while he’s singing [too funny]. Will got a wonderous applause when he sang ‘Death Will Never Conquer’. I couldn’t keep my hand steady as it’s hurting really bad, but managed to capture both songs. Then they disappeared, whilst the extremely kick ass ‘Viva La Vida’ remix played. it has a brilliant Brazilian beat and the crowd were chanting along. What a refreshing twist. I can’t help but keeping singing ‘I know St Peter won’t call my name’ over and over again. That was class!
The boys come back on stage in pitch darkness and absolutely slay me with ‘Poilitik’. There’s only white lighting which flashes on and off to the hammering beat of the song. It’s so bright it dazzles me, but it’s such a great effect. And of course, it’s an absolute tune! Jonny singing the bass part during the second part of the song was just chilling, sending shivers down my spine. There was again lovely use of the giant video screen at the end of the song and Chris started to play Gnossiennes No.1 ‘Lent’ by Eric Satie, albiet slightly badly [sorry Chris, I'm a classically trained pianist and you mullered it....]. It was a nice try though…
‘Lovers in Japan’ was amazing. Chris goes down the right ramp, Jonny and Guy are in front of Will rocking out, The beautiful butterlies fell. It was gorgeous! Chris comes back on the main stage and was trying to grab some butterflies and failing [awww], then goes down the left ramp, whilst Guy and Will are doing their harmonies. The video screen is awash with colours and beautiful imagery and fireworks at the end. That was absolutely wonderful!
At the beginning of ‘Death And All His Friends’ Chris couldn’t remember whether the song began with ‘All Winter’ or ‘All Summer’ and kept stopping. He was getting me confused and I yelled out the wrong one, realising it was ‘All Winter’. He said ‘it’s so cold in this room, I can’t remember what season it is…’. He’s such a dag sometimes. Guy started taking photographs of the band. It’s nice to have a momento of the gigs. One day, I hope Guy will have an exhibition of his photography, or write a book, or something [*prays*]. The ‘Viva’ backdrop falls, the crowd start to clap, much to Chris’ delight. The chorus rings around the arena. The guys finish, walking around clapping and take their bow[s]. Chris scoops up some butterflies and blows them toward us and then they left the stage.
When they came back on, Chris started talking about how the connection between Germany and Coldplay has changed and that they ‘appreciated it’. The crowd went wild for that. He also said that the audiences ‘just get better and better’.
They played the intro to ‘Yellow’ really quitely [if at all] and then it kicked in when Chris jumped into the air when they played the initial power chord. That was a great start to the song. Yellow beams were circling the stage out toward the crowd, which was a lovely effect. The video screen was also still visible behind the giant Viva backdrop. Guy, Jonny and Chris were playing together as a trio, in front of Will, then Chris goes over to Jonny for a bit, then Guy goes over to Jonny. They seemed to be really enjoying performing the song.
When they finished, Guy came over to take a pic of the crowd. He also lifted up his hands to clap, only to reveal black Calvin Klein undies [are you trying to kill me or what?]. Then Coldplay took their leave again and that was it. The gig was over :(.
On the setlist [I got Chris' - thanks Hoppy!] they had ‘The Dubliners’ and ‘Prospekt’s March’. I would have loved to have heard those. I wonder why they’ve been dropped? Only one song for an encore seems a little bit stingy.
As we were making out exit, I headed over to the merch desk. They didn’t have a lot there. Only 3 t-shirts, a poster, some badges and a keyring. The designs weren’t all that and at 30 Euros a pop, I wasn’t buying [the rate of exhange at the moment is absolutely abismal]. They also had the tour programme for 20 Euros - still expensive in my book.
[WF]
Thanks for all the reviews and nice pictures!!
I would share mine too but I cannot upload them here.. and I dont have an account at flickr or something..but there are enough pics round here
It was a lovely concert (my first Coldplay gig) and I will never forget that day. It was a sad day because a friend of mine didnt come with me to the concert.. She left the city without telling me though we had an appointment.. When I asked her in the afternoon when we will meet to go to the concert she told me that she is not in hamburg anymore. I started to cry (and I still cant get trough). We know each other since april I think. And we loved the same song as the album leaked on 4 of june.. it was Strawberry Swing.. It all seemed to be perfect but now its all gone. I stood there thinking of my two guestlist seats in the first row.. Will I go there alone now? It was a very strange feeling. Hopefully another friend was so spontaneous to come with. So I drank and smoked with him a lot to get through.. But I still cant believe what happened.
Anyway the concert was brilliant and lifted me up! When the four.. left the stage to play the scientist and death will never conquer they past the place where I was ´sitting´ directly in front of me! I could have touched them but I didnt know that they love to be touched (like they tell in an interview..) and I just stood there amazed with eyes wide open I had to wait for this for 5 years and I really loved the atmosphere!
I hope Coldplay come to Australia in february/march and annouce it soon! I will be there cause I make a round the world trip.. Maybe I see them in New Yersey(27oct) too! But I dont know if I m still there at this date.. But in Australia I definately would be there!! So this is a call for Coldplay to go there! I think I need you there and a lot of other people too!
[m.@.S.]
Here I am, I am new to this forum but I love Coldplay's music for some time now, but as many people, didn't pay too much attention on the band, who they are, what they do aso. You probably get what I mean, as it happened to some of you as well - maybe?!
I have to confess that I bite my behind, that I didn't buy more tickets for different shows such as Berlin or Munich I have only been to the Hamburg show and ... holy cow ... what a concert it was!! It was also the first time I saw the band playing live and I was a bit unsure before 'cause I have seen a footage of the BBC concert in London, and honestly saying I thought the sound and Chris voice wasn't in best form So my fear was that it could be the same but I was proven wrong (and I am more than happy about that!!).
The show was absolutely amazing and now I am sitting here with extreme withdrawal symptoms and I am suffering terribly because I soooo want to see them again.
My friend and I tried to meet the band before the concert, well, we checked some of the hotels celebs usually stay in while being in Hamburg and we were told at one hotel, that the band cancelled their booking short notice because they left Cologne right for London and would only fly in from London for the show and would leave straight afterwards.
Well, I guess it's more than obvious that spending time with their families is the most precious thing to do when being on tour for 18 months ...
Right now while touring Europe they can still do it (flying back to London, I mean) but I guess they won't when they are in the US or elsewhere because the distances are too big
That was probably also another reason why the concert ended quite early (if you ask me, they could have played a bit longer ...). Hamburg airport has a night flight restriction, landings and departures are only allowed until 11 pm. So when finishing at 10.25 pm they really had to hurry to reach the airport in time.
[LittleMissMessy]
