15 February 2006: Brit Awards

From WikiColdplay

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15 February 2006

Setlist

Reviews

As Coldplay veered into "Yellow" territory at its sold-out Pepsi Center show Sunday night, celebrating the song that started it all for the English quartet, the band seemed revitalized and strong and, most unexpectedly, understatedly simple. Previously, the band has played this single awash in obnoxious yellow floodlights, but here they simply rocked it with a straightforward curl of the lip. No gimmicky yellow, no over- the-top trickery, no redundant eye-poking ... until the giant, canary-colored balloons dropped from the arena rafters.

Of course Coldplay, one of the most influential (and safe) rock bands today, has to play into the song's titular glum- rock color. First used as a marketing brand by the then-yellow-themed ABC network, it is an anthem for the band. And the 16,000-plus fans ate up the balloon drop - and everything else the band dished out.

With Coldplay, there are no surprises. The band gives fans exactly what they paid for and little else.

While Sunday's concert was spot-on technically - with singer Chris Martin and his band in exceptional shape - it was a production of little imagination. Songs sounded the same as their album counterparts. And given the reputation the band has in certain circles as pedestrian peddlers of pabulum, it's not surprising Coldplay went the safe route.

"This is just the sort of concert you need after losing all your Grammys to U2," Martin said mid-show, referencing U2's domination (and Coldplay's absence) at the recent Grammy Awards.

The group started slow with a "Square One"/"Politik" combination, and after "Yellow" came the fury of "Speed of Sound," "God Put a Smile On Your Face," "X&Y" and an excellent "Don't Panic."

But even when Coldplay really hits - as it did on "Don't Panic" and the Johnny Cash tribute "Til Kingdom Come" later in the set - it's not the kind of concert-defining moment you remember the rest of your life. It's more like that night you woke your neighbors up by testing the limits of your Bose surround sound with "A Rush of Blood to the Head" at 2 a.m.

The band did surprise, though, with its brazenly tight rhythm section on "Clocks" and "Talk." And there were times when their instrumental mix is magic. The subtlety of Martin's piano, which he played about half the time Sunday, and the band's guitar-fronted wall of sound hits the right tones, and during those moments, there was no question as to Coldplay's enduring popularity.

Source: denverpost.com

Coldplay at the Fillmore Auditorium a few years ago? Great show. Coldplay at Red Rocks later on? Sounds about right. Another fine performance and tight show.

Coldplay kicking it up to the level of arena rockers? It seems like an iffy proposition. You've got to have spectacle - a heart- shaped stage that circles the arena, a second stage near the back, or at the very least the E Street Band backing you.

Coldplay rocks harder than its detractors think, but its milieu are mellow, heartfelt ballads that seem much more at home at the theater level than in hockey arenas.

But what the hell. Coldplay has faced down ridiculous expectations before - most recently, it seemed the entire music industry hinged on whether the latest album, X&Y, would live up to the previous two discs.

And for the most part, Sunday night's move up was a success. In some ways it was quite clever; during Yellow, the band dropped two dozen huge yellow balloons from the rafters filled with gold confetti, turning the Pepsi Center into a human pinball machine for a few minutes. Chris Martin and band managed to entertain the crowd and poke gentle fun at themselves at the same time.

"This is just the sort of concert you need after you lose all of your Grammys to U2," Martin joked.

Four albums in, the band is so loaded with hits that they were able to do their first one, Yellow, and their latest, Speed of Sound, right up front in the set, leaving other huge numbers such as The Scientist to fill out the latter part of the show.

The band is fighting the "Chris Martin and those other guys" image, which led to plenty of big-screen time for drummer Will Champion and bassist Guy Berryman, and Martin explicitly instructed the crowd to take note of guitarist Jon Buckland's vocals.

The mid-set acoustic set is becoming a cliché, but a tribute to Johnny Cash with Ring of Fire was a nice clap-along moment. The hit Trouble became an enormous singalong.

There's no denying that the band has grown into its popularity. They held it together with panache and wit.

Years ago at the Fillmore, Martin passionately sang "Give me real / don't give me fake" in the song Politik. He was just as passionate on that line Sunday night.

Fiona Apple opened the show with a riveting set, especially the three-song stretch that included the new song Better Version of Me coupled with her classics Shadowboxer and the most powerful Criminal I've ever heard her do.

Source: rockymountainnews.com

Minutes passed in the crowded Pepsi Center Sunday night with only the lights of cell phones and the flashes of cameras to add light to the anxious darkness. When Coldplay finally appeared, they burst onto the stage as a bright screen lit up behind them and started counting down ten seconds in huge digital numbers.

Ten seconds to what? Well, it seems reasonable that Coldplay was hoping it wouldn’t take more than ten seconds to challenge a few of their fans’ expectations. Though known for their moody, subdued music, Coldplay came to the stage ready to rock. Songs like “Fix You” and “Politik” were delivered with drive.

Coldplay couldn’t maintain that unusual speed and nerve through their entire show, but even slower numbers got spiced up with an edge of creativity.

During “Yellow” about 20 oversized yellow balloons were dropped from the rafters onto the crowd. The fans reacted by bouncing the globes madly on their fingertips until they exploded, dumping sparkly gold glitter everywhere.

Martin started out solo on “God Put a Smile Upon Your Face,” before the band joined him for a slightly choppy performance that was punctuated by the clapping of the crowd.

The band even played Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.”

Though not known for back flips, the band seemed chipper. Martin perused the stage, grabbing the hands of fans, hitting the keys, playing the guitar, and even bouncing up and down a tad. He chatted it up with the audience, making playful comments like “There’s a lot more of you then we expected,” before diving into dreamy signature material like “Don’t Panic” and “Trouble.”

It seemed like the band was more interested in playing their higher-energy material and was just running through more dreary hits as a matter of obligation.

Coldplay burst into the scene in 2000 with their popular debut, “Parachutes.” It’s been smooth flying since then for the British quartet with hits like “Clocks” strengthening their stardom, and singer Chris Martin’s highly-publicized marriage to actress Gwyneth Paltrow keeping the band’s name in the headlines. Though the band has been largely defined by its penchant for dreamy songs that explore Martin’s personal emotions, the band has been making some strides toward more energetic pieces on it latest album, 2005’s “X&Y.”

Sunday night it certainly appeared that Coldplay was ready to leave behind the drudgery of its sensitive guy image and break new ground as a more balanced rock band.

Source: gazette.com

If a band is going to kick off a concert with four huge hits in a row, the members must have plenty of confidence in their ability to carry the rest of the show with those songs already spent.

Coldplay took the gamble, and its sold-out performance at Denver’s Pepsi Center Sunday night didn’t suffer in the least. Dressed in black, the group started the evening with “Square One,” the opening track to its latest CD, “X&Y.” From there, singer Chris Martin went right into the pounding piano intro of “Politik,” followed by the band’s first hit, “Yellow,” and “Speed of Sound.”

Thanks for coming, everyone. Drive safely.

Turns out the guys didn’t need to pace themselves. Their energy and music were big enough to carry the rest of the night, and the audience of kids, parents and grandparents would’ve followed them anywhere by that point. Jonny Buckland (guitar), Will Champion (drums) and Guy Berryman (bass) proved, for those who might have thought otherwise, that Coldplay isn’t Martin and three anonymous guys. This is a cohesive, tight-playing unit, and while the energetic (and quite limber) Martin gets much of the face time, he’s not bigger than the band.

About halfway through the concert, the group gathered at the front of the stage for a semi-unplugged bit, performing “Til Kingdom Come” in honor of Johnny Cash. The group wrote the song in anticipation of Cash recording it; unfortunately, he wasn’t able to do so before his death. Coldplay’s rendition was quite good, though, and they followed it with “Ring of Fire” for good measure.

The band covered all the expected hits - “Clocks,” “God Put a Smile Upon Your Face,” “Trouble” and “The Scientist” - and threw in some unexpected treats: “Don’t Panic” and “How You See the World.” By the time the set ended with a full-blast version of “Talk,” the crowd clearly felt it had gotten its money’s worth, despite being crammed into the Pepsi Center’s ridiculous excuses for seats.

An encore of “Swallowed in the Sea,” “In My Place” and the group’s mother of all sing-alongs, “Fix You,” brought the night to a fulfilling close.

Fiona Apple opened the show, and while it was good to see someone with that much talent and passion exposed to bigger audiences, an opening-act slot didn’t do her justice. With her vibrato on display, Apple sped through a 45-minute set that included the hits “Criminal” and “Shadowboxer,” as well as songs (not enough) from her excellent CD, “Extraordinary Machine.” Though she did a good job, she’s more enjoyable as a main act performing at smaller venues, as she proved last December at the Paramount Theatre.

As far as arena shows go, Coldplay knows who pays the bills and gives its fans what they come for: great-sounding music, energy, appreciation, lots of feeling and chances to sing out loud.

Some critics might say giving the people what they want is pedestrian, really; “real” musicians should challenge themselves and their fans by going in new directions. But as Coldplay proved Sunday night, familiarity done right can still be very, very good.

Source: chieftain.com

It was a great night and while the band might have been a little tighter and more serious on some of the others Denver shows in the past they were definitely in a very upbeat mood and happy to be there. I was on the floor (maybe part of the reason) and while some of the crowd annoyed me (we had 4 drunk 40ish yuppies in front annoying the f*ck out of us during the show) people stood up the entire show and the crowd was visibly going nuts during the encore. We had met with all our friends before and after so it was just nice to get the Colorado fanbase back together again (6th CO show here).

A ton of adlibs for the crowd which was great and seeing Chris run to the BACK of the auditorium and magically appear during the final bars of In My Place was rather unexpected. We always get a great performance when they come here and last night was no exception.

There was NO security whatsoever (not even a pat down) which surprised the hell out of me. I saw a ton of digi cameras and took some clips myself. Hopefully we’ll see a recording but I’m not sure if any tapers purposely hit the show with their stash.

I know we’ll always get “filler fans” who know little about the band at these shows and only know them from the radio but that’s part of the compromise when they got this big. Lord knows that many of the original fans who used to post on this forum are gone and replaced by a younger fans who’ve only been into them this year. Hopefully the original fans are still attending the shows and continue to support the band and realize what a great spirited show they saw even with some annoyances aside.

Also keep in mind that when people bitch about playing times (1 and 1/2 hrs) or not hearing Shiver, Amsterdam, or songs like Warning Sign that these are not derivations from what they play EVERY show. They play 1 encore almost all nights, play for 1 and 1/2 hrs, and never play these listed songs. I know I’d personally like to see the band mix up the setlist from show to show but until Coldplay MAKES a conscious choice to do so, its not going to happen. So don’t get your hopes up for these songs unless you’re ready to be 99.5% ready to be dissapointed.

Square One Politik Yellow Speed of Sound God Put a Smile on Your Face X & Y How You See The World White Shadows Scientist Don’t Panic Till Kingdom Come Ring of Fire Trouble Clocks Talk

Encore Swallowed In The Sea In My Place Fix You

[Thanks Chris's Nuts]

The guys were on, a beautiful amazing performance, but I felt they seemed a little less happy than I have seen them before, tired maybe (jet lag from just coming back from UK?)

Things that stuck out most in my mind: Chris said, “You guys sing Good” after The Scientist.

Thanked us for coming out on a Sunday night and in the cold. He was surprised that people were sitting behind the stage. Said he was glad to see so many of us had come out to the show after they had lost all the Grammys to U2.

Loved when Jonny sang Don’t Panic and during the acoustic set, and how Will was playing the piano during Trouble and he had to start over at one point and Chris said something like, “It’s OK when you’re 8 and mess up in front of your piano teacher, but when you mess up in front of 16,000 people it is not good.”

[Thanks Yeshe]

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