17 June 2008: Free Show, Espacio Movistar, Barcelona, Spain

From WikiColdplay

Barcelona

1 Setlist
2 Photos
3 Fan Reviews
4 Media Reviews
5 Videos

Setlist

Photos

Photos from this show can be found at Coldplaying.com in the Gallery thread for Barcelona. http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/1501

Fan Reviews

All fan reviews have been submitted to us by the members of Coldplaying.com[1], unless stated otherwise.

Must begin by saying we at coldplayzone.it were contacted by a person from EMI Italy, I'm not going into details but he told us he could find passes for the press conference and concert in Barcelona...all of this was happening just one week before the show, but it was not yet sure. So after deciding who among us could go to Barcelona with such a short notice, me and Gabriele (coldplayzone's webmaster) were anxiously waiting for the confirmation..I was soooo freaking out that I was merely able to work those few days..then finally on friday Gabriele ringed me telling he had just received a mail saying something like "Yes, I have two free passes for Coldplay's press conference and concert in Barcelona". My heart almost stopped, BARCELONA THE.PRESS.CONFERENCE. THE.FREE.CONCERT.FOR.ONLY.1500.PEOPLE So we booked our flights (fu***ng expensive flights by the way, but you know, never book them only two days in advance), the hotel and were ready for Barcelona. We spent the sunday and monday touristing around. Our hotel was really in the center of the city, not far from Placa Catalunya, where the Rambla begins, so we spent the evening strolling along the Rambla and coming back through the narrow streets of the Barrio Gotico. Next day was for tourism too: la Sagrada Familia and Parc Gueill by Gaudì, then we met with a friend of Gabriele and went around Gracia (which I've been told is one of the nicest areas in Barcelona)...going back to the hotel we stopped to the Santa Maria del Mar, a church where Coldplay recorded some bits of their last album (we had to ).

Then came the day of the concert, June 17. We went to hotel where the press conference were to be held, but no one there seemed to know anything apart from a room booked for this event in the afternoon; so we went to the concert venue, but they didn't have any list from EMI..and we started to freak out. Called the person from EMI Italy who told us the one from EMI UK had the list and he wasn't arrived yet from London. We got back to the hotel and waited for him there, and it was a loooong waiting. We decided to search for a place to eat something, then came back again to the hotel. There we met with a spanish guy working for the National Geographic, they had to shoot a short commercial break with Chris to promote one of their Tv channels if I remember correctly, but they didn't know when and where they were supposed to do it I guess it was nearly 5.30 pm, some photographers had already arrived, some were waiting outside, some other had gone inside, up to a stair and walking down a corridor (you could see the inside of the hotel as the entrance was all of glass)...and that's when I seriously started to freak out. We asked again to the porter if he knew whether Mr. W from EMI UK had arrived, but apparently he didn't, so asked the security if we could go in and we were denied because they thought we were just fans waiting for Coldplay..I started exaplaining him we were not fans (not in that occasion) but were from EMI Italy and that's when our angel from EMI UK came and told the porter we were going inside with him...god I was feeling so relieved, he's been so nice with us, gave us the tickets for the concert and also told us they were going to record the press conference and could have it if we were interested

Side note, I realized I start speaking english better and faster when I'm angry

So up we went..I swear while I was climbing the steps of the staircase I had my heart beating tooo fast..and then we realized the room for the conference was really small and the first two rows of seats were empty and were like 2-3 metres from the table they were going to be sitting Before starting the conference a woman made sure no one was taking pictures of them while they were coming in, no one were to ask questions about their private life (and I guess she was mostly referring to questions about Gwyneth). And here they are, first one entering was Guy (and since I don't like him I was absolutely not staring at him, he's short, but in a nice way ), then Jonny, Chris and last one was Will. They stood in front of all the photographers and Guy took out his camera and started taking pictures of us, also during the interview...that was great and unexpected, at one point I had my head turned towards a guy who was asking them a question and Gabriele told me he was taking a picture of me, I turned an he was really doing

Well I'm not going to talk about all the questions they were asked, I just know I came up with a good one but I didn't have the time to ask it...but some questions were really stupid, it seems journalists didn't even know who they're talking to. Someone asked them why they were using "french dressing" at which Chris answered "I got what you're referring to, but in England french dressing is what you put on salad", that was freaking hilarious Then he made smirking faces while saying they've changed during these three years, because now they're more sexy, only Guy has always been sexy (he's saying this a bit too much lately) We didn't manage to take pictures with them, mainly because we didn't wait for them to come out of the bathroom (yes, they went straight into the bathroom after the conference) and went to queue for the gig, since it was 7 and the door were to be open at 8...but I'm happy anyway, we asked Mr. W if we could meet them after the gig, and he told us to give him a number where he would call us, but my friend discovered he didn't have any more money in it so we will never know if he really called us.

Anyway, on the gig (we were around 1500 people in total), we managed to be second row and met some people from coldplaying.com (liamskelter and Lost!) and had a great time waiting for the concert to start. Up came John Hopkins, he plays electronic music, so not really my genre, but luckily it didn't last too much.

At 10 something Life in Technicolor kicks is and here they are..people seems to already know the songs, so when Violet Hill starts everyone is singing along atop of their lungs and Chris thanks us at the end of the song. Then Clocks and In My Place, amazing as always, they could play it with eyes closed, and of course everyone is singing along. Then it's Viva la Vida, this song is just freaking awesome, forget the performace at the MTV Movie Awards, when everyone's singing the oohhhh's is just epic, plus you can see Will at the front for a while, it's a pity he's always relegated on the back and you can barely see him behind the drums. Another of my favourite from the new album, Chinese Sleep Chant, I simply love it, and love how you could hear Guy's backing vocals intertwining with Chris' in the middle of the song. God Put a Smile Upon Your Face, was even more rocking than the other tours, Jonny and Guy played a bit one in front of the other, like they do in the video. 42 was awesome, during the middle part all of them were really into it. Square One was a nice surprise, I knew they played the day before at Brixton Academy but was not sure they were going to play it that evening, and they did, loving the final part with all the people singing. Well Trouble, the second time I had the chance to listen to this song live, and I get the shivers everytime And here's the song I revalued the most: Lost!. I mean I already liked it, but live is just 1000 times better, Jonny was amazing plus I was shocked to see the one of the drums being pulled forward and Guy playing it for the first part of the song, I was expecting Will to come over On to Strawberry Swing, this song just makes me happy...and the line "It's such a perfect day" was so damn right

At this point darkness came, I was wondering if they were going to repeat the acustic set like they did in London...and that's when the lights turned on on them over the balcony, and they started playing Yellow acustic..I looove this version, and then Will singing the Goldrush, he has a really great voice, I'm glad Chris convinced him to sing it. Back on the stage it's Fix You time, great as usual and great singalong..and finally Lovers in Japan. I'm still not sure but this is probably my favourite one from the new album and live it just gets better, with all the butterflies confetti, it leaves you happy and euphoric even though the gig is over. We hoped for them to come out again but realised they weren't when the lights were turned on and technicians started to disassemble everything.

Still not believing what we had just experienced we took some of the butterflies and proceeded towards the exit. There was a table with some merchandise, I bought the red shirt with "Viva la Vida" written in white, a small poster of the gig and since it was empty, a paperboard box used to put the cds (you can see a picture below). We then laid over the grass still on cloud number nine.

I still have to completely recover from that day, it was unbelievable, the concert was almost flawless, the audience was amazing, and I'm loving them more than ever...all I can say is: roll on September

[iriden]

Media Reviews

Press Conference, Barcelona

Coldplay makes Barcelona vibrate

A thousand lucky people listened first hand to the 10 songs from the new record by the british rock quartet Coldplay, who today played their second concert of their world tour, in the Espacio Movistar in Barcelona

Last night's gig, which lasted 2 hours, was an appetizer and, listening to some fans' thoughts, most of their fans approve the change that the band made with their fourth album.

The risk of becoming U2's ghost in just a successful band have dissapeared. Coldplay opened the gig with 'Life in Technicolor', from 'Viva la Vida or Death and all his friends', full title of the fourth record, inspired by a Frida Kahlo's painting. The British band played eight of the 10 songs from the album Viva la vida, a record which they wanted to be no more than 45 minutes long, because they know that these days people don't have too much time. Today's concert in Barcelona was preceded by another one yesterday in London and this series of intimate shows will be completed next june 23rd in New York.

[translated from Spanish by Lore]