17 March 2006: ScotiaBank Place, Kanata, ON
From WikiColdplay
Setlist
- Square One
- Politik
- Yellow
- Speed Of Sound
- God Put A Smile On Your Face
- X&Y
- How You See The World No.2
- Don't Panic
- White Shadows
- The Scientist
- 'Til Kingdom Come
- Ring of Fire (cover)
- Trouble
- Clocks
- Talk
- Swallowed In The Sea
- In My Place
- Fix You
Reviews
It was not hard to see why the uber-hip Brit band Coldplay generates as much hype and hysteria as U2, the band they're most often compared to, last night at Scotiabank Place. Women. Lots and lots of women. Glammed up and gorgeous, they were everywhere last night, making up most of the sellout crowd of 15,000 there to see the thinking woman's boy band. Why all these women made Coldplay's scene was easy -- who else is as cute and writes about women and relationships as affectionately as Coldplay did in their 90-minute set?
No one, not even U2.
Fronted by the laconic, doe-eyed Martin with "the other guys," guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion, the band melted hearts with a gorgeously romantic set of 18 tunes, primarily from 2005's X&Y and their seminal 2002 release A Rush of Blood to the Head.
Looking slightly mottled, Martin's unkempt shaggy-haired and unshaven puppy-dog vulnerability caused loud keening female wails when he first came on stage.
SPELLBINDING START
Martin and company opened with Square One and Politik during which Martin leaped athletically, and posed dramatically across the large, bare stage before settling in behind the piano while cosmic fireworks exploded on the video bank behind the muscular Champion.
It was a spellbinding way to kick things off and hinted at a performance as tightly choreographed as it was reckless and spontaneous.
On the thundering Yellow, giant yellow balloons filled with sparkles fell from the rafters, much to the joy of the fans at ice-level.
And ever the diplomat, Martin dedicated God Put a Smile On Your Face to one of his favourite bands, Montreal's Arcade Fire.
Afterwards, he apologized for his shaggy mop of hair, joking that if anyone was disappointed, they could get a $2 rebate off their ticket.
While it wasn't the funniest line I've heard a frontman crack, Martin was certainly one of the more endearing. Downright polite and un-rock-star like.
Of course, it's almost become fashionable to dis Coldplay for emasculating pop-rock and sending it to sensitivity therapy.
Nothing could be further from the truth, that is, unless you think that soft-rock and intelligent lyrics married to plaintive melodies is just for wussies.
Even if they have been a little too mellow in the past, the band, who are only now just peaking, proved that they can rock with the best of them on Speed of Sound, White Shadows and their rallying cry Clocks.
It was easy to see the similar genetic material of their songs. Each one fit the one before and the one following it like a puzzle.
Ultimately, the show fell upon the charismatic Martin, who often appeared alone on stage, at the piano, pounding out The Scientist while the audience sang the chorus like a British soccer anthem.
He winded things down with a cover of Ring of Fire dedicated to Roy Orbison, while encoring with Swallowed in the Sea and For You in which Martin sang from the other end of the rink, and finally, the funereal Fix You.
"Thanks for giving us your Friday night," Martin said.
You're most welcome, old chap, we must do this again sometime.
Opening for Coldplay was former Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft. Ever charming and slightly eccentric, Ashcroft's set was heavy on symphonically-proportioned, trance-inducing R&B ballads including Lucky Man, Bittersweet Symphony and Sly Stone's Thank You (For Lettin' Me be Myself Again), sounding gothically funky like something Prince might have done with The Moody Blues.
Souce: ottawasun.com
Holy shit, it was honestly the best concert I have ever attended in my life. Coldplay really knows how to put on an amazing show. I almost died when Chris ran all the way from the stage back to the end of the arena. He was so close I could reach out and touch him. There was easily 15 000-16 000 people there last night.
SETLIST:
Sqaure One Politik Yellow Speed Of Sound God Put A Smile Upon Your Face X&Y How You See The World Don't Panic (w/ Jonny Buckland) White Shadows The Scientist 'Til Kingdom Come Ring Of Fire (Johnny Cash Cover) Trouble Clocks Talk
Swallowed In The Sea In My Place Fix You
[Thanks actionaction]
In regards to the review by the Ottawa Sun, whoever wrote that should be fired. Let me begin by explaining the tribute was not to Roy Orbison, it was Johnny Cash, of course. Last time I checked Roy Orbison was not famous for Ring of Fire. Also, Coldplay does not have a song called For You, rather he sang, In My Place from the other side of the arena.
With that off my chest, this was undoubtedly the greatest live band performance I have ever witnessed. From the opening strum of the guitar to the gracious bow at the end of the performance the entire show was spectacular. The lighting and laser effects were awe inspiring, while the music was flawless.
Coldplay was definitely rocking the crowd. They played songs from X&Y, and of course all the hits from Rush of Blood to the Head. They even went back to album #1, Parachutes and treated us to less well-known songs like Don't Panic and Trouble. Arguably one of the highlights of the evening was during their third song, Yellow, and giant yellow balloons filled with golden confetti dropped from the rafters and popped over the crowd, seemingly in a timely fashion. One of them landed on stage behind Chris Martin, which he seemed to find amusing.
I have never seen a crowd as into a concert as I saw last night. During The Scientist the crowd sang the chorus on command, and Martin exclaimed, "They teach you how to sing here in Ottawa." After the band finished up their main set with Talk and left the stage, the crowd roared in applause, anticipating an encore. Then Coldplay took the stage again to encore with 3 songs. First, Swallowed in the Sea, during which a white curtain dropped from the rafters ,and early song lyrics and notes of the band were projected and rotated across the curtain. Next was In My Place during which Martin rushed out into the audience and drew people out of the seats to rush over to him for a close look. Climbing back onto the stage, I believe he said something like this was one of the best stages in the world...but I could be mistaken. Finally, they encored with Fix You. In my opinion they couldn't have ended with a better song than one in which the whole band sang together.
Overall, this was the greatest concert experience I have ever had. I was willing to drive up from Syracuse, NY to see it, and it was well worth the ticket price. I would have paid over $200 for this show. Can't wait to see them on the next tour.
[Thanks Jason]
Let me start by saying: AMAZING. Once again, Coldplay has managed to put 18 songs together in a splendid, yet wonderful magical show.
We arrived at the Scotiabank Place at 6PM and managed to get in right away. As soon as we got in, there was a kiosk where I bought another Coldplay Tour t-shirt. After waiting for more than 1 hour, gates finally opened and we rushed in. Our seats were way more closer then we thought. Security at the Scotiabank Place was really tight; we had to stay in our seats (which is, in my opinion, a good thing).
Richard Ashcroft and his band, which is the opening act of this leg of the tour, came out really ecstatic playing really good songs including ‘Keys To The World’, ‘Lucky Man’, ‘Music Is Power’, ‘Sonnet’, ‘Break The Night With Color’ and classic ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ from ‘The Verve’. The crowd stood up and went nuts until he left the stage.
And then, it was the moment of truth. The lights died, the huge screen lit up and the count down started while the band played ‘Square One’, and so it was the beginning of an amazing night. During ‘Yellow’, Chris looked a couple of times at the ceiling to cue the guys on the footbridge to release the yellow balloons, which they did a little too late. John did sing the chorus for ‘Don’t Panic’. He also laid down on the stage with Chris at the end of ‘White Shadows’.
After ‘The Scientist’, the acoustic part of the show started off with a mistake by Chris, dedicating ‘’Til Kingdom Come’ to Johnny Cash who was the ‘greatest Canadian to ever live’; too bad he’s American. Then a fan told him to start ‘Ring Of Fire’ from Johnny Cash, which he did, followed by ‘Clocks’ and ‘Talk’.
They started off the encore with ‘Swallowed In The Sea’ and continued with ‘In My Place’, during which he ran all the way to the back of the venue. He then came back on stage before finishing the wonderful evening with ‘Fix You’. I still have shivers.
SETLIST: 01. Square One 02. Politik 03. Yellow 04. Speed Of Sound 05. God Put A Smile Upon Your Face 06. X&Y 07. How You See The World 08. Don’t Panic 09. White Shadows 10. The Scientist 11. ‘Til Kingdom Come 12. Ring Of Fire (Johnny Cash Cover) 13. Trouble 14. Clocks 15. Talk
ENCORE: 16. Swallowed In The Sea 17. In My Place 18. Fix You
[Thanks Yannick]
