18 July 2008: HP Pavilion, San Jose, CA, USA (Videos & Fan Reviews)

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That was quite possibly *the* single most incredible experience of my life.

Seriously, though... everything about the concert was so freaking awesome.... I'm still attempting to recover from it, which totally isn't working (I got home about an hour ago). I'm just.... wow. Like, completely overwhelmed. In all the best ways. Anyway... the set list was absolutely fantastic! Obviously, Coldplay loves us North Californians better than you people down south, because we got at least one extra song, and practically three encores. Oh, and the set-up/lighting was seriously brilliant. The laser show in Clocks was INSANE! And those magic balls were absolutely perfect.... not to mention the butterfly confetti during Lovers in Japan, it made the performance/song a hundred times better... I must've collected at least 100 pieces, I'll post pictures very soon.

AHHHHHH, SO EXCITED! The only downside was not getting to meet/see the band up close... but I wasn't really expecting for that to happen, so whatever. And, I got an awesome VLV shirt... not to mention my seat was really really close, comparatively.

[strawberryfields]]

So I just got back from the San Jose show 2nite, it was just lovely. Of course all the awesome songs were played especially one of my favorites "Politik", I had fun body and head banging to that one. "Yes" and "Chinese Sleep Chant" were other highlights 4 me. The crowd was cool, the top and lower sections all did the wave b4 Coldplay came out. But what was up with the people in my section (128) sitting down during some of the songs?....really! Literally I was pretty much the only one standing up in my section but at least the band could locate me more easily, I would like to think that Guy Berryman was applauding me for my dancing, even if that's very much wishful thinking.

HP's sound was better than normal so all the booming bass, banging drum kicks, and crisp euphoric guitar notes, and choir-like singing was very easy to enjoy.

Chris slipped up a few times on some of the newer songs, I liked it cuz it showed he is human (knew that already btw). Also I just barely learned all them songs meself. But he bounced back singing something along the lines of "San Jose...the people here are very forgiving" Some lucky people were graced by the band singing right by them, the whole band managed to run across the floor and up into the lower section and Chris said "Oh now I see what it's like" and in2 "the Hardest Part". After that Will sang a song, quite a good singer, he should do it more hans solo.

All in all, it was nice with all the neonized confetti, magical balls, & the band's humble presence.

[soulsalsa7]

great show, weird crowd. lots of people sitting down all around me. this was my first coldplay show ever, and i had high hopes. my hopes weren't let down by the band, as much as the "fans". lots of great moments though. hilights for me were "in my place" with the crowd really belting out the chorus and viva la vida. fix you was amazing! great showing by the band, wish the audience was a little more with it. they seemed very flat. strawberry swing and lost are powerful live! love them... great night out.

[electricalstorm1]

We went to Coldplay concert tonight in San Jose. Needless to say, it was amazing, as expected. I absolutely love their “Viva la Vida” album, and seeing it live, coupled with Coldplay’s older hits was just an icing on the cake.

My only grouse was the show started at 7.30 and endured two long opening acts, and by the time Coldplay made an entrance it was almost 9.15pm. They played till 10.45pm, which felt awfully short given the breath of Coldplay’s hits. By the time it ended, I felt it had only just begun!

Something funny - this place is so full of desis, but shockingly it felt like there were no desis at all in the concert. Out of 10-20000 people, I am willing to bet there were not more than 100 desis around! What were they doing? Watching Mahabharat perhaps

Source: http://www.suyogdeshpande.net/blog/2...dplay-concert/

I took my brother to the concert.We got there at about 730.We roamed around for a second.I was going to by some tshirts but the lines were crazy long.Ill get them tomorrow at the vegas show. We found our seats.We were in section 115 row 14 pretty sweet view. The first band was pretty good.They were the band that won the contest.Shearwater wasnt all that great.They were ok i guess.But not my cup of tea.

The boys came on at 915ish.And in my opinion the crowd was electric for the first 5 songs.And i think Chris and the boys were feeding off of the crowd.They came out with so much energy it looked.I guess a couple days off will do that.But during songs like Yes,Chinese Sleep Chant,Strawberry Swing i saw people sitting down.Which was i dont know,whatever.I would say in the middle of the concert the crowd kind of died down.But when they played Speed of Sound they crowd seemed to get back into it.I was suprised that they played Yellow with the full band!!I was really pleased because i think that song is just too big not to be played with the full band.And the crowd was definately back into from then on. Politik was also a great suprise!!I looked at my brother when they started the song and was like YESS!!!Politik was one of the songs i was wishing they would play because i think it has so much energy for it to be left out.I got my wish!!! The they went into Lost and chris was dancing like crazy.And my brother again was like man look at him dance haha.I swear at one point it looked like chris was having a seizure. He was doing this shaking thing that was so funny.Me and my brother were laughing so hard.But i must admit chris' moves were on tonight!!!Haha.

Then Chris was like im tired of playing here.So they ran through the crowd and started to play an acoustic version of the hardest part!!It was awesome!!I really liked that version they did.I have a video of it.Then after will singing they went back for the final 3 songs.It was a really great show!!!They sounded so good!!Any doubts that we had before about chris' voice or the band can surely be put to rest!!I thought that the light show from last tour was a little better than this tour.Not that thats a bad thing.It was still a good light show but we come to see the band.I loved the magic balls too!!But they had that big screen the whole time and hardly used it til the end. I guess thats what the balls were for.Anyways it was an awesome show!!!Ill upload the videos i took.I will be going to the Vegas show to take my girl!!I cant wait!!!

[IneedYou23]

The planned setlist

I thought that this was a GREAT opportunity for the band to really 'step it up' from their last two shows in LA. The first half somewhat left me disappointed (same order like last time from Life in Technicolor to Strawberry Swing). But right after, Chris then goes on saying "I wish there was a way for us to be up in the back *wink*" (YES I SAW HIM WINK/GRIN, THAT LITTLE SNEAK!). I guess I, along with maybe the other few Coldplay fanatics, knew about the bits and surprises from LA, but when Chris spurted that line I was immediately suspicious. Before anything else was said, the first downbeat note of YELLOW was done and I went nuts!! It's been A LONG TIME since I heard the album/electric version of Yellow since the Twisted Logic tour!

But that doesn't end there....THE BOYS KICKED IT INTO THE HARD-HITTING NOTES OF POLITIK!! You guys probably wouldn't believe it, but I FUCKING WENT CRAZY HERE!! OMFG that had to be the best performance of Politik that I've ever seen since the Grammy's (....okay that's sort of an exaggeration, but it's been a while since they busted out that song!).

After the grandiose-rockin' song, Chris then goes off and says among the lines of "Okay I'm tired of this here!" and so the four of them went off the stage and up into the lower-level seats in the back. I was prrraaaaaaayying to dear heavens that they would play Don't Panic....but the first few words ended up being "The Hardest Part." DOOODE I was excited anyway; the acoustic version sounded much MUCH better because it was ACOUSTIC and that the song was played in a lower key (which sounded a bit darker, but fuller, in my opinion).

Oh, and LOL Will's guitar wasn't working for a minute before they started to play "THe Hardest Part", btw.

Honestly I think after "Yellow" was played, the crowd finally picked up the momentum of the concert. I'm sorry to say this, but THE LOS ANGELES CROWD WAS MUCH MORE WELCOMING AND EXCITING THAN HERE IN NORCAL! EVERYONE in the 128 section (lower-level section right NEXT to the end of the catwalk, where the boys play "Chinese Sleep Chant" and "GPASUYF") was sitting down!! .....Then again, I lucked out by buying my seat through general sale instead of the auctions....which is WEIRD...

[talkingonsquareone89]

I‘m going to preface this with saying I saw the band twice on there twisted logic tour, so this is not a first time concert experience for me. However this was my first experience with floor seats which will factor into this review. And a warning to you all it’s a long one. Ok quick mention of opening acts. First act: bad, second act: better but 0 stage presence, they could not have done more to try and kill the vibe lol. On to the show….

It opened as I’m sure everyone knows with life in Technicolor. Not my favorite opener of theirs but I understand the choice. The song started to play as the band made their way on stage behind a screen like see through type curtain. I didn’t care for the effect of this curtain remaining down through the whole song, but that’s a small nitpick. Not sure when the pre recorded bit stopped and the band kicked in as the transition was seamless, or it backing simply continued to play along with the band through the song.

Violet Hill was next and sounded amazing, I love this song so I was happy, and I’m going to take this moment to say that Chris’s voice was in fine form, a very big improvement from earlier in the year, he sounded fantastic through the whole show.

Clocks was next which brought instant crowd appreciation. Who doesn’t love the brilliant laser light show we all know is coming the minute that beautiful piano cord kicks in.

They followed it up with In My Place. The sing along aspect of this tune is just unbelievable, and if Jonny doest makes you love him during this song you have no soul! But to be honest it felt a little misplaced. A song of this caliber belongs a little further in the set, so hopefully a crowd has hit their stride. It caught me a little off guard coming so early and might have served the band better in the middle where the show began to lull a bit.

And yes the crowd was appalling. They lacked energy through most of the show, and refused to engage many times though the band seemed to be making an effort to get them to. That said, I do believe that Chris was a little off last night himself, and the crowd being that way definitely didn’t help. But I’ve seen this band in concert a few times and this was probably the worst vibe I ever got from the band. I felt really bad as usually if a crowd is good enough they can turn that around, but clearly that was not going to happen. Chris seemed far less chatty and happy than usual, and the rest of the band seems to take their cues from him. Don’t mistake me the band put on a great show, ever the professionals, but…. you just know when things aren’t coming together, and they just weren’t quite gelling last night, at least from my perspective. Viva La Vida was next, the band performed it amazingly and this is one of the few new songs the crowd seemed to engage with. Overall every time the band played a song from the new album the mood dampened considerably, nobody sang along, and the energy would just die. I was at a bit of a loss for why that was the case. I don’t remember any change in room temperature during the last tour when X & Y songs were played, so for the audience to give the new material such a cold shoulder was a bit surprising to me. But that’s definitely what was happening with a few marked exceptions. It made me want to slap everyone in the crowd lol.

42, (one of my personal favorites from the new record) and Yes followed. Again the crowd did not seem impressed with either but I personally LOVED the extended ending to Yes, I really wish that would have made the album, it was just brilliant!

They broke it down with “a ballad” next lol, The Scientist. I loved Chris’s chatty opening here and this is just one of the most beautiful songs of all time.

Here the band took a little trip to the their left and set up shop for a two song set comprised of Chinese sleep chant (soo good though I need not mention the poor audience reception.) and then came God Put a Smile Upon Your Face…. or what the band was calling GPASUYF. I’m sorry but in this one instance I agreed with the crowd at large. I adore this song in its original form, its already quirky and fun and did not need the somewhat morbid feeling treatment it received from the band. And to top it off they cut it short. So that song gets a big thumbs down from me. I’m all for changing songs up to fit a live show but I think they might have killed that song and the audience gave up on it about 30 seconds in.

It was back to the main stage after that , with the first notes of Square One there was palpable elation. I was so happy to hear it I just got lost in this song, and when Speed of Sound followed it I was a very happy girl. And the audience was finally starting to buzz. That died, sad to say with the opening of Strawberry Swing. Poor Guy was trying to get the crowd to clap along and get into it, but they absolutely were not going for it. The mood crashed which shocked me with this songs as its such an upper on the record. At this point I was beginning to panic, with a reception like this I was sure we would never get an encore, and the band would soon walk off the stage in disgust, they certainly seemed to be sinking under the lack of enthusiasm themselves and it was just not looking good…..And then they broke out Yellow. For the first time the audience truly came alive! Kudos to the band for bringing it back in all its electric glory. People were up and singing like there was no tomorrow, and just like that the energy that had been so lacking seemed to hit this dismal crowd. People finally realized they were at a rock concert for God sake.

But for me the absolute highlight was Politik! I think I almost had a heart attack when the drums started pounding on this song and the rest of the audience couldn’t agree more. I was so sure they weren’t going to play it, and it was just beyond anything else that night the absolute best moment for me. Truly one of my favorite songs of all time and they did it full justice. None of the cutting down or rearranging annoyingly present in some of the other old material they played. It was loud and proud and really made you feel the band was just as happy to be playing it as you were to be hearing it.

The dove straight into Lost! after that, which was another one of the new songs the crowd actually embraced. It was phenomenal this song is better live than on the album which is saying something. Truly a gem. I especially enjoyed what I could only describe as Chris’s impression of being shot with a machine gun lol, that man can move. The crowd ate it up. With the energy flowing once again the band made a bee line for the back of the venue to the elation of the those seated there, and played a beautiful rendition of The Hardest Part, this song has special meaning for me so I was overjoyed to hear it, and the acoustic setting suited it well. They followed it up with the “last song” only Chris soon let us know that of course it wasn’t really the last song, all we need do is scream really loud for an encore. Will was brilliant and the crowd showed their approval accordingly.

Now as I mentioned before I was expecting no encore so when we were graced with two it just proved to me we were dealing with one of the most gracious bands in the world. Fix You and Lovers in Japan were amazing. I have no appropriate words for the butterflies, their glowing effect worked the crowed into a frenzy of fans eager to grab a fistful at any cost. And their second return with Death and All His Friends made me appreciate the lyrics to this song for the first time. Very nicely done boys. I have to say I felt blessed to get the set list we did. I think it beats out the 2 L.A. shows for content so I was a very happy camper in that respect. I will now close this horribly tediously boring review with some overall thoughts. First of all I believe the lack of a big projection screen through most of the concert was a mistake. Not only does it help set the mood for certain songs, but not being able to see the facial expressions of the band unless your in the first 15 rows was kind of a bummer, we missed Will!!! You cant see him at all without the screen shots, so in future I hope they bring it back. I cant even imagine what being in the balcony seats without one was like.

The “magic balls” turned out to be not so magical. I really feel bad about how much money it cost them after the effect was so less than stellar, they really came off like a glorified disco balls. And did not make a fitting substitute for the projection screen as the images were distorted and blurry at best.

I in no way understood the critiques of Martins dancing around too much. I thought he spent more time behind one instrument or another on this tour than the last one. Granted not the piano but he had his guitar strapped to him pretty consistently.

I do agree that at this point the band could benefit from doing a slightly longer show. It didn’t feel short, but with so much material out now, in order to do it justice it simply needs to be longer. Especially if their intent on playing nearly every song off the new album , which I understand is what their trying to promote but in their case they are not and never have been in my opinion a “singles” band which is going to make it harder for them. What I mean is that most songs if not all songs they’ve ever released are top notch quality leaving you feeling more let down when they play only their commercial hits than the average band would. A few times at the start of the concert it even felt like they were rushing through some of the older material to make it fit, not doing them proper justice. Having new material out doesn’t make the old material less deserving. And it might have helped the crowed adjust to the newer material it was clearly having problems excepting.

As an overall picture I would have to say the Twisted Logic Tour shows flowed better and felt more seamless and like a band really on top of its game, but to be fair this is the beginning of a tour so there is a lot of room for growth, and overall it was still a fantastic show. If only the rest of the audience could have figured that out sooner it would have been better. I’ll end with my compliments and apologies to the boys who made the best out of a less than enthusiastic crowd. I hope to catch them again next year if they are kind enough to come back.

[majgirl]

It was a great show. The tempo was great - plenty of speed ups and slow downs, a lot of entertaining banter (a lot of self-depricating humor), and a good crowd.

The set was simple and so was the lighting. There were a few lasers and yes, big balls that were very well used (as seen in that video above).

It was very heavy with Viva (all but Cemeteries of London, I think) and the new stuff sounded great. Lost was the highlight of the new stuff for me. The only song I could have done without was Chinese Sleep Chant which seemed forced to me and didn't play well live. It did lead into a dark version of God Put a Smile upon your Face, which was nice.

We were lucky to have the electric version of Yellow, which I hadn't heard since I first saw them years ago (the last couple of times was the acoustic version). Politik was another added bonus with fantastic lighting.

Unlike the LA show, the piano was out for Chris (they used some pre-recorded tracks in LA). He's quirky enough with the piano and I see him being a disaster without it. He's definitely going to fall off the cat-walk before this tour is over. The show is about 90 minutes long and smackette is convinced that Chris is not capable of staying focused any longer than that. He did completely goof up two outros of new songs when it was just him, so I think she's on to something.

The little letters next to some songs on the setlist are alternate stages, but I won't ruin any surprises for you. We were thoroughly entertained by both alternate stages.

After a little Bill O'Reilly clip, I was hoping we'd get a clip of Fix You as used in the OC (shout out to Fico, where are you man?), but no. Alas, don't think for a second that it's disappearance stopped me and smackette from acting it out in our seats.

They did a great job in the Arena, which good for them but bad for the fan - there's no going back now. We'd definitely see them in a big venue again.

[xneverwherex]

I too was LUCKY enough to have tickets in 113 last night. I have been very lucky with Ticketmaster in the past too......I got tickets for Coldplay at the Fillmore in May of 2005 on the X & Y short promo tour.......images of Robin Williams "blessing the crowd from the balcony" (and the best band in the world) playing in such a small space was amazing. I thought I was close to the band then..........last night topped it for me.

I was in Row 11, seats 9 and 10 for my girlfriend Denise and I. This was my 5th Coldplay show. We noticed all of the extra security hanging out (there was a nice blond lady next to me (I was in the aisle seat) and I said hey......I know they go into the crowd....they are coming by here aren't they. I assumed (fortunatley, this was a wrong assumption) that Chris would come whizzing by.

Sure enough.....here they come. I had my hand out to give them a "high five" as they passed me, but Chris has his head down, so I patted him, and Johnny and Guy and Will on the back as they went by. Will was a little out of breath as he got to me and he slowed down and looked me in the eye and I helped pull him up the stairs. My girlfriend (Coldplay show number 1 for her) almost fainted. She kept yelling......"You got to touch them......OMG.........they are your favorite and you got to touch them......OMG!!!!"

Once they stopped and started playing I almost passed out when I realized that they were only 5 rows in front of me. My cell phone camera is the craps...but here is a short my girlfriend got of me so my kids (I am a high school teacher) can see that I got to see and actually pat them on the back.

my girlfriend is an awesome photographer and we did not bring a camera.....and they did not search......so everybody out there......try and get one in and get more pics. "I promise you I will learn from my mistakes". - CM

Thanks to everybody for the posts of the show and the great reviews (I agree with them). There are too many people out there in my age bracket (45) that forgot what rocking out was all about. They are at a Coldplay concert cause it is the thing to do. They just sit there and watch them play. I read Coldplaying every day so I KNOW about the best band in the world. Thanks to all who have and will continue to post. I even send in notices when I find information to share.

[laynemc]

It was a great show. The tempo was great - plenty of speed ups and slow downs, a lot of entertaining banter (a lot of self-depricating humor), and a good crowd.

The set was simple and so was the lighting. There were a few lasers and yes, big balls that were very well used (as seen in that video above).

The little letters next to some songs on the setlist are alternate stages, but I won't ruin any surprises for you. We were thoroughly entertained by both alternate stages.

They did a great job in the Arena, which good for them but bad for the fan - there's no going back now. We'd definitely see them in a big venue again.

and i must add - i think im going to have to watch the OC now. damn it really did have a lot of great music on that show.

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