25 January 2006: Key Arena, Seattle, WA
From WikiColdplay
Setlist
- Square One
- Politik
- Yellow
- Speed Of Sound
- God Put A Smile Upon Your Face
- X&Y
- How You See The World
- Don't Panic
- White Shadows
- The Scientist
- Til Kingdom Come
- Ring Of Fire
- Trouble
- Clocks
- Talk
Encore - Swallowed In The Sea
- In My Place
- Fix You
Reviews
Coldplay was the biggest rock band on the planet last year. So what better time for the British foursome to cash in, say, by launching an arena tour in Seattle just months after the band conquered America’s amphitheaters? Hence, Wednesday night’s headlining date at KeyArena, witnessed by about 13,000 ecstatic fans just months after Coldplay’s August stop at Auburn’s White River Amphitheatre. And for those who caught the latter but not the former, you really only missed out on three noteworthy perks.
One: You wouldn’t have had to endure the aneurysm-inducing traffic at White River, which caused last summer’s show to start late. Coldplay mouthpiece Chris Martin felt compelled to apologize about that Wednesday. “It took us, like, seven years to get home after that,” he quipped.
Two: You would have gotten to hear a new song. Well, not an entirely new song, but a nonalbum track released since the last show. The maudlin, midtempo number “How You See the World No. 2” – the song about how you “just wanna get it right sometimes” – was issued on the charity CD “Help: A Day in the Life” last October, for those who didn’t recognize it.
Three: Most importantly, you would have gotten to see comeback kid Fiona Apple deliver an intense, show-stealing set as the opener. More on that in a sec.
Besides that, it was pretty much the same production, right down to the crescent screen that backed the band, their outfits (black pants, black shirts and white tennis shoes) and Martin running out into the audience late in the set.
The songs were even played in nearly the same order. The band kicked off with “Square One,” the ethereal leadoff track to last year’s X&Y, with the band – also guitarist Jon Buckland, drummer Will Champion and bassist Guy Berryman – backlit by giant digital numbers.
Next, Martin sat down at a piano to pound out fan favorite “Politik” to flickering lights. Disturbingly, he still does those jerky and almost obscene pelvic thrusts on the bench, a practice that may still be illegal in most of Utah and parts of the Bible Belt.
Then Martin grabbed a guitar for “Yellow,” the anthem that introduced Coldplay to the masses back in 2000. Giant yellow balloons wafted down from the rafters, and this time fans busted them and were showered with gold confetti without Martin prompting them – a clear sign that plenty had showed up for both shows.
Late in the set, the band clustered at the front of the stage to “prove to people we can play without all the lights and (stuff),” to give Martin’s reason. And they dedicated “X&Y” closer “’Til Kingdom Come” to the late Johnny Cash before segueing into Cash’s “Ring of Fire.”
The band took a bow a few songs later with “Talk” before coming back for an encore that featured of “The Hardest Part,” “In My Place” and “Fix You.”
Yep, a pretty predictable affair if you saw last summer’s show. But at least Martin tailored his pandering for the new set.
“We just landed,” Martin said early in the set. “So can anyone tell us who is in the Super Bowl?”
He added, “Plus if anyone could tell us where to get a cup of coffee in this town,” changing the refrain to cheery “God Put a Smile on Your Face” to “God put a Starbucks on the corner of every (freaking) place” a moment later.
While Coldplay was decent Wednesday night, the real treat was seeing Apple, a woman who went on the comeback trail with last fall’s phenomenal “Extraordinary Machine” release.
Apple’s act is perhaps better-suited to a theater setting; in fact, she played Seattle’s Moore Theatre in November. But her beautiful, jazzy vocals were definitely big enough to fill the arena. Apple sat at a piano as she and her four-piece backing band kicked off with “Get Him Back” and “Better Version of Me” from the new album.
But she really hit her stride with ’90s hits “Shadowboxer” and “Criminal.” From then one, she lurched, twitched and stomped her way through songs in an affected way that suggested she needed to use every fiber of her being to get the words out – or that she might start speaking in tongues.
Later, she belted the angry refrain of “Limp” with such conviction that it was hard to believe the star, known to melt down on occasion, was in such a cheery mood.
“I don’t like to talk on stage at all,” she said, sounding endearingly giddy early. “But there’s a nice feeling in here. I don’t like playing big places. It’s gotta be Coldplay.
“OK, I’ll shut up now.”
No, by all means; when you sound that incredible, ramble all you want.
Coldplay, Fiona Apple: Eye-popping show
If ever a show was a perfect fit for KeyArena, it was Coldplay's huge extravaganza there Wednesday night.
Opening a world tour, the British band went all out with busy lights, a massive curved video screen with impressive visuals, and an enormous, semicircular stage that matched the curves of the Key's interior.
Lead singer Chris Martin, rock's master of mellow, used everything in his bag of tricks to excite and involve the adoring crowd, which filled every seat in the house. He could barely keep himself on his stool as he banged on his upright piano, and was all over the stage when he sang or played guitar. At one point, he jumped from the stage, ran to the back — slapping hands along the way — and got up into the stands, where he was embraced by a pack of female fans, and he kept singing the whole time.
Flicking your Bic was replaced by turning on your cellphone. It looked like almost everyone in the 16,000-capacity hall was waving one during the big finale of "Fix You," and it was an impressive sight.
All that stage business — also including the dropping of huge yellow balloons (during the song "Yellow," natch) that burst over the crowd, sending out gold confetti — made for an eye-popping, fascinating show. And it helped obscure the lyrics, which often teetered on the edge of pretense, and occasionally fell in.
Martin strings together tired clichés and bad rhymes with astonishing hamminess. But fans don't seem to mind his clunky songwriting, because the music is so rich and romantic, and he's so sweet, playful and, well, mellow.
Opening act Fiona Apple was also a perfect fit, because her ego-centered lyrics also were marked by pretentiousness. Her songs were edgy and dramatic, and most of them were slow and brooding. That's probably why they didn't engage Coldplay's crowd.
Source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com
Coldplay kicked off its latest North American concert tour last night with an explosive, entertaining concert at KeyArena that chased away the January gloom.
COLDPLAY AND FIONA APPLE WHEN: Last night WHERE: KeyArena
The show was the first in a 33-date concert trek that will include stops between now and April in every major U.S. and Canadian city — promising a great run for the band that has been lauded as the next U2 and ridiculed as a Radiohead knockoff.
Apologizing profusely for the nightmarish traffic congestion at the group’s concert in August at the White River Amphitheatre, dynamic lead singer Chris Martin teased the crowd about who was playing at the Super Bowl this year and where the band could find some good coffee in Seattle.
Martin performed as if he’d been shot from a cannon. He whirled around the stage like a man possessed. At the upright piano, he rocked back and forth on his stool, pounding away with manic energy.
The high-powered production included a giant video screen, light show, circular stage and plenty of room for Martin to dance and sing.
At the beginning, a giant on-screen digital clock counted down the show’s opening moments.
The current leg of the “Twisted Logic” tour, which crisscrossed North America last year, features many of the same songs as before.
The set opened with the melodic, crowd-pleasing “Square One,” the first song on the British pop-rock group’s hit album, “X&Y.”
The show featured a number of songs from the album.
“Yellow” was the most visually appealing song. Giant yellow balloons filled with gold confetti floated above the crowd. Concertgoers punctured each balloon, causing confetti to rain on the crowd.
The uplifting “God Put a Smile Upon Your Face” followed, inspiring the crowd to clap along. A special treat was “How You See the World,” from the “Help: A Day in the Life” charity album for the War Child organization. Previously, the song had only been available in Japan, but the latest version featured new lyrics by Martin, including the line, “Ooh, you just want to get it right sometimes.”
The four-piece band — each member was dressed entirely in black — repeated one of the more popular segments from the last “Twisted Logic” trek, gathering at the front of the stage for a stirring version of the Johnny Cash tune, “Till Kingdom Come,” followed by “Ring of Fire.” Martin called it a tribute to “a great American.”
Coldplay closed its main set with “Talk,” another immensely popular song from the current album. If the rest of the tour is as good as last night’s show, Coldplay stands a good chance of becoming one of the most successful touring acts of 2006.
Opening for Coldplay was singer-pianist Fiona Apple, who was thanking her lucky stars to be sharing a stage with the British supergroup.
“I’m going to die of smiling,” she said. “I’m so happy to be here.”
Gushing aside, Apple offered an impressive set of songs from her current album, “Extraordinary Machine,” a critical favorite that topped a number of “best of” lists for 2005.
Apple, dressed in a flowing black skirt and a green, off-the-shoulder top, often accompanied herself on piano, but she was at her best belting out songs from the front of the stage while her impressive band backed her up.
Concertgoers expressed their approval by yelling, “I love you, Fiona.”
Source: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com
after seeing them outdoors and indoors, I think that they are better outdoors…last summer just had a magical feel to it being outside and all - people were more free to really get down, scream, sing and jump around.
Tonight was still awesome.
Chris and Guy both are sportin some big fro growth. Johnny was ROCKIN OUT! I am serious he was like a total rockstar tonight.
The set list was similar to the summer but they threw some goodies in.
My favorite part was in Talk, he changed the words a bit…”You take a picture of something you see, in the future where will SHE be”
I can’t decide if that means Gwyneth, Apple or that they are having another girl.
Chris has really been doing the yoga too - he was doing these crazy moves on stage like backbends bouncing back up from the stage. Toward the end of the show he sprinted back to the far seats and up into the crowd. It was amazing - I was worried he was going to get mauled!
Then when he was done he sprinted - read it sprinted back to the stage…this man is freakin fast as lightening!
The songs were great - he changed the pacing on a lot of the lyrics so many of them had a bit of a different sound than you are used to hearing. I love this band, they are so great.
[Thanks percot]
hey all i just got back from the first show of the second leg of the twisted logic tour and i thought i’d give their playlist and a review. if you don’t want spoilers of the set and show do not read on. i’ll start with the straight up set list:
Square One Politik Yellow Speed of Sound God Put a Smile Upon Your Face X & Y How You See the World White Shadows The Scientist (Acoustic Portion) ‘Til Kingdom Come Ring of Fire Trouble (Back to Electric) Clocks Talk
Encore: The Hardest Part In My Place Fix You
as you can see the set list is very similar to the first leg of the Twisted Logic tour and much of the lights and movie screen shots are the same. the show starts the same way with the rap song and then the countdown and up as well as other notable parts like the epileptic like lights during politik and the the bear during talk.
now for a run down of the specific things:
he introduced fiona apple at 8 PM sharp and congratulated the mothers that taught their children to never be late. he looks extra shaggy too.
once they started the lights went down and the rap song played for a few minutes and then they went on stage and the countdown started. they played the first two songs and then he told us that they had been in seattle for four days and joking asked about this football team that’s going to the superbowl.
then they started God Put a Smile… and he replaced one of the lyrics with “God put a Starbucks on every fucking street corner” and the crowd went nuts.
then a song or two later he congratulated the seahawks for being in the superbowl and the people loved that too. they did the balloons again during yellow and he tried to pop one with his guitar and it just bounced off but was able to pop one that had landed on the stage.
it was a nice surprise to hear x and y because i’ve wanted to hear it live but they didn’t play it at white river on the last tour. chris also mentioned about how bad the traffic was getting out to the middle of nowhere for white river and how it took them about seven years to get there.
how you see the world was awesome even though i’d never heard it before but i still really liked it.
they ended the scientist the same was with the sing along and then the backwards outro and set up for the acoustic part.
ring of fire wasn’t just a teaser like in some other cities it was pretty much the full song and everybody was singing along and clapping.
trouble was awesome for me because it’s one of my favorite songs by coldplay and will played the piano while chris sang but near the end they were both playing on the same piano and it was amazing. too bad it wasn’t the full length, they cut out the end part.
they did clocks the same way with the drumroll lead up and then the fast outro which chris and will have gotten much more coordinated at since i saw them in august.
during talk he was down at the front of the stage and the screen behind him had the bear in the corner walking around and a close up view of his face in the other corner and at one point he grabbed someone’s cell phone and was singing the part about “talking in a language i don’t speak” they all had their disposable cameras and took pics of the crowd before throwing them out.
once again in in my place chris ran through the crowd and at the key arena ran into the 100 seating area and finished the song there. the most amazing part was that when he went by us to get there i was on the aisle and i knew it was coming so i was able to touch him in true obsessive fan style and it was amazing. my friend also got a pic of his face as he ran back to the stage.
they ended again with fix you and they had the light that came down and chris swung around and that was about it.
all in all it was a good show. i’m kinda torn on it because it’s so similar to the white river and every other show of the twisted logic tour except indoors. it was amazing though to be so close to him and to touch him but the set list was very predictable which was kinda sad. but i do love coldplay and their level of playing was perfect as always it’s just kinda hard to justify 88 dollars for something that is mostly the same thing. another upside is that i was in row thirty on the floor instead of in the 200 section at white river so i had a much better view of the band.
let’s see.. the merch was mostly the same they still had the tour book and a couple of the same shirts though there were new ones that advertised the twisted logic tour 2006. there were a few sweatshirts that were ludicrously expensive as welll as a patch, mug, and button. the shirts were 35.
umm.. i think that is all for now. if you read that whole thing congratulations. i should be putting up some shitty camera phone/crappy digital camera pics in a day or two.
[Thanks dreads3213]
Coldplay Concert (Jim Keller) Posted: 10:47:38 am on 1/26/2006 Modified: Never
Last night at Key Arena, Coldplay once again proved why they are one of the best live bands around, one of the few who really take their music to another level with their live show - with tons of energy, a flawless production, the musical and performance surprises - and aren’t content to just re-play their records. Among the many highlights of the first show on the second leg of their Twisted Logic Tour: their stage-front acoustic medley of two Johnny Cash songs; the amazing video (from outer space to DNA) that accompanied “The Scientist”; Chris Martin singing into a concert-goers cellphone during “Talk” or running deep into the Key crowd; the sheer joy of popping balloons pouring confetti over the fans during “Yellow”. And, Chris Martin’s funny. Sure, a lot of it was the same as their set last summer at White River, but it just seemed better in the midst of the dreariest January I can remember. What say you?
Re: Coldplay Concert (Courtney) Posted: 11:01:01 am on 1/26/2006 Modified: Never
I thought the concert last night was amazing. It was my first time seeing Coldplay live and I could see why people would want to see them over and over again. Chris Martin was a ball of energy and the production was great. Fiona Apple did a fantastic job opening the show and even the pre-Coldplay music was enjoyable. Awesome show!!!
Re: Coldplay Concert (Shannon) Posted: 2:46:57 pm on 1/26/2006 Modified: Never
I thought it was a phenomenal show though I did think the White River one was a slight bit better. It’s very hard to tell as I feel like the energy was the same on the band’s part in both shows. That was MY cell phone he sang into, by the way. I wish I could have had him call my voicemail so I could have the recording but I’ll take the fact that he only sang into mine as being pretty freaking awesome!
All in all, another great time was had by all. Two of my friends who were only so-so Coldplay fans are now in a concert after-glow and can’t wait to see them again!
-S
Re: Coldplay Concert (TGIRLIE) Posted: 2:49:28 pm on 1/26/2006 Modified: Never
the show last night was amazing. cold play and fiona apple proved once again that they have what it takes! what wasn’t so great were the “fans.” seattle has no respect for the openers at most shows, it’s really sad. i consider fiona apple one of the most talented, beautiful, singer/songwriter/pianists ever. i was so excited to see her live again. i payed good money for row #17, floor seats so i could be up colse to sing and dance, yet i was told to “sit down.” i didn’t. everyone stood and sang along with cold play tho’ and im sure nobody was asked to sit down. Have some respect seattle. grow up!
Re: Coldplay Concert (LILKOCCO) Posted: 4:33:26 pm on 1/26/2006 Modified: Never
This was an absolutely AMAZING show! I loved the energy of the fans and the band. Th elights and sounds were beyond belief!! I went and saw them at White River and it was real awesome show there as well. I guess I enjoyed this one a little better. I am so glad though that Coldplay recgnized the TERRIBLE parking and driving situation at the last venue (never go to White River again!!) They made the show personlized and they recognized the Seahawks…good times!!! I would go see them again in a heartbeat. they have proved to me again why they are still my favorite band!!!
Re: Coldplay Concert (LIZARDSTAR03) Posted: 10:10:26 pm on 1/26/2006 Modified: Never
The show was straight amazing. The lights, energy, camera work, vocals and instramentals were perfect last night. Chris Martin really knows how to entertain a crowd what with his working in “I hope you win the super bowl” into one of the last lines of fix you and running out into the crowd and up the aisle where I was sitting. One of the best shows I’ve seen!
Re: Coldplay Concert (Monic6) Posted: 5:11:51 pm on 1/27/2006 Modified: Never
I recently moved too the states from Ireland and decided that I had too go see Coldplay again on this tour and they didn’t dissapoint. I had seen them previously in Scotland and Ireland which was absolutely amazing. I thought that there performance on wednesday was just as good as any of there previous performances that I have seen but I was very dissapointed with the Seattle crowd. First of all nobody should be seated at a coldplay concert. Secondly the crowd should be going daft when chris martin trys to get a reaction from them, it took them to play a johnny cash song to get a reaction. He said several times for the crowd too join in but it just wasn’t happening. I thought this was one of the biggest musical citys in the world, I guess I was wrong! exclamation
coldplay is brilliant (kelly) Posted: 6:00:48 pm on 1/30/2006 Modified: Never
well it seems as though very many coldplay goers are referring to the show as AMAZING! well, i am honestly referring to it as the most exhilerating concert i have ever attended. i have never been so moved in my life. It was the event of the year…..possibly even of all time…..i attend many small venues and i prefer them….but this is way out of the ordinary big venue style of show….it was eternally mind blowing….thank you readers
Re: Coldplay Concert (JJ ) Posted: 1:14:57 pm on 2/2/2006 Modified: Never
Fiona Apple is great and she put on a great show, but she is not stand up material. She is a sit down artist. Plus, she is the opening act. Seattle is just like everybody else, the opening act is really just an annoyance. I’m sorry, but it’s true. It is important for them to set the mood for the concert, but everyone wants them off the stage so that the headlining act can go. If everyone in the concert is sitting trying to listen and watch the concert, then you need to sit down. Period. Plus Coldplay was incredible and everyone stood up.
Re: Coldplay Concert (jesse) Posted: 7:03:51 pm on 2/4/2006 Modified: Never
the concert was awesome, but i do agre with those who feel the crowd wasnt in to them. I was only able to get tickets for the upper level, and i wish i was on the floor. My friend and i were the only ones around standing taking the brilliant talent of coldplay in. They played as good as in white river, but i feel the crowd atmosphere was a lot better at the ampetheatre than the arena.
Source: http://1077theend.com
