25 July 2003: Auckland Showgrounds, Auckland, New Zealand
From WikiColdplay
Setlist
- Politik
- God Put A Smile Upon Your Face
- A Rush Of Blood To The Head
- Daylight
- Trouble
- One I Love
- Don’t Panic
- Shiver
- See You Soon
- Everything’s Not Lost
- Moses
- Yellow
- The Scientist
Encore - Clocks
- In My Place
- Amsterdam
- Gravity
Reviews
At first it could have been Pink Floyd - haunting guitars, eerie lighting, brutal anticipation. But as soon as the band bashed out the first momentous chords of Politik there was no mistaking Coldplay were the crazy diamonds shining in the rough.
Their walloping two-album catalogue made this a more memorable gig than the last as each rousing anthem ebbed and flowed over the 5000-strong crowd.
Britain's "miserablists" seemd to be intent on proving their critics wrong, rocking out from the uplifting God Put a Smile on Your Face to big favourite Yellow, the lighting pulsing with their good mood.
Frontman Chris Martin seemed genuinely ecstatic to be here, flinging himself around the stage like a skittish puppet, and later hunching so low over the piano he almost disappeared into it. At one point he hammered the keys so passionately he had to have his hand bandaged.
But this is a band who have mastered the art of dynamics. "It's depression time," he quipped, before taking a fresh sonic breath with the melancholy but lilting Trouble.
He couldn't handle the seriousness of some of his own songs however, resorting to self-deprecation to cast off the pin-drop silences.
"We're the new REM," he joked, smoothing a hand over his Michael Stipe hairline. "Er, not because of the quality of the songs."
Then he exposed the couples in the crowd with a stirring solo rendition of Louis Armstrong's A Wonderful World. Or was that Gwyneth harmonising in the wings?
Encouraging the crowd to join in on Everything's Not Lost, the band made the songs work no matter what they did to them - guitarist Jonny Buckland's baying discords and a stint on harmonica, Guy Berryman's sparse but voluminous bass lines, Will Champion's sensitive accompaniment on the skins. Unfortunately, it wasn't just the crowd singing back - the scaffolding rung out with reverb as the high notes hit the back of the stadium.
A slightly out-of-tune Clocks also threatened the encore, forcing Buckland to swap guitars. But Coldplay adapted with the professionalism that has made them one of the most popular bands in the world, even if they've abandoned some of the subtlety for that big rock sound.
"Absolutely tremendous," Martin thanked his audience. The compliment is easily returned.
~Rebecca Barry Source: NZ Herald
The show seemed to be a pretty standard performance given the live video’s I’ve seen, and the set list was the same as the Sydney gig on the 21st except for the inclusion of Gravity as a third encore.
The crowd excitement level and participation level was appallingly nonexistent – Chris even stopped through a song (Daylight I think) to remind the crowd they were allowed to sing along. Chris seemed to be giving Gwyneth (whom I saw peeking through a set of curtains at the show) a lot of attention throughout the performance, especially on lines that had romantic / relationship related context.
The concert was in a warehouse so it was not as intimate as the Logan Campbell Centre next door or the Auckland Town Hall and this may have reduced the atmosphere somewhat. I wasn’t as close to the front as I would of liked where it looked marginally better (people were actually moving to the music). It is also a good thing it was a fine evening because it had rained the tin roof would have made an absolute racket. There were quite a few fixed cameras on stage (including one looking along the keys of Chris’s piano) and were hooked up to four projectors mounted on the lighting rack and four screens on the back of the set to help the people at the back see. During the concert Chris used the set up to show everyone his receding hairline and commented that “we’re the new REM, but not a music sense”.
There was a false start for God Put A Smile Upon Your Face, when Chris signalled to the roadies to increase the volume but instead they readjusted the height of his microphone stand and made a mess of it. Just before Trouble was played, Chris apologised about the depressing set and said that it would get better and more exciting afterwards (I have forgotten the exact quote), and said that they would start using the projectors (which they only seemed to be operating for certain songs, and showing media player esq. visual effects for the rest).
Overall the concert was enjoyable, I was hoping for a brand new – never been played before - song but the version of Gravity played at the end was mesmerising (Jonny’s ambient guitar effects were more prominent). Chris introduced it as “a good songs for boys to kiss girls with”. The lack of enthusiasm of the crowd finally paid dividends as someone must have a mint recording (touch wood) with almost perfect silence bar some drunken whore yelling 2 or 3 random obscenities. At 19 songs for 75 dollars (if you were lucky enough to get a ticket from ticketek first hand, it worked out to be just under 4 dollars a song – good value for money compared to some concerts that I have been to that have lasted all of 30 minutes.
The only downside was finding that my friend’s car had been broken into while we were being entertained… with wallets, cell phones and school books all taken… Assholes!
Thank you Coldplay for a great evening. Come again soon please.
I arrived about 6:30 at which point the venue was about a 5th full or so. People were milling around and buying t-shirts, having a drink etc. On my way in I got ambushed to sign a petition regarding maketradefair.com.. no surprize, coldplay are big supporters of this. The songs playing over the speakers were bouncing off the wall quite noticibly and I had my doubt about the acoustics of the venue.
Anyway bang on 7:30 Betchadup came on and played for about 40 minutes.. they were ok, a little better than I was expecting but still I found myself wishing they would hurry up and finish (there set included - Rain, Spill the Light, Feed the Dogs, Sleep News, Empty Head, Super Day and some others I didn't know).
After they went of stage the crew did the finishing touches on the stage for Coldplay (including bringing the Piano on and seting up the spotlights).
Just before 9pm the lights when down and everyone cheered. Chris said "They told us to expect the best audience in the world, so far so good."
Setlist:
Politik: This was a good opener but not quite as good as I expected. Chris apologised for the "room" here I think.
God Put a Smile on Your Face: They started playing and Chris signalled for his michrophone to be turned up and the crew member thought he meant to physically lift it up.. amongst the confusion they stopped the song and said "pretend that didn't happen" the crowd laughed and the song started again. This was a pretty good song live.
A Rush of Blood to the Head
Daylight: After this Chris asked if everyone in the back was Ok and apoligised if they couldn't see and said after the next song there would be things on the video screen so they could see their balding heads better.
Trouble: Before this song he said it would be a depressing song and that after it all the songs would be happy and everyone would go home feeling good. During the song he invited the audience to sing the "spun a web" part.
One I Love: I thought this was particulary good live.. a highlight of the show.
Don't Panic: A slightly more 'lazier' version live with a bit on the harmonica in the middle.
Shiver
See You Soon: He said it was "as old as the hills.. I'm not sure how old the hills are but this is an old song."
Everything's Not Lost: When the song would normally end Chris kept tinkering on the piano and invited the audience to sing along.. I think he said somthing like "Seeing we only get a chance to come down here every two years it would make us happy if you could sing this as loud as you can" or words to that effect. The song was replayed from about half way through to the end again.
Moses: I had heard it before from bootleg recordings.. well played, a good song live.
Yellow: This had a short sort of ambient-ish intro.. the song was quite a crowd pleaser.. they had lost of yellow lights on during this.
The Scientist
What a Wonderful World: Chris added a verse to this short rendition of the origional that went somthing like "We love it when every one sings, in the country were they filmed most of Lord of the Rings" that sent up a cheer.
The band left the stage and return shortly later.
Clocks
In My Place: These were crowd favourites.. I think Chris said somthing about being happy they were met with such a wonderful recpetion after this song.
Amsterdam: During this I think somebody said somthing about Chris going bald cos he stopped playing and rubbed his head, laughed and said somthing which I don't recall. After this he said "We are meant to finish here but make some noise and as soon as wel leave we'll come straight back on.
Gravity: I hadn't heard this before. Chris explained that they usually ended with a rocky track (which Gravity isn't) and that this was a new song. They thanked the crowd again put there amrs over each others shoulder and bowed before leaving the stage.
All in all a great show. I didn't really notice any celebrities there.. people were in a private area above and to the side of the stage but I couldn't make out who they were. O, I did see the lead singer from Jester leaving the show (he used to be Waverly's boyfriend on Shortland Street) I overheard him saying how bad somthing was.
~Gman3k
