27 August 2002: L'Olympia, Paris, France
From WikiColdplay
Setlist
- Politik
- Shiver
- Spies
- Daylight
- Trouble
- One I Love
- Don’t Panic
- Everything’s Not Lost
- See You Soon
- God Put A Smile Upon Your Face
- Yellow
- The Scientist
Encore - Clocks
- In My Place
- Life Is For Living
Encore - Lips Like Sugar
- Amsterdam
Review
This concert was a pleasant surprise. Coldplay is a good live band. They have good songs. Chris Martin, the singer, has a beautiful voice, and is very charismatic, which is fortunate because the other members of the band more discreet.
The evening had rather badly begun. We had had to wait for the opening of the doors under a heavy rain which soaked us. There should have been the projection of a film as the opening act, but because of technical problems, it could not be done. We thus had to wait two hours standing inside before Coldplay entered on stage. They did not begin earlier because the concert was to be broadcasted live on the French TV channel MCM. And they even began late...
But once it begun, it was excellent! Coldplay played almost all the first album "Parachute" and a large part of the second album "A rush of Blood To The Head": Politik, In My Place, God Put a Smile Upon Your Face, The Scientist, Clocks...
Chris Martin is really very charismatic on stage. He has a beautiful voice, very powerful. His voice makes the message pass through energy, but he has certainly the capabilities to try to make pass more emotion, as Thom Yorke knows so well doing it. Martin moves, jumps, "dances" on stage. He reminds of an hyperactive child who cannot stay still for five seconds. He is completely inhabited by the music, loosing it frequeny. When he plays the piano, he is bent in half above the keyboard, disappearing completely behind the top of it.
Very smiling and talkative, and in French!, which apparently he masters a bit, Chris Martin was anxious to thank, to translate the title of songs, or explain them in French. The audience, acquired beforehand, could only be even more conquered. The atmosphere was good and the songs of Coldplay being pleasant to sing along, the audience sang. Or tried to sing, because the sound was so loud for the size of the venue that it was difficult for the audience to make itself hear. Nevertheless, sometimes under the direction of Chris Martin, there has been beautiful moments of exchanges between the band and its public when the later sing along in choir some songs. Like on the song Yellow, at the beginning of which the singer had to change guitar, what made him fail the start of the first stanza which the audience had sung for him.
They played the new single "In my place" during the encore, and as the public who sat in the balcony did not get up, Chris Martin proceeded to climb on the loudspeakers situated on the left-hand side of the stage, to be at the height of the balcony. And as he is rather tall himself, it was a vision quite impressive. He stayed there a moment then jumped down on the stage from this height! To cut a long story short, all this to demonstrate that he moves a lot on stage.... Fortunately because the other members of the band are more... discreet.
For the very last encore, they played two songs after Chris Martin explained that the official concert of Coldplay was finished, that those who wanted to leave could do itso, and that thus it would be two songs which are not Coldplay songs. The first one was a cover of Echo & the Bunnymen: " Lips like sugar, sugar kissing " In the issue of the week of the french magazine Les Inrockuptibles, there was an article on Coldplay, in which it is said that Chris Martin and Ian McCullough became friends. It is not thus surprising that they played one of their songs. Besides, it was an excellent version.
Ah yes, and at the very end of the concert, when they were leaving the stage, Chris Martin was so pleased that he kissed his guitarist on the cheek as a congratulation gesture. And the audience would also have done the same, as everybody was pleased at the Olympia on this evening.
~Lawrence
