27 June 2005: Crystal Palace Athletics Stadium, London, England

From WikiColdplay

27 June 2005

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Setlist

Encore

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Reviews

Coldplay, Crystal Palace Arena, Monday 27th June 2005

The Tickets went on sale months before the venue, the venue itself was sold out and packed full. The weather was bright and sunny, one of the warmer days of the year so far which meant All signs were pointing towards a great concert.

The doors for the event opened at 4 pm, this was to allow the influx of people time to get into the venue. I headed there early, figured I would get myself a decent spot, trying to get as close to the front as I possibly could. While the background music itself left a lot to be desired, you could take full advantage of the sun and work on a tan. Morning Runner came onstage at 6.05 (as scheduled) and greeted the crowd, playing a half hour set and even impressing me. The sound itself for their set seemed a little off, but over time it did improve. They went off-stage at 6.35, as the crowd started to edge further forward, clumping together towards front and centre of the stage.

Supergrass came on at 7.05 (again, as scheduled) and played for a full hour. Most of the crowd were very happy with their set, and the sound had improved greatly from the previous opener. Personally I'm not much of a Supergrass fan but I like live music and gave the band respect by not shouting or talking too much through the songs, after-all I wasn't the only person who'd paid money to come see this concert, and some of those who had paid might well like Supergrass.

Supergrass went offstage at just after 8, as the sun was started to get lower in the sky, and a nice breeze was blowing. The night was shaping up rather nicely. Coldplay themselves, how-ever, did not come on stage until just after 9 (scheduled for 8.50). The set list was as follows:

'Square One' 'Politik' 'Yellow' 'God Put A Smile Upon Your Face' 'Speed Of Sound' 'Low' 'Warning Sign' 'Everything's Not Lost' 'White Shadows' 'The Scientist' Till Kingdom Come' 'Don't Panic' 'Clocks' 'Swallowed In The Sea' ENCORE 'What if ' 'In My Place' 'Fix You'

17 songs, not too bad, or so you'd think. "Square one" was nice, makes a good opener, but I'm not sure it should be followed by "Politik" (which itself was very good).

"Yellow" was traditional, good with the crowd singing along.

"God put a smile" was fun, again the crowd was getting involved. I think it works better live than on the album

"Speed of sound" to me, seemed a little sub par (though it isn't one of my fave coldplay tracks).

"Low" was very good, nice to hear that one, lots of energy and feeling

"Warning sign" was better than I was expecting (although it was an odd choice to throw in between two rather powerful songs)

"Everything's Not Lost" was as you'd expect, good with great crowd involvement but nothing amazing.

"White shadows" was one of the highlights of the gigs, it's becoming this albums "rush of blood to the head".

"The Scientist" had a singing crowd and a very mellow and sombre feel to it, great to witness.

"Til Kingdom Come" was nice, this is where they went very acoustic, no drums and Johnny playing a different instrument, was nice to watch actually.

"Don't panic" was great as acoustic set, held a very mellow sound, and got the crowd singing along again, not usually a song I like but I much preferred it in this manor.

"Clocks" was amazing, very upbeat, got the crowd going wild and the light show for it was very good. Again, one of the highlights.

"Swallowed by the sea" did how-ever seem a bit off to me, following on from a rather great clocks might not have been it's best place.

So this is where the encore happened, and it started with "What if". This is good live, but doesn't sound too much different than the album version but not a bad thing.

"In My Place" obviously had the crowd jumping and singing again. Another good song.

"Fix you" closed off the night, and this was another good song too, with a great light show, and even a little bit of fireworks (although I had them rain down and hit me, so maybe that wasn't thought out too much). A good closer actually, to my own surprise.

Overall

Well, some good songs in the set list, the new album has some good material and throwing in some of the old songs that people like works well, how-ever some of the best songs were omitted from the set list, and I can't help but feel a little ripped off for what I got. Yes 17 songs sounds like a lot, but when you consider that Coldplay were only on stage for 90 mins at max (probably more like 80 mins worth of song due to talking and break for encore etc) and then you consider that a ticket cost around £40 (if you include booking fees) you can feel a little annoyed. Also, with the doors being open from 4pm, you might have expected Coldplay to be on a little earlier than 9pm, by that time feet were already very sore.

Sadly, I would have to say that this is the worst concert I have been to thus far. That's not to say that it was a bad concert, it wasn't. But compared to what I've seen before and been offered (and for less than half the price) it just doesn't hold up. Where-as some of my other concerts have had the bands really try to nail each and every song with their best performance, Coldplay seemed quite happy to give bog standard songs and a bog standard performance to some of them too.

I was also a little annoyed with the crowd at times, throwing of beer and empty plastic bottles was foolish. But other than that, and the few people who try to push their way to the front instead of waiting like normal considerate people, the crowd itself was very well behaved.

6/10

Not bad, but could do better (sounds like a school report)

[Garry Brown]

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