27 October 2008: Izod Center, East Rutherford, NJ, USA (Fan Reviews)
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Fan Reviews (Part 2)
All fan reviews have been submitted to us by the members of Coldplaying.com[1], unless stated otherwise.
I just got home from the most awesome concert I've been to so far! It was just, wow, fantasticular. Got there around 5:30, saw a couple people who I thought to be Sean and Christa, but was too shy to say hello. Sean then came over to where I was to sit on the grass with his cute little brother lol So I said hello, probably scared the kid lol The concert, I really can't describe it in so many words. It was just spectacular. The crowd was amazing, the orbs were better than I expected, and my seat was perfect enough for me. I was on the right side, Guy's side, and where the guys came to rock out. I went down my section for that one since they were right in front of me and the whole time I'm just thinking "Omg, this is the closest I've ever been to Chris, Guy, Will and Jonny, ahhh!" I managed to sneak in my camera, though from the looks of it the security would've let any type of camera in, there was hardly any checking! Unfortunately my camera sucks and I just kept getting blurry pics, which pissed me off since the guys were quite close! Ummm what else?? Oh yes, I believe Christa? or Noelia? or both had a bit of Chris' attention; he was saying how there were some lovely banners tonight and they really had some awesome seats right next to the right runway. Hmmm..The Scientist was hilarious, well, not the song, but before the guys started the song. Chris said something like "Wait a minute, it smells up here. I think I smell the ganja back here. I'm pretty sure that's illegal under the Bush administration." Then he also joked about how the next song they were going to sing were by The Jonas Brothers called The Scientist lol Chris put a little Billy Ray Cyrus "Achy Breaky Heart" in the song. Everyone was just really into the music tonight. Lovers In Japan was great! Ahh the butterflies!!! So many! At the end of the concert I made sure to go down nearer to the floor, and asked some fans to please pick some up for me. Ugh there were soo many of them just scattered on the floor and all I kept thinking of was how you Coldplayers would've appreciated them all, picked up a whole bunch, and maybe share it with the confetti exchange lol After I got my butterflies from a helpful man, a girl god bless her, took a pic of me with the VIVA in the background and my night was complete! I tried to ask for a setlist but they said there were no more, so I hope one of you girls got it! Awesome night! I only regret not helping out with the sign gang, sorry guys! I definitely will next time!
[heyyyohhh]
I'm back!!!! wow it was fanfuckingtastic!!!!! Noelia is amazing and the sweetest girl who i would hug and cry with any day and we had a blast!! Sean (Proffessa95) and his great family met us with all of his amazing signs!!!!! The band totally loved the signs!! When we first got there i was in need of a beer and we saw the Oxfam table and met Pete! what a cutie. i took some pics of us, will upload tomorrow, i am so tired. we walked around a bit to veg and realize where we were and how friggin amazing the night was going to be. we started to walk down the stairs and the guards would look at our tix and tell us to keep going, i knew we had great seats but these were amazing. we were right next to Guy;s ramp and literally 5-7 feet from the stage. it was so surreal, almost like the Today show but that was daylight and this was an arena. the crowd was great, alot of date people though and it was good for us cause they didnt stand alot so we could see really good, cooky and i stood and danced the whole time. we were so close you could just reach out and touch them but the beefy guards would have non of that. duffy came on and she was great, there were a few wise guys in the front row and were totally looking up her dress, which was beautiful, but a tad short. so now onto LIT. that;s when the tears started, i truly love that song and it really is my fav of the new album and i just lost it. and i was not even buzzzed, one beer only, ok, now that i have all of your attention, i have to go to bed, will do a very long review tomorrow, when my brain starts working again, i will have lots of pics and vid of politik which was great.
Well, what can i possibly say after Noelia? it was an amazing night and the Jersey signs were beatiful. Thank you Pallavi. Sean worked the room with the section he was in and did like 500 seats. Yes i am uploading pics and have a great vid of Politik that got cut short from some hard ass security guy. I have allready talked about LIT. Reign of love was beautiful and i never really aprreciated the Hardest part until hearing it last night. The whole Jennifer Hudson thing is an absolute tragedy and it was very sweet that Chris mentioned her. for me i also started bawling at Lovers in Japan, it was so beautiful i was laughing and Crying at the same time. English Silk , Lore and Chavi i have your butterflies!!! anyone else that wants some just pm me. I have to say we were on guys side and have not read any of the posts yet cause i woke up. Guy seemed a bit out of it. I know he is not Chris and he is shy but sometimes he would just stare of into space. maybe he is just exhausted of it all. But he is amazing and cute and Guyalicious. I hate to say it i got no Jonny Love at all. He stayed on his side and could not really revel in his JOnny Hotness. Will worked it!!!! he looks thinner and Banged his Drums like noone.
oh, the signs. Cooky had her beautiful sign which totally worked and yes i did a Warning Sign sign, on yellow paper and held it basically the whole night. yes, i have a pic must upload. I have to say it was really, really hot in there and the boys were dripping, drippin sweat, when they went up to sing the Scientist and Will's song there were towels they were wiping up with and you could see the girly fans just waiting to grab them when they were done with them, GPASOMF was amazing, we were like 3 feet away, the only thing seperating us were the burly guards who were nice but did their job. got a lot of great arse shots for everyone. I am jumping around sorry. Fix you was gorgeous as ever but i was in need of a little swingin lightbulb love. DAAOHF was mindblowing but i panicked cause i knew we were at the end. AAAAAARRRGGGHHHH!!! no no no i need more and then Yellow was sublime and we stayed on the floor as long as we could. me looking like a bag lady grabbing as many butterlflies as i can and picking up our beautiful Jersey signs. off the floor. Noelia runs over to get whatever she can from the roadies and i am cleaning up like the mom i am.
[Christa1]
Me and my sister hadn’t even planned on going to the show tonight.. At about 5:00pm she comes bouncing into my room all excited and tells me that she found tickets online for section 110, row 2!!! One row closer than we had on the 26th. So of course she buys them, and I rush to get ready.
We got there before the doors had opened and had to wait outside for about 10 minutes. We went straight to our seats. The security guard recognized us, and said “Weren’t you guys here last night?? Must be pretty big fans.” We talked to him for a while. Also talked to another security guard who was an interesting old guy.. Lol he pretty much told us his life story.
My mission for tonight besides having an awesome time, was to try and get Will’s drum sticks (spoiler alert: I failed) so I was asking the security guard if he knew any of the roadies, he said no. I wondered if maybe I should have tried to ask the roadies before the show something like “Can you get me Will’s drumsticks after the show??” but there really was no good opportunity to yell out to Matt, Bash or Hoppy. Me and my sister talked to Sean!! We talked to him for a little bit, and offered to help him get a setlist at the end of the show.
Duffy came on and was great, Matt (Jonny’s drum tech, although I’m sure everyone knows that) came out and stood by the ramp during Duffy and watched her for a little while. Duffy finished and the madness of equipment changing began. Once again there was some sort of roadie break dancing show happening. Very entertaining. Then Life in Technicolor started!!! For some reason, tonight I was much more aware that I was seeing Coldplay. More aware than I was on the 26th, I don’t know if that makes any sense.. But when I saw Jonny .. I was like “holy shit that is Jonathon Mark Buckland.. Rocking out 10 feet away from me!!!” It just really sunk in that the people that I had seen a million pics and interviews of were sooo close to me. I didn’t really get that feeling on the 26th, or in Philly. It was amazing. I almost died when they got this close.
The setlist was the same with the exception of Reign of Love. I seriously screamed every time I got any glimpse of Will (Jonny was blocking him most of the time) I noticed that Guy had his back turned to the audience for a lot of the concert, I agree with people who were mentioning a couple of pages back, that He doesn’t seem to like to interact with the audience that much. At some point during the concert, the lady behind me spilled her beer all over my hair. It was so annoying and made me miss the end of fix you. It took me a while to get back into singing dancing mode. Some cute moments: when Chris thought that people were smoking weed up by the C-stage, When they dedicated The Hardest Part to Jennifer Hudson, At the end when Chris said “Have a great election, enjoy your next four years of democrats!” , also I saw the cutest thing… at the end when they were all clapping and going to different places on the stage, Will and Guy passed each other and did this cute little face/hand gesture to each other as if they were surprised to see each other.. Almost like “omg man what are you doing here??” it was adorable. Yellow was incredible
At the end I tried to rush over to where the Roadies were to ask for drumsticks. I asked one lady but she said that she couldn’t get them, then I asked Matt, but I’m pretty sure he was ignoring me because he looked busy doing a million other things… and I asked another roadie, but he said that they were gone already.
But at the end of the night I didn’t even care about the drumsticks.. It was the best of the four Coldplay concerts that I’ve been to, and hopefully I will get to go to many more. I had sooo much fun!! Can’t wait to see them again.
[cold_love23]
I love Life in technicolor always.It sounded so awesome.Violet hill was great too.I liked Clocks and its one of my favorite songs and i like the red lighting and lazers and magic balls and screen during that song and i took the video on the screen view in front of me.I loved all In my place,Speed of sound,Cemeteries of london,Chinese sleep chant,42,Fix you,Strawberry swing.
During god put a smile upon your face and talk they performed it from the b-stage i've those videos too.
Chris dedicated the hardest part to Jennifer Hudson American idol winner who lost her mother and brother in Chicago,when they were shot by some one.
And after that Viva la vida and Lost i just rocked.
And during Scientist i was very close to where they come to the above sections when i entered only my hubby showed me that they will play there showing a black spot in the middle.And while they were coming i know that they come there and me and my hubby started to sigh about it with each other and i started to look at my camera to see the number of videos i took.At that time Chris saw me speaking with my hubby and when he came up directly he waved at me saying "thanks everyone" and next well those moments i've captured them in my video i'll post it.
And my hubby asked me to go even close to them because there's a lot of place there and Chris looked at me in front of him a lot of times while singing.
And then Will's DWNC and viva la vida remix songs were performed. And the band took their way to the stage again.
And Politik is very awesome i started to take the video of it ,Chris changed the lyrics to "New Jersey is a fucking awesome place" and when i am taking it i didn't thought that Chris will play my favorite Reign of love for which i opened a petition in this forum and kept on asking questions to coldplay.com .
I screamed loud but not stopped to take the video i'll post that video too after i upload.
And then Lovers in japan is beautiful and then Death and all his friends and then the band took the bow and left the stage.
When they came back to play Yellow Chris saw the signs people are holding up and said "thanks for the signs" and that he liked them and they will come to New Jersey again next year.
[Pallavi]
So…I met up with Christa in the parking lot of Izod (which I circled 2xs trying to find the spot she was at hehe). We hug, we squee, then we meet up with professa95, his dad, and his adorable little brother(lucky duck is not even 5ft tall gets to go see Coldplay!!) As we wait for doors to be open I get all nervous about my sign, that they won’t let me in w/ it. So I stick it under my hoodie, and kinda walk very very carefully. When we get to security, the lady is busy checking purses(she asked what did Christa have in the paper bag she was carrying—the NJ loves Coldplay signs—and she made her stuff it in purse) so she was too busy to really check me out. So I (stiffly)waltz right in w/ my sign under my coat LOL.
Then we get to where they scan your ticket to go in, Christa goes first, and there’s a problem w/ the reader. The lady tries mine, also a problem. Now I’m like—SHIT, the karma is backfiring, OMG so close it’s gonna fall apart on me?!!?(except for Coldplay related stuff I’m a pessimist so I freaked). Christa is on one side of turnstile, me on the other…but after asking 2 diff people to help the lady just let us through. YEAY!
Then we are in arena halls, and Christa says we gotta look for Pete from OxFam & say HI. So I start looking for some old dude. (I don’t know why I always had this picture in my mind that “Pete” was older LOL.) We stop at the first OxFam table be we see and Christa very charmingly (she’s so cute!) asked if they know who/where Pete is. And this super-cute youngish guy says “uh that’s me.” He was a little freaked out hehe. We told him we were from coldplaying.com and Jen says HI, and Carla&Chavi say hi. He was surprised that we knew that he knew them. Pete, we also know about your yummy chocolate bars, too LOL. And Christa is blabbing away, and all I can do is just stare LOL. He’s so cute! And he’s got this cute accent! And I was a little like ‘UHHHHHH.” I hope he didn’t realize that LOL. Actually, what the heck—yes Pete, if you read this, I was one of the “cheerful coldplayers” you met last nite, the one that had a goofy grin and barely talked. But if you’re ever in the NY/NJ area again, I promise not to stare! (and uhm I’m not a crazy freaky girl that just comes on to strangers, usually).
So then we go find our seats. And every time we see an usher, they pass us up to the next one, closer to the stage, closer, closer, until we are L-I-T-E-R-A-L-L-Y 7 seats from stage, and a few feet from ramp/catwalk by Guy. SQQUEEEEEE. I almost started crying right there. Then we wait, practice taking some pics to see how our cameras would do. (Christa had 2, one tiny one superduper good, and I know she took tons of pics&vids so I hope she figures out how to post them, or I will search ALL of Long Island, to the very eastern tip! to find her)
Duffy comes on. Great singing voice, very cute, still sounds like Minnie Mouse when she talks. I think her set was shorter compared to Sunday, ‘cause she again came on at 8 on the dot, but this time finished by 8:30ish. Very groovy, again mellowing me out. Except this time I was wondering if Guy was lurking checking out her set, and checking out her legs in that short dress, and then it made me jealous and…oh yeah. So set is good (def. better opening act than Santogold), short&sweet. And then we wait….
As roadies set up for Coldplay, Christa and I start handing out NEW JERSEY LOVES COLDPLAY TOO signs. Most people are like “great, sure no prob, sounds fun.” The 2 drunk kids next to us(one who didn’t know that Amsterdam was a CP song wth?!) were NewYorkers, and asked Christa—who is so nice actually acquiesced to their request—for a marker to CROSS OUT NJ and put w/ chicken scratch writing “New York.” WHATEVER. As long as they didn’t cross out LOVES Coldplay and put HATE instead…Then as I’m handing out a bit further back , a older man asks me am I getting paid to hand these out, I say no this is just a group of fans that got together. He then says, no thank you, I’m from New York.—w/ a frikin’ attitude! Thank goodness I was at a Coldplay show that is all about the love and good vibes, or I’d remind the asshole why the Sopranos were from NEW JERSEY! (btw, whenever I go into NYC for a show, and the band says We Love NY, I don’t yell BUT I’M FROM NJ, F.U! I go with it; we’re all fans of the same band. Thank God Christa is also a New Yorker and the best example of why those guys were exceptions and not the rules.)
So I got back to my seat, and I hear Blue Danube, and my heart starts racing and Christa gets so excited and then curtain is there and it’s ON!!! I start my high-pitch screaming and pull out my camera right away. I gotta say that my review will not really include any actual musical critiques, ‘cause it all just flew by me on FFWd. I was so excited/overwhelmed, pulling out camera to take advantage of close proximity to stage, pulling out my phone to text Mel and keep you guys updated, figuring out when I should start showing my signs……I think I need to do this 7th row thing again, the RIGHT way, w/out stressing so much. Not that I didn’t have a great time, I don’t want those reading to think—what a waste of seat on someone who didn’t enjoy appreciate—‘cause the story gets better and all the stress is sooooo worth it in the end!
So I’m thinking when to prop up my sign, when I hear the beginning of “In MY Place.” And I dial the phone right away so that Mel can hear, and as soon as I realize that Chris is coming down ramp on Guy’s side and the lights were nice & bright I hold that sucker straight up the side that says “With Coldplay It’s Such a Perfect Day” with a kool-aid smile on my face. Chris passes by a few times, looking to all sides of the ramp, and as he’s passing by going back to stage, he looks STRAIGHT AT ME (I swear it I didn’t’ imagine, see evidence previous page!) and does this tipping my hat to you signal. I just died. And went to heaven. He read it. He got it. He said “thanks!” The man that wrote all those songs that mean so much to me, that got me through some sad times, that can make me smile no matter what, that I can listen to everyday over&over and still after 7yrs of fandom not tire of, acknolewdged my thankyou to him. Nothing’s going to beat that. (I think I’m going cry again while laughing, seriously).
Then I grab camera to get a little bit of Jonny/Chris love for Mel, and it’s on to the next song. (oh after IMP Chris talked a little to audience and said thanks for being here, etc, and thanks for all the wonderful signs. And at this point I don’t think anyone had been hold their NJ signs yet since they were for encore, and I didn’t’ see nayone else up front with signs. So I’m assuming that was me he was talking about! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!:d ance:
I barely had a chance to process what just happened and it’s Cemeteries of London, then 42—awesome. Christa and I totally rocked out to 42 hehehe looovvvveee it. During Strawberry Swing I hold my sign up again, but it was too dark so I’m sure they couldn’t see it. Guys all of a sudden run to Bstage, and I got the only boootaay shots. LOL So so so close, but can’t touch (big security guards held us back!). The Hardest Part is so beautiful “acoustic” version; I never really liked the original. And Will comes in to help on the chorus. He really does have the voice of an angel. So while everyone is facing Chris on Bstage, I’m the only one trying to get a pic of Will back on the main one (couldn’t though, too far!)
Now I know Viva is coming, so I get my KEEP THE BEAT, BANG A DRUMMER sign going LOL I don’t know if he actually saw it though!!!! He didn’t’ look in my direction too much, and he closes his eyes when he sings the ooohhhh part SQUUUEEEE. But he was totally beating the shit outta the drums! The whole crowd goes wild for this one! I’m almost 100% sure Guy saw it though, ‘cause he was looking straight ahead, and I was right in front of him, and it was the only sign around so…but he didn’t acknowledge me. WHY GUY, whyyy do you tease me so. You know I think you’re hot, you know Chris thinks you’re hot, every hot blooded female inANDout of the arena thinks you’re hot, so just give me some eye contact and a smile and I”ll die a happy woman!! Ggrrrr (maybe he knows that if he did, I’d jump the stage!) Chris totally had to see it, ‘cause well, he knows I’m the girl w/ the sign. So I really really hope that if Will didn’t see it, the guys told him about it and all had a good laugh, I don’t want Will to freak out on me!
At this point I realized I wasn’t really INTO the show, I was so busy/overwhelmed with other things, so I decided to put away camera&phone for a bit. That’s when apparently everyone freaked around here, w/out their fix of live coverage! LOL Lost is up; it is my “song of 2008.” Without it I wouldn’t have all the Coldplay memories/good karma. “Just because I’m losing, doesn’t mean I’m looost!” Ex: I didn’t win MSG, I didn’t originally win Today show, def didn’t win entrance to Yahoo. But I went to all of them...When Chris Martin tells me not to give up, I listen LOL.
Even though I tried I didn’t feel connected to songs, but Sunday I was SOOOO into songs, so I guess it avgs out hehe. But Politik is just too awesome to ignore…I jumped I banged my head I waved my arms. It’s a work out! Lovers in Japan is like magic, w/ those butterfliesbeeeauuutiiiffullll. And all of a sudden, DAAOHF starts, and it all hits me. The show is over, my 10th show, 6th this year, CHRIS READ MY SIGN, and I start to hysterically weep!!!! I have no shame, I’ll admit it. Like a fucken baby. Christa, so sweet, let me lean on her. We are such girly-girls! I composed myself through Yellow, but then when we were leaving I called me to tell her what happened and I got hysterical again for a sec! (I also cried the whole way while driving home. And then I composed myself enough to tell my roommate all about it, and then started crying hysterically again. Heheh
Ok, that’s it. Sorry so long. But reading is good for you, exercises the brain! I just want to say one more thing, please indulge me a little more and then I’ll go back to the background….THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to all of you here, Jen&Ian for heading up this place were all of us Coldplay-addicts can enable each other in our addiction and support each other in this world of mostly non-fans of Coldplay. Being part of this community has given me great opportunities to see my favorite band, and I’ve met wonderful people! Thank you Mel, for putting up with my crazy neurotic questions the last few days, for giving me great stalking (and sign!) ideas LOL, for giving me that push to go & try to get into Hammerstein, for letting me rack up your cell phone bill LOL. Thank you CHRISTA! For the opportunity to see them soosoo close, w/out those seats I’d never have had the chance to make a sign and have Chris and the guys see it.
Ok, THE END. Again, sorry it’s so long, thanks for indulging me!
[CookyMnstr]
Monday 10/28/08 Izod Center Concert Review: C-
Coldplay concerts used to be the best in the history of music due to 2 things: 1. Chris Martin singing directly to you. I have no idea how he did this. Sincerity, gratitude, being one with the music? This was missing last night. 2. Their light show was always the most artistic, mood creating/sustaining. That tradition was lost last night.
Surprises: 1. The Good: crowd was great, on our feet, into it, supportive, but not obnoxious. 2. The Bad: Coldplay’s performance was perfunctory, (“we’ve had a bad Monday up till now” said Chris, but it showed the whole time—they weren’t happy to be here, even though the crowd was.) Chris sang ok, but skipped the high notes—and I think the reason he skipped them was the same reason his singing was perfunctory. No real emotion. If he loved singing the songs (he seemed bored and sick of singing them) and enjoyed performing last night, it didn’t show. I think Coldplay aren’t as confident of and don’t love their new work as much as their previous songs. True, this isn’t as good as the previous 3 albums—but you don’t muddle through—you keep improving those songs or don’t play them live. Worst of all, Martin did not seem to be singing to us, a skill he has more than anyone else. But last night he was just singing to do his job and get through the show [Note: Chris sang some songs an octave lower, in normal register, not falsetto, which sounded better than the originals. But high notes are necessary esp. on emotionally climactic points, which he too often skipped].
There were weird huge gaps between songs, as if they didn’t know what they were doing next. This almost lost the crowd. Chris hit wrong notes on almost every song on piano. The bass volume was erratic. The PA system sucked; very distorted, sounding like a cheap blown out speaker on vocals.
Like U2 at their worst, Coldplay seems to have tried to fight boredom of playing same songs over and over by making them…disco!? Ugh. So they take a 500 dollar drum pad which sounds like drums on every crap rap/bubblegum pop song. The whole reason everyone likes Coldplay is the authentic, sincere music. Fake pop drum machine crap ruins that. Will has great jazz drum skills, but never showed them last night. Will played drums without any improvisation, no jazz riffs, no syncopation, no passionately going crazy on anything. How do you not go nuts on a kettle drum? If they're bored, why not spice up their songs by making them more like jazz? Or more indie, alternative, orchestral, hard rock, uk folk, or world music style? Or to make danceable, at least do good dance music (r&b or cutting edge techno). But if you’re going to imitate lame disco, then go all the way and camp it up and have fun with it. Instead, they did a drum machine. Then for acoustic style, the old harmonica. Predictable. The 3 other members of the band performed better than Chris, but all still look too self-conscious and uncomfortable on stage, have no interaction with crowd, no fun, no personality. Why don’t they improv on every song every night to keep it fresh and make the best of live performance for them and the crowd? 3. The Worst: Lighting. These were the worst lights in Coldplay’s career (with 3 exceptions, the video screen globes and the moving light rigs were great and butterflies were cool). But most lighting/staging was horrible. They showed the band too little and the audience too much. They imitated the worst traits of a U2 show again —too much house lights or similar lights on the audience. We didn’t come here to see each other and a basketball arena; we came to see the band. But unlike any concert I’ve ever seen, for several songs no one could see anyone in the band—the performers were in the dark! (To show off the screen globes? Unclear. Looked horrible and lost the audience). 4 roadies climbed 100 feet into spotlight rigs like Jedi fighters, yet they were barely used, risking their lives for nothing, a waste. The great thing about Coldplay lights for the last few years were that they were artistic, mood-setting, fit the music, ambient, subtle, and bathed the band and the audience just right—never going over the top, or being cheesy. These lights were cheesy. The 0506 tour’s amazing screen and light rig were missed. Projectors are fine, but nothing (other than globes) was done creatively—why not shoot lights or lasers through the Viva screen? No indoor fireworks, literally or figuratively. The lasers were a few corny multicolor pointers which swayed left to right a few feet. If you do lasers worse than a local planetarium’s stoners’ night out, then don’t do lasers at all. Why not try to out-do Muse’s standard-setting 06 MTV EMA award lasers? BATHE the audience as you used to! How did you have better lights and lasers in past years than you have in 2008?
Finally, it’s a tour about celebrating life over death, you can’t do that well if you’re depressed. The whole theme becomes a failure. The album is Viva la Vida—we’re willing to go along with you on this—but you’d better perform with some LIFE. Instead you were all moping. That’s like going to a Fiona Apple concert and seeing her sane, or Amy Winehouse sober. If you’ve had a bad day, or worse, then the whole point of Viva, and of Coldplay in general—is to at least enjoy life while you have it and to love and enjoy making great music and sharing it with an audience that loves you.
[mariae]
My boyfriend and I went to the show last night and had a wonderful time!! Coldplay was awesome as always, but the only problem I had while at the show was that no one in my section danced or stood up!! We sat in section 230 on the end of row ten and people in back of me (older individuals, not trying to offend just describing) were complaining that I would stand during certain songs! Since there were no tickets sold to the right of us, my boyfriend and I moved over to that section so we could stand and dance!! After sitting front row at Hartford and having a blast, I couldn't just sit in my seat at the concert. I wasn't going to let the people sitting ruin my fun I noticed pretty much every other section had everyone standing, jumping, dancing, and having a great time while my section pretty much just sat there. Did anyone else have a similar section where nobody stood up/danced?
[coldplaylvr828]
COLDPLAY Concert Review
I didn't really plan on writing a review for last night's concert, but when I started to type a response to the comments in the post I made yesterday, I realized I had a lot to say! So here's my first concert review. Okay, it's more of a recap than a review. Ha! Enjoy.
I've only been a fan of Coldplay for about two years now and until I recently purchased their latest album Viva La Vida (EMI Records Ltd., 2008), I've only had about a dozen or so of their biggest hits on my iPod. After seeing Coldplay's outstanding performance last night, I'm an even bigger fan now. They were amazing.
The opening act was Duffy, the 24 year old Welsh singer-songwriter who debuted at number one on the UK Album charts with her recent album Rockferry. Her musical style is a neo-soulful blend of pop, soul and rock'n'roll along the lines of artists Kylie Minogue and Amy Winehouse, and while I think she and her band are very talented--based on what I've sampled at her website, anyway-- I didn't think her performance last night was that impressive. Duffy looked amazing in her tiny black lace dress, but she failed to capture the audience's attention as she barely moved across the stage and her voice and lyrics seemed lost to the sound of the band. Only two songs stood out to me, "Serious" and the popular hit "Mercy." Still, Duffy is clearly a talented young artist with a lot of potential and I think the pop charts will be seeing a lot of her in the future.
The concert. First, I'd like to make a disclaimer about my concert reviewing skills. I haven't been to a rock concert in ages, and even then I haven't been to many. I saw U2 in 1987 for their Joshua Tree Tour and then a year or so later I saw Sting. I think that was in 1988, maybe. I know I also went to an INXS Kick concert and saw The Psychedelic Furs around that time, too, but I barely remember that. Basically, my point is that maybe I'm a little out of touch about what makes an amazing concert, but regardless of my concert going experiences or lack thereof, I have to say that last night's performance by Coldplay was fantastic. The song list was a perfect blend of past hits and new tracks from their current album Viva La Vida and lead singer Chris Martin made the concert feel intimate with his natural ability to connect with his audience. Really a fantastic show.
I'm totally kicking myself in the behind today. I didn't bring a camera to the concert. I know! I know! Idiot. And I got this great little purse sized digital camera for my birthday, too. Having floor seats, I could have had some really great shots. Ah, live and learn. So I made due with my iPhone camera, which actually takes decent photos for a camera phone, but alas, no zoom capabilities, so the photos aren't that great. I swear we had better views of the band in person than these pictures suggest. Honest.
Coldplay opened with the instrumental track, "Life in Technicolor" playing behind a sheer curtain, then the curtain lifted as they played their first vocal track, "Violet Hill."
I thought the lighting and technical effects during the concert were great. Granted it's been a while since I've been to a rock concert, but I really enjoyed the artistry in this performance. The effects weren't anything cutting edge, per se, but they complimented the music and the artists perfectly. There were these orbs suspended above the stage, and one much larger orb above the audience, and they either had varying colors and patterns swirling within them, or they were used to project live images of the band throughout the performance. Again, the orbs brought a perfect compliment to the tone of the show.
At one point, Chris Martin, while playing solo on the piano, sang "The Hardest Part" (X&Y, EMI Records Ltd., 2005) dedicated to singer, model, actress Jennifer Hudson as she grieves for the death of three family members. In case you haven't heard about the tragedy that has struck Jennifer Hudson and her family, last weekend her mother and brother were shot dead in their home and her 7 year old nephew had gone missing, only to be found dead in an abandoned car yesterday, October 27, 2008. The suspect is a family member, the estranged husband of Jennifer's sister, the father of the deceased young boy (Source: Chicago Tribune, chicagotribune.com). My heart goes out to Jennifer Hudson and her loved ones. Very sad.
Later in the concert, band members jogged off the stage and headed into the midlevel seating where they stood among the audience and played a few songs so that other fans could feel what it's like to have front row seats. One of the songs they played here is one of my favorites, "The Scientist." When he announced the song, Chris Martin playfully poked fun of the Jonas Brothers, saying it was their hit. Even my 13 year old, who saw the Jonas Brothers in concert over the summer, laughed at the humor. Chris Martin has a wonderful way about him that he can poke fun playfully without coming across insulting. That's a wonderful skill, I think.
Images of Japanese history and culture were displayed on the large screen behind the band while they performed the song "Lovers in Japan / Reign on Love" and millions of tissue paper butterflies were dropped over the floor area. I have to admit I was so happy to have had floor seats for this part. It was so beautiful.
The crowd gets Coldplay to come back out for an encore. Which, I think, is standard and expected. I was certainly pleased, because there was one more favorite song that the band hadn't yet played . . . "Yellow."
All in all, Coldplay delivered an amazing performance last night. I'm so thrilled I was able to go, it was a wonderful, memorable night with my daughter that I'll never forget. I can't wait to see them again on their next tour.
http://theromanticlife.blogspot.com/...rt-review.html
For Fan Reviews (Part 1) see page 1
Setlist
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Discussion
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Videos
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Photos
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Media Reviews
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