28 March 2009: Emirates Palace Hotel, Abu Dhabi, UAE
From WikiColdplay
Contents |
Setlist
- Life In Technicolor
- Violet Hill
- Clocks
- In My Place
- Yellow
- Glass Of Water
- Cemeteries Of London
- 42
- Fix You
- Strawberry Swing
- God Put A Smile Upon Your Face (Partial Techno Remix)
- Talk (Partial Techno Remix)
- The Hardest Part (Chris Solo Piano)
- Postcards From Far Away (Chris Solo Piano)
- Viva La Vida
- Lost!
- Speed Of Sound (Acoustic)
- Death Will Never Conquer (Acoustic, sung by Will)
- I'm A Believer (Neil Diamond Cover - Acoustic)
- Viva La Vida (Remix Interlude)
- Politik
- Lovers In Japan
- Death And All His Friends
Encore - The Scientist
- Life In Technicolor ii
- The Escapist (Outro)
Photos
Photos from this show can be found at Coldplaying.com in the Gallery thread for Abu Dhabi. http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/1745
Videos
Videos from this show can be found in the first post of the Coldplaying forum live thread for this show at http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54451
Discussion
All post-show discussion for this show at the forum thread: http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54451
Fan Reviews
All fan reviews have been submitted to us by the members of Coldplaying.com[1], unless stated otherwise.
That's right! I went to see Coldplay last night. OMGsh it was so much fun. Seriously. I had a blast. It was raining when we got to the concert at Emirates palace in Abu Dhabi. That's right people I went to two concerts two nights in a row at the same venue. So after we got to the concert we headed over to the Silent Disco. Ok I had never been to a silent disco before and I will admit that I was a bit sceptical going into it but it was actually a lot of fun.
At first it looks weird cause to a passer by there is a DJ at a stand obviously lost in to the music he's spinning and a bunch of people dancing to the same beat laughing and having a great time except there's no music! None! All that anyone can hear is the squeak of shoes from the dancers and people ordering beverages as well as the occasional overly loud person trying to communicate over the non-existent sound. But head up to the entrance and you are handed headphones the same headphones everyone else is wearing. Put them on and you are apart of the party. You hear what everyone else is hearing. Dancing to the music the DJ is playing. It's a fantastic idea and quite the experience.
After enjoying the silent disco for a while we headed over to the concert so that we wouldn't miss the beginning. Coldplay was fabulous and they got to play a couple songs before the rain really started to pour. Obviously the rain had no effect on the crowd. There were so many people! I would say definitely more than 15000 people showed up. Coldplay them selves were so great about keeping the crowd in a great mood even though it was pouring. In fact I think the rain just added to the fun and the lightening seemed to know exactly which moments to light up the sky.
Overall I was really impressed with Coldplay. They were fantastic live. Also what really impressed me was that in honor of last night, which was earth hour, they preformed the concert (no not in the dark) with nearly a 0 (that's zero people) carbon foot print. This is amazing for any concert let along a concert in a country that has one of the highest carbon footprints per capita in the world. They set a great example for the world.
http://duckabroad.blogspot.com
I was at the Coldplay concert last Saturday, and all I can say is WOW! What a show! We got there early so we could secure good spots...and what amazing spots they ended up being! Chris Martin was so close, we could almost touch him! The rain, lightning and thunder show that accompanied the band only made the whole experience even better in my opinion. The band was incredible...they looked like they were having fun on stage, they interacted with the crowd, they improvised, and they sang their lungs out! Their rendition of "I'm a believer" was amazing, and Chris often burst out into spontaneous rain-related songs such as "Why does it always rain on me" and "Raindrops keep falling on my head".
He even invited a girl to go up on stage with him to celebrate her birthday. Lucky b*&^h :) The venue at the Emirates Palace was perfect once again (although more traffic on the way out this time around, and it seems that the wristband section was a bit more chaotic). Abu Dhabi has proven once again that when it comes to attracting the big names and putting on a show, it beats Dubai hands down!
http://dxbsunshine.blogspot.com
As enticing as this spot has been, after we arrived on Saturday evening, Kim led us out for the Coldplay concert at Emirates Palace, the hotel that put Abu Dhabi on the map and makes the Shang look like a newer Best Western (more on that later, as we're going to explore the interior today). While the skies looked a bit threatening, no one really thought it would rain, since, as Kim told us, it rained just once for a very little while all of last year.
The concert was set near the beach to the side of the hotel, so that the stage backed to the water (though too dark for us to see) and the Palace dominated the skyline to the right. This was Coldplay's last stop on their Viva tour, and first time in the Middle East, so we saw a mix of around 15,000 fans, a rather blended international crowd.
As is the standard for this trip so far, Kim scored us--along with two of her friends--VIP tickets in the section most removed from the stage, but also the most comfortable. We were slightly elevated, which gave us a better view than those on the ground, and because the crowd was a bit smaller, the entire setting seemed rather intimate, yet still a little raucous.
I've always enjoyed listening to attractive British men do just about anything, so Chris Martin and the boys didn't disappoint. Added bonus, just as the concert got going, a lightning storm began illuminating the sky behind us. While we were excited about the additional light show, Kim and I kept commenting on the fact that the main stage, what with all the metal and wiring, was an ideal conduit for all that electrical power.
Fortunately, none of us went up in a ball of electrocuted flash, but we did get absolutely drenched when the sky unleashed pebble-sized rain drops...which inspired Chris, as I like to call him, to incorporate impromptu "rain" lyrics (think, raindrops keep falling on me head) into his songs.
At some point, the rain did let up, and we soaked in the rest of the concert, with the band really playing to the crowd (good video to come), traveling out to different spots nearer to us and entertaining us with more acoustic arrangements (and a harmonica solo).
http://cornfedchics.typepad.com/my_w...ecomes-us.html
Hi everyone I’m back and I’m sure you can already tell where I’ve been this weekend. That’s right I went to Abu Dhabi to see Coldplay play live in concert. I’m not really into concerts but Coldplay are one of the very few groups I’ve wanted to see live so I was really to glad get to good tickets, even though I thought I had left it late. All I can say is that they were FANTASTIC ! It was a memorable experience on so many levels.
We got into the outdoor venue at Emirates Palace about 20 minutes before Coldplay came on stage. The tickets were for standing near the stage (Diamond Standing) and I’m so glad I bought those tickets as the seated ones were really far away. I was looking around. The place was packed. I later found out that 15,000 people were there !
Then all of a sudden the lights went out and all you could see were torches of fire spinning around on the stage and then the opening intro from the album Viva La Vida (Life in Technicolor) being played by the band from behind a screen where you could only see their silhouettes. An electric opening.
The band then reeled off songs from the album with classics such as Yellow, In My Place and the brilliant Fix You in between. Oh and in between the songs there was thunderstorm which completely soaked everyone. But no one cared. In fact it added to the atmosphere. With every clap of thunder we sang even louder, our hands and faces getting wetter from the warm tropical rain. Coldplay was the perfect soundtrack to this evening.
But what made this concert really memorable was the performance of lead singer Chris Martin. What a show he put on. It wasn’t just him standing up there singing the songs going through the routine. His use of Arabic, “Shukran” and “keefik” were nice touches and you got the feeling that a lot of this was being improvised. Not the songs, the interaction with the crowd, which he never missed an opportunity to do. He would bring in “raindrops keep falling on my head” in one of his songs while the rain was bucketing down. When doing a rendition of the 60’s song of “I’m a believer” he cracked a joke each time before asking different sections of the crowd and the band members if they”feel in love”.
Other great parts of the show were when celebrating Earth Hour, all the lights were turned off as Chris Martin asked everyone to light up the screens of their mobiles while he sang on a small stage in the middle of the crowd. Before that, one lucky girl who was celebrating her birthday actually got on the stage with Chris Martin where they did a “special duet” as Martin put it. Only he would sing but asked if she wouldn’t mind turning the pages of the song book on his piano. But joke of the night had to be when he said that the band has been together for 13 years but the first 12 years were just spent practicing for this concert in Abu Dhabi LOL !
Back to the music, so many good songs were performed really well but the pick were Lost, Clocks (great laser show), Viva La Vida, and of course Fix You. But what made this show (it was so much more than a concert) so refreshing was that the biggest band in the world right now are really down to earth ordinary guys who play great music, fantastic songs and always engaged the audience.
I arrived at the concert liking Coldplay. I left, absolutely loving them.
http://q80mix.com/2009/03/31/coldplay-live-in-concert/
We saw Coldplay on Saturday night outside on the grounds of the Emirates Palace. It was a pretty good concert with the band coming out to the cheap seats 'standing section in the back' to play a few songs. Seemed impromptu, but most likely planned and very cool. Although I really get frustrated when the 'small' girls get on the shoulders and make it even more difficult to see, perhaps if I weighed 20 lbs less I might have been able to do that too.
All night there was lightning in the distance which made for a pretty cool atmosphere. The rain came....only a few minutes into the second song and it poured! Now of course rain can always be an issue at outdoor concerts in most countries, but here in Abu Dhabi, where rain is really quite rare, it was extremely odd. Since we got here in January, we've seen a few sandstorms, but other than that it's been clear blue sunny skies. It rained for a good half hour soaking everyone to the core, thankfully we brought along garbage bags to try and keep us dry
http://jenandnickyates.blogspot.com/...y-in-rain.html
I'm going to tell you all about the VIVA COLDPLAY concert in Abu Dhabi. Yes, Vikvik was able to get me in with the press passes Tita Victoria --Vikvik's bestfriend's mom-- has......
.....Anyway, it's a long drive from Sharjah to Gardens to Abu Dhabi. And it's effin traffic, and it started to rain. But when we arrived, the rain stopped. We got there and we stayed at the front part (since there were no seats) of the concert area. I can't believe it's cold this time of the year. Goddamnit! I didn't bring warm clothes! I had to borrow some from my mom. And my brother and I forgot to bring jackets. Good job! So there I was trying not to feel cold and trying not to fall asleep cause I was sooo effin sleepy and tired. Cause it's taking them sooo long to start up the show and play.But it's soooo worth the wait. They were fucking great! XD Chris Martin's voice is the same on album as it is live. Oh the lights design is fantabulous! I loved their Yellow performance cause everything was yellow, and they had big yellow balloons flying all over. And that's when it started to rain.
Here are the downsides of the concert: 1) I felt really small and my feet ache from tiptoeing cause people around me were fuckin tall! Specially the two guys who moved in front of me were fucking posts. 2) It started raining. The rain droplets were big and cold. Biting cold. 3) It didn't help that the breeze is cold. 4) I didn't finish watching the concert because I would die from hypothermia if I stayed there. But I caught the cold from 2-hour car drive back to the Gardens.
http://clementinestar.livejournal.com/41041.html
I think it has rained twice since we have lived here. Both times it was short lived, barely a glimpse of bad weather. Most days, even all through winter show blue skies and clear air. So, I could not believe the ONE night Coldplay was coming to town severe weather was forcasted..NO WAY! Well, during the day it rained a little bit and it seemed as if the weather was going to hold out.
Around 6:30pm, on our way to the concert we noticed lighting looming over the Emirates Palace Ampitheater--the exact direction we were headed. We had barely walked in the venue and the rain started..the only protection we had were the garbage bags I threw in my purse--as we have no rain coats, or even coats here and I never thought I would need them!!
Well, the rained cleared for the concert but started up again about half way through. The lightning struck throughout the night in the distance over the stage. It was a very surreal experience and a memorable one. Coldplay in Abu Dhabi, Emirates Palace in the background, lightning striking overhead, soaking wet clothes, beer mixed with rain water and enjoying it all with the company of great friends..who could ask for more!!!
http://sanddiving.blogspot.com/2009/...anslation.html
Media Reviews
Coldplay frontman Martin scoffs at rain
The critically acclaimed group began their set with Violet Hill, followed by hits including Yellow and Clocks. Chris Martin, the lead singer, greeted fans in Arabic and laughed off several downpours with impromptu renditions of Singin’ in the Rain and Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head.
“Even this torrential weather couldn’t stop us having a great time with you,” he told the crowd, who ignored the thunder and lightning to carry on dancing and cheering. Sarah Foster, a Canadian, said: “He’s turned the rain into an amazing atmosphere. If anything it’s like a treat for us here.”
Philip Parks, also from Canada, said: “It’s the best concert I’ve been to here. The rain just made it better. Amazing atmosphere.”
Laura Nightingale, 27, from the UK, who is on holiday with her fiance, said the concert was the highlight of her trip. “This is an amazing treat,” she said. “I love the ‘show must go on’ attitude.”
A fan who turned 24 yesterday was invited to join Martin at the piano to turn the pages of his score as he played The Hardest Part. Coldplay were supported by the US rock band Mercury Rev, who have been on the American music scene for more than 20 years and whom Martin cites as an inspiration for his musical career. The band played three encores, the first of which, an acoustic set including the Monkees’ classic I'm A Believer, they performed on a second stage near fans in the standing section. The crowd turned on their mobile phones’ lights while all other lighting in the stadium was turned off to mark Earth Hour.
The concert – a joint venture between Flash and Live Nation – was “carbon neutral”.
ABU DHABI - Fans flocked to Abu Dhabi’s Emirate Palace hotel last night to see pop-rock heavy weights Coldplay live in concert. The band, whose album Viva la Vida was last year’s best selling album worldwide, dropped by the nation’s capital for the last show of their world tour.
“Coldplay rock. I saw them four years ago and they were really good then. I’m expecting Chris Martin to be a dancing freak,” said Lucy Medial, a fashion consultant from Dubai. “He isn’t sexy but he’s an amazing artist. I like that he is a green advocate and his fashion style is a bit dirty-chic.”
Coldplay aficionados came from across the country and even the region with Karin Aboujaoute, a student, travelling from Beirut, Lebanon. “I love Coldplay. Their songs are incredible and I’ve come all the way from Beirut to see them and I’ve bought a Coldplay hat,” Karin said. “I want to hear some old songs like Clocks, Yellow and The Scientist — not just tunes from Viva la Vida.”
Lezanne Swart, a gothic designer from South Africa, wasn’t put off by drizzling rain or lightening streaking across the sky minutes before the band began playing. “I know the words to all Coldplay songs. I love them. They are just really original and keep coming up with great albums,” Swart said. “I think Chris Martin is a good artist and I like that they support free trade. He and Gwyneth Paltrow make a good couple and I’m hoping they play a little bit of everything tonight. Viva la Vida or Death and All his Friends is probably my favourite album.”
The four-piece came on stage brandishing sparklers and opened with their latest single Life in Technicolor taken from Viva la Vida.
On paper, the weekend was a triumph before it had even started - two of the world’s biggest acts playing back-to-back in the UAE capital, attracting thousands of fans from across the Emirates. The weekend got off to a bumpy start. The wind whipped up a minor sandstorm in the dusty carpark at Emirates Palace and dumped its contents all over the bemused guests, many of whom had turned up in their opera finest. When the announcement came that the maestro would be onstage late, minor sandstorm threatened to turn into minor mutiny.
Andrea Bocelli is an odd tin of sardines. Like a classical Robbie Williams, you get the feeling he’d like to be a lot grander than he actually is. Certainly, he can cough up a better Rigoletto than you or I, and lesser men would blush at those high notes, but – as he proved in the second half on Friday night – his voice is better suited to Italian easy listening, or the Lloyd-Weber-esque ‘Time to Say Goodbye’, rather than the assault on opera’s greatest arias that he staged in the first.
For his final trick, he dribbled ‘Nessum Dorma’ down the centre of the park, showing occasional flair, before knocking a well-intended effort someway off target. Old twinkle-toes Pavarotti, should you need reminding, finished a similar move in considered style some twenty years earlier. Ending your gig with a weak version of someone else’s signature piece is, perhaps, not the best idea. Admitting that you haven’t bothered to learn any Arabic, despite your astronomical fee, smacks of arrogance.
No such language difficulties with Coldplay, whose eager-to-please front man Chris Martin must have swallowed a local dictionary. Once again, the elements voiced their disapproval in spectacular fashion – the primordial stew that had been brewing throughout Saturday finally giving way to a vast and furious electrical storm an hour before show time. It paused briefly to allow Mercury Rev their chance to mimic Flaming Lips, beginning again with renewed vigour during the headliners’ mesmeric rendition of smash hit ‘Yellow’. Never have 15,000 people looked so happy in the rain. Love him or hate him, Martin is a compelling frontman, and the unassuming young Brit managed to summon forth a devilish alter ego, pulling the gig back from the brink of being a literal washout.
If it hadn’t been for the large balls of water seemingly hurled from the sky, we’d have taken our hats off to Coldplay. On and on they played, interspersing their hit-ridden set with a cheery rendition of ‘Singing in the Rain’; amazed and delighted to be a part of the atmospheric irony. The occasion marked a triumphant close to both their world tour and one of the most surreal Abu Dhabi weekends in living memory.
Abu Dhabi: The atmosphere was electric, alright. With thousand-volt lightning streaking across the sombre skies, a group of four took to the stage in their marching band outfits to sing about Violet Hill, with Eugene Delacroix’s symbolist painting: Liberty Leading the People, unfolding in the background. The heavy skies soon opened up pouring rain over the 15,000 fans who had come to see Coldplay in their first concert in the UAE on Saturday [March 28] at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi.
The rain, the thunder and the lightning combined with the blue-green laser lights and humongous balloons wading through the air to create a surreal backdrop. On the last leg of their world tour to promote their fourth album Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends, Coldplay belted out hits such as Yellow, The Scientist, Fix You, Clocks and In My Place from their previous three albums, alongside other tracks like Green Eyes, Shiver and The Hardest Part.
From their latest album, the obvious favourite was cover song Viva La Vida with the crowds joining in the chorus as lead vocalist Chris Martin swaggered around the stage and across the protruding ramp which divided the VIP stands into two, bringing Coldplay closer to fans who were at the back. Martin couldn’t help joking about seeing rain in a ‘desert country’.
Coldplay also showcased new tracks such as Lost, 42 and Lovers of Japan, which was played against a rolled-down backdrop video of Japan. As the crowd began applauding, Martin sprung out a Wagasa (a Japanese parasol) and broke into a frenzied dance before the crowds were showered with thousands of little paper butterflies; just like in the video.
Sixteen year old Samar who was having the time of his life, said, “We felt like we were floating in the air while listening to them. Coldplay makes you forget about all your problems; they take you into another world…”
An old-school wooden-framed television placed next to the piano on stage was beaming live images from the concert and clips from their music videos. As the rains died down and a cool wind wafted over the concert-venue, Coldplay mimicked the weather with their romantic guitar riffs and vibrating drum sounds. The musicians constantly interacted with their fans and also went on to say that the Abu Dhabi crowd ranked as their number one to date. A lucky birthday girl got to go on stage and join Martin on the keyboards for a solo performance of the song ‘The Hardest Part’
Since Earth Hour 2009 also coincided with their concert, the band who are known to be environmentally-friendly, requested the organisers to switch off all lights in the arena for five minutes to commemorate the event. A multitude of cellphone lights lit up the arena, the musicians went on to do a cover of Neil Diamond’s I’m a Believer. Scott Hallsworth, a British expatriate, who had braved the rains with his wife and infant baby in a stroller, to watch the band perform, said, “I’ve attended Coldplay’s concert in London, but this one was much better than that. Coldplay is famous for their brilliant stage productions and they stayed true to form. The weather did not bother us; it actually complemented the atmosphere of the concert,” he said. Martin then joked about the early formation of the band, and made drummer and backing vocalist Will Champion perform, to prove that the band would not have been the same, had he been the lead vocalist – all in good humour.
As the curtains came down, the band bowed out in front of a roaring audience with a humble ‘Shukran’. However, the crowds were not in the mood to call it a night. As Coldplay retired backstage, the thousands of fans began to hum Viva La Vida – an unusual way to urge the band to come back on stage as compared to the usual ‘once more’. Despite a few minutes passing by and no sign of Coldplay, the crowds continued singing hoping that the band would come back on stage one last time.
And they did.....
The Coldplay frontman Chris Martin was charmingly apologetic, as if the rain was his fault. “I know this is extremely terrible weather,” he bellowed from the Emirates Palace stage on Saturday night.
But in fact, the rain never mattered. The British foursome bounced on stage with sparklers, opening their storming Middle Eastern debut with the instrumental Life in Technicolor from their last album, Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, followed by Violet Hill from the same album. From the happy enthusiasm shown by the band, you would never have guessed it’s a show that they’ve already performed more than 100 times worldwide. As forks of lightening streaked the sky, a sodden, enraptured audience of 15,000 whooped back at them.
Musically, it was a strong, well-constructed set list of upbeat new tracks from the recent album, produced in part by Brian Eno, along with a smattering of oldies. Having worked their way through Clocks and In My Place, it was during a rendition of the band’s early hit Yellow that the rain really started coming down. Martin looked disbelievingly skywards and laughed with his three band mates, the guitarist Jonny Buckland, the bassist Guy Berryman and the drummer Will Champion. “I’m singing in the rain,” he quipped. Three giant orbs twirled above their heads, yellow balloons floated across the stage and a backdrop of multicoloured laser beams shone out into the audience.
It wasn’t a mere visual spectacle, however. From start to finish of nearly two hours of music, it was a magnificent effort in which the crowd were given a true taste of Chris Martin, the entertainer. He didn’t just sing. He also played the guitar, tinkled on the piano, cracked jokes at the audience and apologised for his bad Arabic before, at one moment, swaying around while puffing into a harmonica. All of this while skipping around stage, sweat pouring down his face. “We’re staying in a palace,” he said incredulously while waving his hand at the hotel behind him, seeming genuinely grateful to be there.
As he launched into a soaring rendition of Fix You, the rain stopped and the crowd were encouraged to sing along. Martin flung his Sergeant Pepper jacket out into the audience before launching into the opening guitar chords of Strawberry Swing, an Afropop influenced track that Martin attributes to Zimbabwe, where his mother grew up. “It’s such a perfect day,” he sang as the crowd collectively wiped rain water from their eyes.
The highlight, for one girl, came when Martin called her up on stage for a birthday treat. Having moved to a platform in front of the stage while frantic bodies mopped the equipment behind him, Martin invited the 23-year-old Sarah to sit beside him while he played the piano through The Hardest Part. “Just turn the pages,” he said. “I probably don’t smell so good but just sit back and relax. I’ll do all the singing.”
For others in the audience, their moment came when the four moved to a small platform in the middle of the standing section. “Remember, it’s Earth Hour,” instructed Martin as the lights went off and a sea of mobile phones and cameras were held up instead while the four swept through The Monkees’ I’m A Believer. Champion left his drums and took over for Martin with a rare vocal performance of Death Will Never Conquer, a song penned during writing sessions for Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends but which never made it on to the album.
The evening’s pinnacle came just afterwards, when having moved back to the main stage and performed Politik, the band struck up their wistful anthem to the East, Lovers in Japan. To a screened backdrop of Japanese images, thousands of multicoloured paper butterflies showered down on the audience. It was a truly breathtaking moment.
Tricky, therefore, to follow it up, but this they did with aplomb, performing the lullaby-like Death and All His Friends before taking a bow and leaving the stage. A brief encore, including The Scientist, was swept through before Martin had one final parting shot for the grateful crowd. “The ratings are back,” he said, “And we’ve played a few gigs, but the Abu Dhabi is audience number one.” On such a night, we happily believed him.
