30 May 2003: Mountain V Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View, CA, USA
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
- Moses
- Everything’s Not Lost
- Pour Me
- Yellow
- The Scientist
Encore - Clocks
- In My Place
- Amsterdam
Media Reviews
Friday's concert at the Shoreline Amphitheatre marked a turning point for Coldplay, and three songs into the British band's set, singer-songwriter Chris Martin paused to capture the moment.
"I've just been told that this is our biggest show ever, and if everyone here had voted for us we would have won 'American Idol,' " he quipped before turning to his piano to sing "Trouble" a track off of 1999's "The Blue Room" EP. By song's end, half the amphitheater was singing along.
Referencing the band's new popularity before playing an old favorite was a telling gesture. Since releasing its Grammy-winning second album, "A Rush of Blood to the Head," last year, Coldplay's stateside following has swelled from a devoted fan base to a broader mainstream audience that missed its brilliant (also Grammy-winning) debut, 2000's "Parachutes."
The quartet is now a radio staple; "A Rush of Blood" has gone platinum; Martin is dating Gwyneth Paltrow (at least it's not Winona). At Shoreline, the crowd boasted a trans-cultural melange of indie kids, older prog-rockers and fresh converts who discovered the band through their local modern-rock stations.
Is good fortune a bad thing? Not for Martin, who repeatedly marveled at the size of the audience and venue. But for veteran Coldplay fans, who have watched their group move from relatively intimate sets at Bimbo's and the Fillmore to the Greek Theatre and finally the 20,000-capacity Shoreline, this transition from inspired underdogs to rock stars probably carries a bittersweet aftertaste.
Yet the progression is as fitting as it is fortunate. Coldplay's expansive sound, in which even piano ballads seem built for cathedral recitals, is perfectly suited to huge venues, and on Friday it effortlessly filled the amphitheater's sprawling space.
If Coldplay's 90-minute performance felt rote after a year of touring, it still sounded magnificent. The band kicked off with its standard opener, "Politik," a classic Coldplay arrangement in which hushed, confessional verses ignite into choruses of Wagnerian scale. The loud-soft dynamic worked well on "A Rush of Blood to the Head" and "Don't Panic," and reached its pinnacle with "God Put a Smile Upon Your Face." Starting as an acoustic ballad, the song built into a symphony of acid-rock distortion and soaring, bittersweet vocals as Martin cut loose to dance across the stage with his guitar.
Whether hunkering at the piano or whirling in circles like an ecstatic dervish, Martin has developed a stage presence kinetic enough to reach the lawn seats. His keening vocals fill the music with soulful veracity, whether toning down the treacle in "Everything's Not Lost" to create an inspirational anthem or adding a melancholic touch to the lilting melody of "The Scientist." On the neo-psychedelic "Daylight," Martin even managed to make verses extolling sunshine sound dark as lead guitarist Jon Buckland wove through Eastern-tinged riffs.
At times Coldplay's lavish sound echoed early U2, particularly on the mid- tempo "One I Love" and the new song "Moses"; at others, particularly in the lush dream pop of its first hit single, "Yellow," it recalled the band's days at the vanguard of Brit-pop's second wave. Coldplay has found that rare middle ground between accessibility and complex musicianship: Exchanges between guitars and piano shifted the music's mood and texture, while bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion created a rhythmic backdrop that provided a booming, danceable vibe.
The encore included the ubiquitous "Clocks" and "In My Place," still powerful and achingly beautiful after a thousand airplays. Dedicating the night's final number, the piano tune "Amsterdam," "to my lady and my dad," Martin told the crowd, "We thought there's no way we can be a soft rock band with short hair. We've proved that we can."
They've proved more than that -- among other things, that a gifted and adventurous rock group can enjoy mainstream success without whoring its talent.
We might never see them play Bimbo's again, but witnessing Coldplay's uncompromised success is a fair trade.
Neva Chonin
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi%3Ff=/c/a/2003/06/02/DD301567.DTL
What's more impressive: the fact that a band of British blokes who dare to use piano in rock 'n' roll can attract a 20,000-person crowd in Mountain View, Calif. or that they decide to show Oxfam commercials during intermission? And since when did Coldplay's Chris Martin become England's solution to U2's loudmouthed Irishman Bono?
"Coldplay? What on earth is Coldplay?" you might ask. Or "What does Bono have to do with Oxfam, especially because I've never heard of Oxfam before?" Well, perhaps you remember a song about a primary color that played incessantly on the radio? It was called "Yellow" and was a grand hit in 2000 and 2001. Written by a British band called Coldplay, these folks wanted to create music that was innovative and catchy. Judging by the critical acclaim and a rabid U.S. fan base, they certainly succeeded.
"Parachutes," their debut album of 2000, was characterized by lilting ballads, passionate piano and soaring guitars. Last year's much anticipated follow-up, "A Rush of Blood to the Head," was, in my mind, a tad less accessible. The band replaced the utter mellowness of "Parachutes" with more jarring, rocking-out numbers, but there were still a few choice moments, especially "In My Place," which found ample radio time.
Over the weekend, Coldplay came to sunny California, playing in the South Bay before venturing down to the Hollywood Bowl, and my roommate and I were lucky enough to secure tickets at the last possible second:
Me: "Dude. ('Yellow' is playing in the background.) You know they're playing tomorrow, right?"
Roomie: "Dude. I wonder if there are tickets left."
Me: "Dude, I doubt it."
Roomie: "Dude. Let me just check."
A little more than 24 hours later, we were watching lead singer Chris Martin pound at his piano. (Such movements are usually reserved for a Tori Amos concert, who is notorious for her intimate relations with the piano bench.)
The transformation of "A Rush of Blood"'s music from CD to concert form was truly astounding. Melodies that sounded flat when captured in digital form filled out across the amphitheater perfectly. The band was also downright exuberant, with Martin hopping across the stage and making pithy comments about the band's "largest concert ever!"
And in the middle of it all was a rather strange passive-aggressive note about fair trade. Before the lights dimmed and the boys came on stage, they showed a commercial on rice farming in Africa sponsored by Oxfam International, a nongovernmental organization that focuses on development issues. During the encore, the phrase "make trade fair" found its way back onto the screen, with no mention of it from the band. One had to wonder about the impact it had on the mostly white, suburban and slightly tipsy audience.
It seems that Coldplay, specifically the lead singer Chris Martin, has developed a soft spot for trade issues. After traveling through Haiti and observing the conditions coffee farmers endure, Martin and the rest of the band decided to attach their name to a worthy cause. You can even follow the journey on Oxfam's Web site.
Certainly, they are not the first band to do this. Relief aid concerts spring up wherever there are young people with a disposable income. U2 singer Bono's outspoken statements on Third World debt relief have made the pages of The New York Times and is the reference point for artists turned activists. On his emerging fair trade activities, Martin has said, "I felt like a fourth-rate Bono. Later on I felt like a third-rate Bono, and hopefully it'll escalate until I feel like a full-on Bono."
It's heartening to go to a packed amphitheater and see volunteers handing out flyers for some worthy cause, but I wonder how effective it is if no one is paying attention. If performers like Coldplay want to make a statement about fair trade, shouldn't they start by telling the audience what fair trade is rather than broadcasting a sad commercial from Oxfam? They're irresistible already. Martin might as well put his cooing voice to greater use.
Marissa Mika
http://www.dailycal.org/printable.php?id=11890
