31 March 2006: United Center Chicago, IL
From WikiColdplay
Setlist
- Square One
- Politik
- Yellow
- Speed Of Sound
- God Put A Smile Upon Your Face
- X&Y
- How You See The World
- Don't Panic
- White Shadows
- The Scientist
- Til Kingdom Come
- Ring Of Fire
- Trouble
- Clocks
- Talk
Encore - Swallowed In The Sea
- In My Place
- Fix You
Reviews
Early in Coldplay's Friday night concert at the United Center in Chicago — their second in as many nights — frontman Chris Martin thanked the sellout crowd for coming out to see "a little English band." In truth, there has never been anything "little" about Coldplay. The English quartet have been stadium-sized superstars virtually since the first single, "Yellow," off their first album, 2000's "Parachutes," and their profile has grown with subsequent releases "A Rush of Blood to the Head" (2003) and "X&Y" (2005).
Their grandiose sound begs comparison to U2, but only if Bono and company had skipped their scrappier early material and gone straight to "Rattle and Hum."
When many bands make the leap from smaller venues to king-sized sports arenas, they battle the less intimate surroundings, but Coldplay seemed right at home, making use of every square foot of the enormous building.
The lion's share of the credit goes to Martin and his ability to work the crowd. The curly-haired lead singer was a bundle of energy as he darted from side-to-side on the large stage, repeatedly diving to the edge of the crowd. Even when tethered to an upright piano or strapped to a guitar, he kept the appreciative audience engaged.
During the encore, Martin ran to the rear of the main floor to lead a sing-along of the hit "My Place," creating a sort-of "me and my 18,000 closest friends" feel.
Martin's bandmates — guitarist Jon Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion — gave flawless, well-rehearsed performances but distinguished themselves mostly by staying out of their leader's way.
There were a handful of moments in which Martin shared the spotlight, ceding vocals on one verse of "Don't Panic" to Buckland and providing Berryman with a tub of popcorn and a beanbag chair as gifts for his upcoming birthday while the remaining members played an acoustic mini-set (which included a dubious cover of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire") at the foot of the stage.
The acoustic break was one of several creative staging moves that made an asset of the United Center's largess. It may have been a little on-the-nose when, during "Yellow," more than a dozen giant confetti-filled balloons (yellow, of course) fell from the rafters, but the crowd and Martin certainly enjoyed bursting them. The mood also was enhanced by a terrific lightshow, especially the red laser beams projected during the piano-driven "Clocks."
Martin's stage presence did wear thin at points. His repeated platitudes about Chicago ("the greatest music city in the world") degenerated into pandering. His sweeping body language veered toward megalomaniacal — another frequently drawn comparison to Bono. Mercifully, he refrained from any diatribes about his pet political cause, fair trade, letting a glow-in-the-dark message on his piano — "MTF" — do the talking.
Unfortunately, the 1½-hour set felt calculated and overproduced, if not sterile (not unlike the band's recorded output to date), so much so it was a welcome relief when Martin botched the opening chords of "How You See the World" and had to start over. Yes, Coldplay are human.
On the do-over, many in the audience held aloft their lighted cell phones — a recent innovation replacing the once omnipresent Bic lighters of concerts past, and the perfect analogy to Coldplay itself.
The sea of blue light looked cool, but there was no danger of getting burned.
Source: dailysouthtown.com
Well, that was the 3rd of 4 Chicago(land) shows Coldplay has done in support of X&Y. I saw the first @ Metro and it was the best show I've ever seen. The Alpine left something to be desired; the crowd and the vastness sucked the life out of a usually jubilant and exciting experience. The United Center brought all of that back and did indeed capture most of the magic of their most intimate shows. However, at $80 a pop for tix and no opener, thanks to illness, I would have liked to hear about 15-30 more minutes. Maybe I am just spoiled by the likes of DMB, Rusted Root, and even U2, who play a minimum of 2 hours but I can't help but feel a little disappointed after an otherwise brilliant show.
The sound @ United Center is always excellent and Coldplay used its potential to the max. They also have the best light show around and using the house ad boards to surround us in digital ecstasy was amazing. They had a great set list and played virtually the best versions of every song that night. Highlights: right off the bat, Square One - simply amazing; Johnny singing a verse on Panic; White Shadows; Guy sitting down on bean bag w/ popcorn as birthday present; Talk; Clocks absolutely brought the house down; good crowd participation, especially handling the refrains of Fix You.
However, I can't help but get back to my previous point that there are a few songs missing. I don't think it too much to ask to play the self-titled song off the new album, namely X&Y, or the song lending its name to the entire tour, Twisted Logic. These are two of their best songs to date and I feel we are being snubbed by not getting to hear them performed. I also miss the good old days of hearing AROBTTH, Daylight, Spies, Everything's Not Lost, you know the songs that don't seem to make the new "format." I certainly enjoyed the emergence of a new song last night, "The Way You See the World?" and it helped bring back the intrigue and spontaneity that used to be expected from show to show. It's just a shame that they appear to be playing almost a cookie cutter set list for the entire tour. This set list was almost identical to the Alpine show, but we didn't even get to hear Low, which is also by far one of the best new songs. I hope they are not moving towards a more commercial mentality with their concerts. I'm sure it is very difficult to change things up too much, but every little bit helps and we all greatly appreciate it.
That being said, this show was still one of the best I've seen them do. The energy, excitement, and quality of performance were all tops. Thanks for the effort, the stage presence, and the brilliance.
[Thanks Conor]
Another amazing show! You could really feel their energy and it lit everyone up. Richard Ashcroft didn't perform, so Coldplay had to awaken a quiet crowd. It didn't take them long, about one note!
The set: Square One Politik Yellow Speed of Sound God Put A Smile Upon Your Face What If How You See the World No. 2 Don't Panic (Jonny sang) White Shadows The Scientist 'Til Kingdom Come Ring of Fire Trouble Clocks Talk --encore-- Swallowed in the Sea In My Place Fix You
[Thanks minnows44]
This was by far the best concert/ birthday present that I have ever been to (which was not hard to beat the 2 Beach Boys preformances that I previously saw). The band was magnificent not to mention the show and the lights itself. It was a little dissappointing that they only played for an hour and a half, but by the end of their preformance my voice was almost completely gone from singing the lyrics and screaming at the same time.
Chris Martin kept the anticipation levels high and every song was right on. But when they did How You See The World No. 2 and Chris screwed up the first section of the lyrics only made me fall deeper in love with them proving that they are still man and not the gods that I make them out to be but are as close as anyone can ever get.
I was also a little dissappointed that they didn't play their big hits from the UK like Shiver, Everything's Not Lost, and others but I guess that just means I will have to go to another one of their concerts to see it live.
This was the first of many Coldplay concerts I will be going to and hopefully they don't ever loose that pizazz and energy that they showed at the United Center in Chicago. Thanks Coldplay!
[Thanks Danielle]
