4 March 2009: Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, Australia
From WikiColdplay
Contents |
Setlist
- Life In Technicolor
- Violet Hill
- Clocks
- In My Place
- Yellow
- Cemeteries Of London
- Glass Of Water
- 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)
- Green Eyes (acoustic)
- Death Will Never Conquer (acoustic, sung by Will)
- 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 Melbourne. http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/1657
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=51992
Discussion
All post-show discussion for this show at the forum thread: http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51992
Fan Reviews
All fan reviews have been submitted to us by the members of Coldplaying.com[1], unless stated otherwise.
Wow. What can I say? Coldplay really warmed up a cold, wet Melbourne evening tonight! I just got back from what was a truly amazing night, the first time I have seen the band live.
The night didnt start off to flash, my mate and I found out our seats were, although lower level, quite far back from the stage. We got through the two support acts, which weren't too flash. I think a lot of people were annoyed with the lead singer of Mercury Rev because he wasn't fearing too well in the vocals department.
The night went to plan, I recognised U2's song 'manificent', then a Jay-Z tune, then we got into Coldplay. Crowd went nuts, which was to be expected. Not too many people got excited with Viotel Hill to my suprise, but the roar was deafening when the riff was played to 'Clocks'. A fantastic light show, and I think the vairety in their displays throughout the whole performace was very interesting. Chris opened with the joke that he was excited to see it rain in Melbourne, that he was happy for us.. considering it rains all the time in the UK...
A highlight for me, was of course, yellow - which was quite funny because members of the crowd up the front kept tapping the yellow baloons towards Chris, and he was hitting them with his guitar like a cricket bat. He got the crowd to sing the final part of Yellow, claiming that we were all auditioning fot TV show 'Australia's got Talent'. Very funny stuff. He also said that the track could be sold and that due to that performance the band could 'now be better than U2'.
I was suprised with the addition of 'Glass of Water', but I rathered it than the 'Chinese Sleep Chant' to which it replaced. Most people didnt know it but I belted out the words! After that was Cemetaries of london, which sounded AWESOME.
Then we got all the excitement of the smaller 'B' stage songs (boy chris really hates The Hardest Part). Crowd ERUPTED when 'Viva La Vida' was played. This was the first time that the whole crowd got up from their seats, which was quite refreshing. The C stage was quite a surprise, they went quite deep into the crowd on the opposite side to us. I think most people got a fright because they never in their wildest dreams believed that they would be metres from coldplay when they sat down at the start of the show!
Encores were terrific, Chris sounded brilliant all night, his voice was right on key. So was Will's, as DWNC was thoroughly enjoyed by the crowd as a 'jovial' moment of the night. I lost my voice singing LIT2, which was great because thats where the night ended!
After it was over, we went down to the standing area, and I managed to convince the sound technition to give me a setlist, and he did! Which was fantastic! It's spot on except instead of playing 'Im a Believer' they played Green Eyes on the C stage. Went home with a 42 shirt, pocets full of butterflies, a setlist and a crapload of awesome memories! Viva! Setlist scan and photos to come!
[tauiwi]
Tonight's concert was incredible. I lined up from 2pm and got right on the barrier at the front. It was so unbelievably magical and amazing. From the interaction with the crowd to the butterflies and of course being right in front of Guy - he looked great tonight! Disappointed not to meet them after but very happy that I got someone's plectrum - could be either Chris' or Guy's because it came from that side of the stage. Loved that they did glass of water....shane warne was also in the crowd as well as kate cebrano who was going crazy for coldplay!
[sputnam]
So this was what happened...the buildup....
Thomas was suppose to meet me at crown for dinner last night but then traffic was so bad that by the time he met me, we only had like 45 mins before the show starts, which was at 7pm. So we decided to make our way to Rod Laver Arena to try to get a park. Went up and down Alexandra Pde and found nothing, so we had to park at the other side of the hill. Was drizzling and of course I had left my umbrella at work. Got to Rod Laver, bought fish(1 piece) and chips, Wedges and a bottle of water..for the price of $20 bucks...but what do you expect...concerts are pricey...
Took our seats about 7-ish...they were halfway throught the first opening act "Decoder Ring"..not bad...left the stage about 8pm...thought the concert was going to start..but noooooooooo..they had to have a second opening act..tat was gross "Mercury Rev"..the lead singer..he sounded like a roasting donald duck, which gave me a headache and by the time they left the stage at close to 9pm, I was seriously over it.....not to mention the fact that there was this group of teenagers behind me yaking about their love life and this weird "couple" infront of me....the gal was soooo into the guy...but the guy just couldnt be bothered..it was such a sad sad sight..anywayz
States 7pm seated and at 9pm....the concert wasnt starting..but was it worth the wait??!WAS IT WORTH THE WAIT??!! IT WAS FANTASTIC...IT WAS REALLY BRILLIANT....the best concert I have seen...at 9.15pm the concert started...hits and hits were belted out....when they sang Yellow, big balloons came falling..the lasers..the effects..brilliant...and in the middle of the concert, they went up to the CHEAPO seats and sang a few songs there like 'I'm a believer'....and I have got to tell you...CHRIS MARTIN IS AN ABSOLUTE GENIUS..i cant say enough..gosh...the concert ended about 11ish...so not a very long one..but brilliant..well worth the 140 bucks we paid for each ticket....
my only wish...they had more hits and do away with the stupid second act so that they can start earlier...but my oh my...brilliant is an understatement...
http://joalexischeng.blogspot.com/20...e-concert.html
Media Reviews
I wasn’t going to the second Melbourne Coldplay concert expecting to worship at the altar. In fact it’s probably fair to say that at best I was hoping to get through the experience without getting too bored and restless and dampening the enthusiasm of my lovely companion. I can be noble like that.
See, I have a confession to make – I don’t own a Coldplay album. Obviously I’ve heard their big songs on the radio and I’ve liked them enough not to change the station. But for some reason my feelings have never gone beyond ‘respectful’ and ‘mildly entertained’. It’s like I knew I ‘should’ like them more but something was getting in the way. It was probably the fact that most of their albums came out in the last decade when I struggled to like any new music.
I say this, not because you should care less (both of you reading this) but in order to provide some context for the next statement.
What a bloody great concert!
Coldplay have pretty much mastered the arena show. They provide a visual feast that allows them to far exceed the inherent performance qualities of the songs. The attention to detail is astounding. They come on stage in costumes that look like Ragamuffin Pirates blended with Sgt Peppers, blended with Revolutionary Civil War Soldiers. The overall effect is like Dexys Midnight Runner’s at a formal dinner. And it works – we feel like there is a show being presented.
Their instruments, from Will Champions drums to Johnny Buckland’s guitars to Chris Martin’s keyboards and even microphone are all customised with slashes of colour. It’s a small thing but it makes a big statement about their intentions.
Their use of the big screens is the best I’ve seen – the higher resolution picture quality available these days is used to full effect so that the screens become a device of intimacy and not apology.
Then there’s the props – huge yellow balls bounce around the arena for Yellow, autumn leaves/butterfly shaped confetti drops en masse later in the show and they make use of two runways and three stages – one being located in the heart of the audience (about 5 metres from our seats as luck would have it – see Amy’s photo for proof!)
Give the Production Designer a good seat on the tour bus!
For a more casual acquaintance of their music like me the show started off with a run of hits that left me wondering what I would do with myself for the next hour. Clocks, In My Place and Yellow all featured in the first few songs. The latter found Chris Martin asking the audience to sing along in the (tongue in cheek) hope that they would release the version as a single and be “bigger than U2”. This reference to the recent war of words in the British press with Bono was genuinely funny and delivered with a big smile. Martin asked the journalists in the audience not to report that comment but fortunately I’m no longer a journalist, just another wanker with a website!
The audiences finest moment vocally though was in Fix You when their massed vocal sounded great – again proving the theory that audience sing-a-longs sound much better when there is a majority of female voices in the audience.
Chris Martin isn’t the greatest singer in rock music, but he works with what he’s got cleverly. He actually has some jazz stylings in his vocals that work really well, although one doubts he would have married a film star had he been a jazz singer. That’s a cross he seems able to bear.
He is a great performer though – he’s a frontman for a band, but he’s still very much a band member and team player. When the band adjourned to the “audience stage” for an acoustic set including Speed Of Sound and Green Eyes as well as Death Will Never Conquer sung by Will) they looks like they are playing on a tiny corner stage at a little London pub. Somehow 16000 Aussies managed to get in. And he’s not afraid to have a laugh at his own expense which surely endears him to Australian audiences.
Other highlights of the set included the title track of Viva La Vida and the encore song The Scientist which even I have to admit is a superbly crafted combination of words and music.
Coldplay’s performance certainly won me over in a big way. I still wont be playing their albums as frequently as I play my old World Party records (while wistfully wondering how big they would have been if Karl Wallinger had been handed the performance charisma bestowed on Chris Martin), but Coldplay have certainly leapt up my personal rankings many places.
They hardly need another fan but, like it or not, they have one!
http://www.heyheymymy.com.au/2009/03/05/coldplay-concert-review/
Twitter Updates
These Twitter updates have been taken from the search feature on Twitter:
- snarkle: Home from an awesome Coldplay gig and have spent the last two hours editing my photos. Check them out here http://snurl.com/d2va1 (expand)
- jamietrinh: coldplay was great, entertaining. still, it didn't hold a candle to MUSE's gig!
- toolgasm: @coldplay were pretty awesome tonight. Lots of balloons, confetti and shiny things.
- shaun888: Chris Martin of Coldplay "f$&ks up" the hardest part in Melbourne tonight. Must be a tough gig out there! Rock on people!
- Acid_Monkey: Saw Coldplay perform @ Rod Laver Arena last night. They were great. I've added them to my Top 10 All Time Favourite Concerts list.
- jonola: fuck coldplay was awesome!
- emmalmsa: i could not have been more excited. AND THEY DID NOT DISAPPOINT. coldplay are fucking sensations
- chloe_e: wow the coldplay concert was unbelievable (L) love chris martin
- AndrewXX: Here is how HOT these Coldplay seats were sitting near Shane Warne was interesting! http://twitpic.com/1u73q
- hwakelam: just back from coldplay. Gotta admire the energy..
- nettsu: I'm happy coldplay did clocks still prefer the deep dish remix though http://twitpic.com/1u6ob
- scottkilmartin: Coldplay ... Great show. Weird outfits: Adam Ant meets Sgt Peppers
- ajdisse: While butchering the 'hardest part' Chris Martin asked the audience to forget the u2 comment #coldplay
- ajdisse: Chris Martin to audience 'sing this with me we'll release it as a single and finally be bigger then U2' #coldplay
