6 August 2009: Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion, Raleigh, NC, USA

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6 August 2009: Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion, Raleigh, NC, USA (Picture by jcatanzaro @ Twitter)

1 Setlist
2 Photos
3 Videos
4 Discussion
5 Fan Reviews
6 Media Reviews
7 Twitter Updates

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Setlist

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Photos

Photos from this show can be found at Coldplaying.com in the Gallery thread for Raleigh. http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/1709

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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=54395

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Discussion

All post-show discussion for this show at the forum thread: http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54395

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Fan Reviews

All fan reviews have been submitted to us by the members of Coldplaying.com[1], unless stated otherwise.

Oh my god. It was phenomenal. Two of my friends were in the pit - Chris Martin high-fived one of them. Then, when he was throwing the tympani stick, it bounced into the same guy's hand! And at the end Jonny walked up to my other friend and GAVE him his pick, straight up handed it off to him. They made off like bandits.No real changes from the typical setlist. Billie Jean was cool, as well as a little improv harmonica song Chris did while they were out on the lawn playing the acoustic set. <3 Green Eyes, too

[twistedlogic149]

Wow. First coldplay concert and it was amazing! Everything, the band, the venue, the setlist, the crowd, was all great. They seemed kind of out of it but it barely showed at all, though I was thinking there would be two true encores - didn't really consider the first bit an encore lol. Favorite song would have to have been green eyes, lovers in japan, or the scientist. Oh and the hardest part really showed how great chris and will are in harmony! The band walked right past me on the way to the back stage!!

As an aside wtf is with people getting super drunk at a coldplay concert?! There were 50 year old women jumping up and down dancing during every single song!!

@guy above me - I think he was talking about the little thing chris sang while will was tuning his guitar, not will's song

First off I agree with whoever said his voice sounded a slight bit nasaly - I was thinking either cold or just maybe a bit tired, but it was only noticable in the beginning to me.

I also think that the Talk/GPASUYF remix sounded great, just.. I dunno. It kinda didn't work right the way they combined them for me. I also think Violet Hill was a little off, but all the rest were brilliant! Strawberry Swing is a favorite of my girlfriend and I and we both thought it completely came alive in person! It sounded much more full than the studio version - same for Lost! It didn't sound as planned out and to me, it flowed better than it does on the CD. To be honest though, at least from where I was (left stage, about middleways back), I don't get what you mean by the crowd not getting into them? I was really surprised by how many people sang along and were enjoying all the songs - even the non-singles. I LOVE Leftrightleftrightleft - I held off on downloading it so I wouldn't spoil the surprise of the live songs - but it's so cool having that as a memory of how great the concert was.

I have many pictures and videos, but I'm not sure if I'll post them or not - the videos are half of songs in most cases - I didn't want to watch all of them through the lens! I'm also not so sure how good the quality is lol..

My girlfriend and I also both thought Elbow were better live - she doesn't even like them in the studio - but Grounds for Divorce and One Day Like This were AMAZING! Looooved the effects on the GFD breakdowns!

But the one thing this concert made me feel over anything else is that Coldplay's way more fun to see live than a lot of other bands out there - and I'm going to try and get to at least one of their shows a year from now on if they're around!

The programs are amazing btw - I felt a lot better spending $20 on one of those than I did the $40 for the shirts haha..

[Link]

We got there around 4:30, then headed over to the venue immediately. We arrived at the gates at 4:45. We were pretty close to the front of the line, and it really started to get packed once we got there. They ended up not opening the gates until around 5:45. I was one of the first 10 or so people in and we all sprinted to get our front row spots on the lawn.

When I first got a view of the lawn I saw 4 or 5 blue tarps with security guards around them, not 1 like I was told. I gave it my best guess and ended up picking the wrong blue tarp. It ended up being the one with the tent over it, but I had assumed that area was for something else...I know, I'm an idiot. I didn't mind really though, because despite the fact that they were a third the price of my Verizon Center tickets for the past two shows, the front row of the lawn had a hell of a lot better view than those seats.

Kitty, Daisy, and Louis were alright. That girl is really talented, but it's just not my style of music. Elbow was quite impressive. They sounded better live than they do in the studio.

When The Blue Danube came on, the crowd was still yapping and not even paying attention or clapping or anything. Coldplay came on just in time, right at 9 o'clock, and that was when they finally shut up.

One highlight was during a song (can't remember which one), Chris introduced Jonny as "the nicest man in the world...Mr Jonathan Buckland...he's 15 years old!". I laughed pretty hard at that, but maybe you just had to be there to find it funny.

At one point, Chris asked if everyone was ready to be louder than they'd ever been on a Friday. The whole crowd yelled back "THURSDAY!". The look on Chris's face was priceless; he had no idea what we were saying. After the song was over Jonny pointed out to him that it was a Thursday.

When Viva la Vida started playing, the crowd was at it's loudest. This really disappointed me, but it explained why the crowd was so weak. They were mostly newer fans whose first Coldplay song was Viva la Vida.

When Coldplay started moving towards the c stage, there was a huge rush to get over there. I managed to get about ten feet away from the band in a big sweaty mob of teenagers screaming "OMG HE'S SO HOT!". (They were talking about me of course, not Chris)

A lot of people started leaving after they finished Death And All His Friends. I couldn't help giving them the finger as they walked by. What a bunch of assholes. It's disrespectful to walk out when the band has two songs left to play. Even when Chris came back out to tell everyone about LeftRightLeftRightLeft, they kept walking. I was furious.

I'm really glad they've gone back to playing The Scientist on piano. That's the way it was meant to be played.

I haven't been a huge fan of Coldplay using pretty much the SAME set list for an entire year, but the addition of Glass of Water, Life in Technicolor ii, and Green Eyes helped keep things fresh. One thing I noticed tonight was that since I last saw Coldplay back in October, they've become a hundred times better. They've really got this routine down to a science.

Viva Coldplay.

[Josh42]

I understand that if this is your first Coldplay show, it was probably the coolest thing in the world... because seeing Coldplay is always going to be awesome.

But I thought they were better when I saw them last in Raleigh, in 2005. The B and C stage concept is cool but God Put A Smile/Talk feel like filler songs, Green Eyes/Death feel way too short, and with all the time it takes to get between each stage - I'd rather them just stay on the main stage and play 2 or 3 more full songs. Billie Jean was pretty cool though, I must say.

Some of the songs didn't translate live as well as I'd hoped - Lost, Strawberry Swing, Glass of Water in particular. And even though they played for almost 2 hours, it felt like a short concert because of the already mentioned time in between stage changes, and how the setlist was so planned, songs never really ended... they just kind of went right into another.

Coldplay is still awesome and it was still a really great show, I just wanted to offer up an opinion of something different than "OMG I LOVE COLDPLAY AMAZING SHOW"

Oh, and Elbow was fantastic... Grounds for Divorce is such a kickass tune.

[aimorris]

HOLYCRAPITWASAMAZING I saw Hoppy and said Hi to him and he winked at us!

I got really close to them when they were on c-stage, I couldnt stop screaming I really put my vocal cords to the test ....

Elbow is a lot better live I picked up a ton of butterfly confetti towards the end and I got a tour shirt. This drunk guy started crying during Fix You, it was great Yeah-before Chris said his goodbyes some people started to leave and then they played The Scientist and LiTii but I was almost too tired to sing along I was suprised at how good the Billie Jean cover was! I got a good video- I might upload it on youtube later

[lindilovescmart]

All the teens at the Cstage. It was hilarious. I'll get some pictures up soon.

After the guys left there was this older lady standing behind me crying...she was like "i love you chris...i love you" it was amazing.

More later...i'm trying to finish a writing project.

Oh and there had to be more coldplayers there. I was taking pictures of Hoppy getting the Cstage ready when this group of 3 teen girls came up next to me and started yelling "hoppy! hoppy!" It was great.

You could tell he was thinking "I'm the coolest guitar tech in the world."

[TimeIsOnYourSide]

My group got a decent lawn seat – for an idea of where, it was essentially the mirror image of where Coldplay showed up on the other side of the lawn. This is the only Coldplay concert I’ve been too, but it certainly felt like they had nailed a routine and knew how to go through the motions without seeming stale. I was surprised at how few people vocally recognized songs like Yellow, 42, In My Place, and even Billie Jean (my friend, who knew all the other songs they played, asked me if it was a “B-side or something”). Songs like The Scientist, Lovers In Japan, and Viva La Vida (no surprise there) were the ones that got the loudest immediate reaction. This led me to think that most of the people at this show were not like my friends and I, who had heard every album track and then some, and instead were people who probably had a couple favorites on their iPod and didn’t know the rest. Glass Of Water got virtually no reaction when they started it up. As for the quality of the actual playing, the band was great, but that’s to be expected. Chris actually hit some blatantly wrong notes on the piano a handful of times (not “jazzy” or “experimental”; his hand slipped or something), but nobody seemed to care. His voice was especially strong, considering how weak it always sounded to me in the live recordings I have. The other band members were totally solid, and I loved Chris’ apparent adoration for Will. One of the best moments was a partially improvised shanty during the acoustic lawn set where Chris threw out lines like “When you’ve been on this leg of the tour since June / It’s nice to play in Raleigh, North Carolina, under the full moon” (big reaction) and “We’ve gotta play the show for the girls and boys / ‘Cause we hear those people in Raleigh make a lot of f---ing noise” (bigger reaction). Overall, it was great to observe how hard the band works to please its audience, with the confetti and balloons and the lawn set (Green Eyes was sublime). On an incredibly specific note, I loved it when Johnny took care of the ending of Cemeteries Of London (playing the little piano riff on his guitar). As for the opening bands, I was thoroughly impressed by Elbow, and will probably buy some of their material based just on how well they played. Kitty, Daisy, and Louis were nigh on unbearable by the end of the set by virtue of how similar all of their material sounded, no matter how talented they might have been (My friend nicknamed them Diarrhea because, in his words, “They sound like sh--”). However, they provided one of my favorite moments of the concert when they introduced their Jamaican guest player. He yelled “Ya!” into the microphone, and the crowd reciprocated. He followed up with “Ya ya!” and the crowd followed suit. He finished with “Ya ya yaaaaaaaaaaa!”, dragging out the last “Ya” and making his voice lower and more intense as the band started up. It was an epic introduction and, for a moment, made me think the band was about to play something interesting. Then Mr. Jamaica whips out his trumpet and launches into the corniest song of the whole set. I almost cried laughing. Also memorable was when, in the last song, they repeated the same bar of music for a minute and a half. It literally sounded like a CD was skipping. The crowd applauded when they finally broke off. Great show, and will always be a great memory.

[- Gabriel]

The concert was fabolous as usual! Not really big into writing reviews in all but...I was in the PIT which is always amazing! I got in line around 5, which I noticed was a bit too late, but my little brother walked up about 30 feet and got us a closer place in line hahaha. Then we ran to the PIT and secured the first row in front of Chris/Jonny. During the middle of Green Eyes, these 2 girls came and squeezed their way right in the front next to me and it kind of pissed me off, plus they were talking to me during the songs and trying to hold a convo which was a no no. I thought Chris was pretty electric tonight. Everything was great! EXcpet for leaving the theater, but Im in the hotel about to head to Charlotte for tonights show!

Oh and we got a setlist!

[gmalool]

THAT WAS SO AMAZINGLY FANTASTIC! i didn't think i could possibly love coldplay any more but after that i really do! they were phenominal! ahhhh i basically had a huge 2 hour spaz attack. it was so great.

lets see, lets see. what else to say... okay the mad dash to c-stage was INSANE. i dropped my wallet and my cell phone on the way there but fortunately i got them back no damage done. i have a few videos but i'm sure if i wanna post them. they're pretty embarassing hahaha they contain lots of "CHRISSSSSS!"s and some horrible singing.

the crowd was better than i thought it would be and as a whole it was really good but i got stuck by some pretty unenthusiastic people. they were hardly singing or anything and here we are screaming our heads off. they probably hated us but i don't care.

i kind of wish i had taken more pictures but they just really weren't turning out well and i didnt wanna see the concert from behind a camera so sorry about the lack of pictures.

all i can say is that Coldplay sure do know how to put on a show! the music was brilliant (as usual) and they just have so much charisma.

i'm not gonna keep rambling, everyone else pretty much said it all.

[i♥C.MART]

Okay, here it goes...

My mom, me, and two of my best friends drove from Maryland to see the show...took us 7 HOURS! Anyway, we got there and were the FIRST in line at the gate. I chatted up the security guards and they told me (actually, let me look at their "secret" security paper detailing all the stuff at the show) exactly where the c-stage was. I got the woman to "pre-screen" us so we wouldn't have to wait in line with our bags. My mom and one friend took all the bags so me and my other friend could sprint to the c-stage. The steps to the lawn were DIRECTLY in front of us. As soon as they let us go, we sprinted like our hair was on fire. My friend lost her flip-flop (I was smart enough to wear sneakers!) and I left her in the dust. hahah Anyway, I ran to the top and down to the c-stage. FIRST ONE THERE!!!! (I'm the one in the yellow t-shirt on the main page!!) The only other people around it were two super cool Ox-Fammers. The rest of my group caught up and we were all set. When I saw the boys in Pittsburgh, I had the exact same spot, so I was well prepared. I brought 150 glow bracelets and handed them out to everyone so the boys would see a ton of glowing arms in the air. My friend and I BEGGED the one security guard to take down the tent above the c-stage so we could see...we finally convinced them and they did it before Elbow came on.

Elbow was outstanding. I am going out to buy their cd as soon as I can...unbelievable sound and their lead singer is an incredible musician. Really wowed.

Anyway, when Coldplay came out, we screamed and danced our heads off. I thought Chris was sooo playful and personable with the crowd...WAY more than any others I've seen. He must have been in a really good mood. Not getting burnt by a sparkler will do that to you, I guess. I don't know about everyone else, but I thought the crowd was phenomenal... maybe it's just because I was at the c-stage, but everyone was SOO loud and sang everything. When I saw them in LA a few weeks ago, NO ONE sang ANYTHING...it was awful. The reason why Chris told us the lyrics to Yellow was because no one knew the words in LA and not many people sang. Afterward, he said the Will, "I guess we'll have to work on those lyrics a bit, huh?" I was so shocked that people kept the VLV chant going at the end of the song to bring Chris back to life...hasn't happened at the other four shows I've been to.

So, now the c-stage... In Pittsburgh, Chris totally ignored the people right in front of the railing and looked over us at the people way in the back of the lawn. Here, it was the exact opposite. The man looked RIGHT at me and leaned WAY down to read my sign ("You had me from Yellow")....cheesy, I know...but true. Anyway, he leaned over, read it, looked at me, laughed, and smiled!! AHHHH!!! Then, guy looked at me and laughed!! Double AHHH!!! I saved four glow bracelets and threw them up onto the c-stage for the boys to put on, but they didn't see them. I have a picture of Jonny stepping on one of them..hahah Oh, well. I couldn't see Will at all from where we were. How funny was it that Jonny couldn't find the beat during DWNC? lol We were dying laughing. Even Chris was laughing. He couldn't even purse his lips around the harmonica for a few minutes. hahah I love them. The kid who got the harmonica was right beside us. We met him when we came in and he was totally awesome...he about DIED when Chris gave him the harmonica. As they were leaving the c-stage, the one really nice roadie gave me a guitar pick! I'm not sure whose it was, but it's really thin and white. Any ideas?? When they left the c-stage, my mom, my two friends, and I STARTED the Viva chant that the rest of the crowd got into.

No one sat down the entire show. It was amazing. By far, it was the best concert of theirs I've seen. I think they kind of just wanted to take it all in since they knew they'd be leaving the states in a few days. I couldn't believe how into it the crowd was and how awesome of a concert it was. Totally made up for my disappointment in the LA show. I viva for Coldplay.

[jelynch2]

MMM: Waiting 'Til the Shine Wears Off

This week's Monday Mood Music selection was a no-brainer considering I saw this group in concert last Thursday and their songs are still echoing in my mind. A hot, humid and rainy evening had been expected, but fortunately for everyone it turned out to be a rather mild, albeit dewy, night at the Walnut Creek Pavilion here in Raleigh, NC. Even better was the energetic performance Coldplay gave.

That's right, Coldplay; Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion (in case you knew only Mr. Gwyneth Paltrow). After the first few songs, the amphitheater went dark with only Martin talking. When the lights came up, huge yellow balloons were bouncing from the covered seats and grassy knoll! A laser light show shot multicolored beams from the stage and cannons spewed insane amounts of confetti everywhere.

The best part? Realizing the band was navigating their way through the crowd to an ad-hoc mini stage set up at the front of the lawn. Once there, they strapped on some guitars and performed about five songs acoustically, including a cover of Michael Jackson's Billie Jean. They eventually returned to the main stage and finished the evening. To top it off, we were given a complimentary nine-track live album as we exited (grab your copy here).

I expected the music to be good, but had never expected it to be that good. There was just a great energy. The only stumbling block was when Chris Martin thought it was Friday instead of Thursday, but he laughed at his own fuck up.

http://reelwhore.blogspot.com/2009/08/mmm-waiting-til-shine-wears-off.html

Coldplay at Walnut Creek

For my birthday, my wonderful girlfriend got me tickets to the Coldplay concert in Raleigh two nights ago. I've always been a fan of their music, but just assumed that their live show would be ho-hum. Let's face it, a lot of their music isn't very exciting.

Man, was I proven wrong.

Chris Martin is a much better front man than I expected him to be and Coldplay can put on one hell of a rock show. Not only was the music almost perfect, but the light show was dazzling and Martin connected with a crowd as well as anyone I've ever seen, especially at a spread out amphitheater.

The set was very heavy on tunes from the new album, "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends," but the staples were still there, like "Fix You," "Clocks," and "Yellow." "Violet Hill" started off the show and "Viva La Vida" was the hands-down favorite, even though it came a lot earlier in the show than I expected.

What impressed me most was when the band did something that I have never seen at Walnut Creek: play on a stage in the lawn seating. It's nice to see the band give some love to the fans sitting in the back, who usually have to rely on the massive video screens to watch the show.

My favorite parts were when the yellow inflatable balls bounced around during "Yellow," when Martin instructed the crowd to do a "cell phone wave," and the shaky-yet-awesome cover of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean."

Oh, and they gave out a free live CD, "LeftRightLeftRightLeft," after the show. Can't beat that.

Coldplay impressed me and with each album they seem to be getting stronger. These guys are the real thing.

http://www.coreyinscoe.com/2009/08/live-coldplay-at-walnut-creek.html

We’re big fans of Coldpay but neither of us have seen them in concert. So, we were pretty psyched to score lawn tickets to last night’s show at the Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek. With taxes, surcharges and facility fees, they ran $55 a pop.

We didn’t have much interest in the openers and Coldplay wasn’t scheduled to come on until 9 p.m., so we left at 7:15 p.m. thinking that should probably give us an hour or so to tailgate in the parking lot. Our plan was quickly foiled though when we spotted the never-ending line of cars backed up for several miles attempting to exit the highway. Some MacGyver-esque maneuvers on my part cut out some of the delay but it still wasn’t until 8:30 p.m. that we were able to park.

After a couple of beers, we squeezed our way onto the crowded lawn; our view was partially obstructed by the pavilion but it was about the best we could do as the band exploded onto stage with “Violet Hill.” The show itself would soon prove to be a spectacle — with huge yellow balloons floating over the crowd during “Yellow,” confetti cannons exploding with the chorus of “Lovers in Japan,” and Martin leading the crowd in a cell phone “wave.”

During “Lost,” a flurry of movement to our immediate right caught my attention. Five or six members of the crew were quickly building and setting up what looked like a platform. When a mic and guitar were placed on top of the makeshift stage, we quickly moved toward it as a crush of people followed behind us.

As the lights dimmed, Chris Martin and the band hopped off the main stage and made their way to the lawn platform. And suddenly, we had front row seats to a Coldplay concert.

Watching from just feet away, they jammed out an acoustic set of “Green Eyes” and “Death Will Never Conquer,” with drummer Will Champion taking the lead vocals. Amazingly, from where we stood, there was no need for amplification; we could actually hear them singing.

It wasn’t over yet though as the band covered Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” and encouraged the ecstatic crowd to sing along.

With that, Coldplay returned to the main stage and finished up their set. To be honest, the final three songs and encore were a bit anti-climactic. We left as the band closed with Martin promising to return to Raleigh in a couple of years.

But whether or not last night’s performance could ever be topped seems pretty unlikely.

http://marczawel.com/2009/08/07/front-row-seats-to-coldplay/

Michael, Paul and I went to a Coldplay concert at Walnut Creek in Raleigh last night. It was awesome beyond words. They are just so amazing! We went with Michael's brother Ryan and his wife Christina. First we went out to eat at Red Robin. The opening act was supposed to start at 7:30, but we had never heard of them and weren't really interested in standing around and watching them, so we didn't get there until around 8:00. The walk from the parking area to the amphitheater is seriously about 1 mile. I had Paul in the Baby Bjorn and he fell asleep while we were walking. I made the comment that I felt a little like "white trash" taking a baby to a concert. I thought we would see other people with babies, but I didn't end up seeing any.

We all had to use the restroom when we got there (free drink refills at Red Robin will get you every time!), but the line to the women's restroom was unbelievably long- I'm talking like a half hour wait to use the bathroom (the men's had almost no line at all... Michael and Ryan were in and out in about 4 minutes). We were thinking that were was no way it could be the only bathroom, so we walked around the amphitheater and there was one that was less busy on the other side. While we were standing in line, a girl asked if she could take my picture- she thought it was so cool that I had a baby strapped to me at a concert. I told her "ummm, sure". After our potty break, we went to find our "seats". We bought tickets for the lawn, which meant we didn't have any seats assigned, but could go where ever we could find room on a huge grassy area. When we first walked into the amphitheater, I was totally overwhelmed at the number of people. We walked for a while and found a space big enough for us not too far up the lawn.

About 3 or 4 minutes after we got situated, Coldplay came out! It was the most perfect timing! We had brought camping chairs to sit on, but at the entrance they told us the chairs were too big and we couldn't take them in. They had a place where we could check them and then pick them up after the concert. We didn't think to bring a blanket to sit on, so we ended up having to stand up the entire time, which we probably would've done anyway, but it did make nursing the baby a little more difficult. They started the concert with Life In Technicolor, which is what the 4 of us thought they would start with.

They played Speed of Sound not to long after that. The lighting and effects were just amazing. It is so fun to watch Chris Martin perform. He has so much energy. And he's funny too. It's impossible to remember what all they played. I know they played Yellow. They had a bunch of yellow lights on and they put huge yellow balloons out in the crowd for people to hit around. They played Strawberry Swing, which I just love. They played Viva La Vida, of course. Paul woke up when the concert started. He wanted out of the Baby Bjorn so he could see what was going on. He seemed to like the music.

I took him out of the carrier and nursed him (standing up with my nursing cover over us) and then we passed him around between the 4 of us for a while. He was just looking all around at the lights and everything. He was cooing with the music a bunch while Aunt Christina was holding him. His arms and legs were going crazy and moving all around while Daddy was holding him so he could see the stage.

They played my alltime favorite Coldplay song- Fix You. They had a cool mirror-effect thing on the big screen behind them. It was beautiful.

After they performed Lost!, much to our delight, they came back to the lawn area and did some songs about 20 yards from where we were standing. Ryan and Christina ran up there to get as close as possible to them. They got within 10 feet or so and Ryan let Christina get on his shoulders, so she had a great view. Michael and I stayed where we were (for Paul's safety). They did a few silly little songs and goofed off and made jokes. It was great. Then they covered Michael Jackson's Billy Jean, which was unbelievable.

They went back to the stage and played some more- I knew they played Lovers in Japan (they shot paper butterflies out over the crowd, it was really cool), they played Clocks, they played In My Place... and lots of other stuff. It's hard to remember. I put Paul back in the Baby Bjorn towards the end and he went back to sleep.

Chris Martin came back out first and started performing The Scientist by himself on the piano. It was beautiful.

Then the rest of the band came out too. After The Scientist, they ended with Life in Technicolor II. They thanked the fans up and down. I love how gracious they are to their fans. They said they'd be back in a few years, and that they had CD's for all of us that we could get on the way out. Chris Martin said "they cost zero dollars and zero cents. Don't waste your money" in his awesome British accent.

It took forever to get out of there. But we finally made it to the exit and got our free CDs and then started the mile trek back to the car. I'm surprised how well my back and shoulders did with carrying our big fat baby so much. The worst part is my feet, actually. I was stupid and wore flip-flops, so now I have blisters between my big toe and my second toe. It was definitely worth it though!!!!!

http://michaelnkimberly.blogspot.com/

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Media Reviews

RALEIGH -- The easy points of comparison for Coldplay are Radiohead and U2, both of which certainly apply. But if you want to get beyond sonic similarities and consider Coldplay's broader place on the landscape, the group's current stature resembles no one so much as 1970s-era Elton John -- someone else who commands a lot more respect now than he did in his prime, writes the News & Observer.

Tastemakers put Coldplay down as a denatured version of Radiohead and U2. But four albums and a decade into a recording career that's getting bigger all the time, the well-established Coldplay brand shows every sign of outlasting its detractors. The group drew a near-sellout crowd to Raleigh's Time Warner Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek Thursday night, and a run of stadium dates in Europe beckons. And what do you know, Coldplay's latest album has outsold the latest from U2 by multiples. The biggest reason for Coldplay's popularity is that the group still provides that communal classic-rock experience. And when the group connects, it's pretty great. A perfect riff is a perfect riff, and piano hooks don't get much more perfect than the one to Coldplay's "Clocks."

Thursday night's show offered up a two-hour serving of highly likable arena rock, heavy on songs from last year's "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" (Capitol Records). As capital-S Shows go, it was state of the art. Each song had a separate and discrete visual presentation, with dazzling lights and lasers and effects that marked an impressive step up from Coldplay's last Triangle show in 2005. There were fancy visual props, such as the five large overhead globes flickering with images, offset by some downright low-tech effects. The band came onstage twirling sparklers from behind a screen, and butterfly-shaped confetti figured prominently into "Lovers in Japan." The group ventured out from the stage not once but twice to play on two separate satellite stages. And frontman Chris Martin even got the crowd in on the special-effects act by coaching everyone to do a "cell-phone wave."

Martin is the group's signature personality, and he is more of a capable than an inspired performer. Yet he commanded attention, projecting an impressive balance between average-guy charm and rock-star presence. With his paramilitary jacket and "OBA/MAR/OCK" armband, he looked like a ragamuffin gendarme in charge of an urchin army. That would have been the crowd, which he coached to holler and sing along repeatedly.

Highlights included a pounding "Politik," with strobe lights blinding enough to induce seizures; the opening "Life in Technicolor," and an acoustic cover of "Billie Jean" from out on one of the satellite stages, a tribute to the late Michael Jackson. The latter song was ragged but right -- always nice to see rock stars willing to let the warts show, too, especially when they're the biggest rock stars on the planet.

http://www.newsobserver.com/

Raleigh preview: Coldplay is the rare act these days

There's a lot of gloomy, end-of-times talk in the record business these days about the death of the industry. Fewer and fewer new acts break through every year, and the ones that do never seem to have any staying power.

But that paradigm doesn't apply to Coldplay, which plays Thursday in Raleigh. At a time when "gold is the new platinum," this British quartet still moves tonnage that recalls the industry's glory days. Last year's "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends" (Capitol Records), Coldplay's fourth album, has sold more than 8 million copies worldwide -- easily the top-selling album of 2008.

Somehow, Coldplay has emerged as The Last Big Band, combining mainstream popularity with industry respect and widespread (though not unanimous) critical acclaim. Similar to Fleetwood Mac in the '70s, U2 in the '80s or R.E.M. in the '90s, Coldplay has become one of those omnipresent consensus bands whose lyrics get scribbled in yearbooks.

As to why that is, Coldplay's members are just as puzzled as anyone else. "I know what you mean, there just aren't many bands that tour at our level these days," says bassist Guy Berryman, calling from a tour stop in Houston. "I don't think we're the last one, but who knows when the next will be? The key to us is that we just work really, really hard," he says. "We've constantly written and recorded and toured, visiting places over and over. We've just stuck at it and never really stopped the last 10 years. That's it."

Bumps in the road

Coldplay's perch is so lofty nowadays that potshots are inevitable. One of the less-welcome salvos to come the band's way was a plagiarism lawsuit filed in December, in which guitarist Joe Satriani claimed that Coldplay stole the riff of the "Viva La Vida" title track from his 2004 composition "If I Could Fly." The case is pending. "Yes, that's something we could do without," Berryman says of the lawsuit. "But I guess it happens. We just have to deal with it in whatever way it needs to be dealt with. But it's very distressing to us. It was very surprising."

Of course, some of Coldplay's detractors might say that charges of plagiarism are only comeuppance. For all the pleasantness of Coldplay's music, it's hardly ground-breaking.

It does, however, fit right between two of Britain's leading contemporary bands as a synthesis of Radiohead and U2 -- more accessible than the former, a bit less than the latter -- creating a perfect commercial micro-niche in the field of anthemic, majestic arena-rock. Throw in a charismatic frontman in singer/keyboardist Chris Martin (husband of Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow) and the group's well-intentioned political activism, and it's small wonder that Coldplay has prospered.

How it all fits

To his credit, Martin has said of Radiohead, "We owe them a career, really." And the band certainly tried to stretch a bit on "Viva La Vida" by enlisting producer Brian Eno, one of the primary architects of U2's cathedral-like sonics. While it's not a huge departure, "Viva La Vida" does sound more atmospheric than Coldplay's previous three albums.

"Every producer is slightly different," Berryman says. "Some are more geared up to the engineering side, with microphone settings and equipment, while others are more into ideas and concepts. That's what Brian is about. He's less interested in fine-tuning sounds than the concept, the songs and rhythms and arrangements and how they all fit together.

"He was instrumental in making this album sound different from anything else we've done before. He became one of the band, basically, working through everything together. In particular, you hear more group singing on this album, because Brian is very interested in that. He has an a cappella group come to his studio every Tuesday, so the vocals were really pushed along by him."

Another change on "Viva La Vida" is that Martin sings most of the songs in a lower register than his signature falsetto croon. And even though Coldplay has never been the cheeriest bunch, this album might be the group's bleakest yet. Multiple songs make references to death ("Bury me in honor/When I'm dead and hit the ground") or falling short of a heavenly afterlife ("You didn't get to heaven but you made it close").

But when asked whether Martin's lyrics indicate a growing melancholia, Berryman politely demurs.

"The lyrics are all Chris," Berryman says. "The rest of us might flag something that doesn't seem quite right. But he's a great lyricist, so we usually just let him get on with it. And we don't analyze things, really. The best lyrics come out naturally without you having to think about them at all, and we'd rather leave interpretations open to others."

http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/1626504.html

Coldplay is the biggest rock band on the planet by almost every rubric: The polite English quartet's latest record—the misty, Brian Eno-helmed Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends—sold more than 700,000 copies in its first week as other respectable rock acts struggle to crack half that. 2008's best seller, Viva La Vida has since been certified double platinum in the States while moving nearly 8 million copies worldwide. And now, the band is in the midst of a string of 30 dates at North America's biggest venues. When they return to Europe, the king of hip-hop, Jay-Z, will open for Coldplay for two days at Wembley Stadium. Impressed yet?

Perhaps the most compelling distinction Chris Martin and company can claim is that they're the first band to break the million mark in digital album sales. In other words, they're the Internet Music Kings. Billboard hooted and hollered about the broken record last month, and music trade magazines groveled. Indeed, in a market where selling 50,000 records seems to be the new 500,000, it's instructive to consider why a little band from London changed the rules of digital success.

The short answer is Apple. Last year, iTunes' parent company launched a full-scale ad campaign for its latest software in conjunction with the release of Viva La Vida. Coldplay got the whole shebang: full pages in glossies, billboards in every major market, that ubiquitous commercial featuring the band emphatically playing through the title track as colorful, iTrademark silhouettes. But Apple didn't pick Coldplay out of the ether. Rather, its always-shrewd marketing and advertising department chose Coldplay to carry the banner for very specific reasons. And so, the short answer falls short.

First, Coldplay represents the evenly distributed weight of the past 30 years of serious rock music. When they emerged with 2000's Parachutes and its slow-[e]mo "Yellow" video, the band was fairly pegged as Radiohead biters. Then, with 2002's A Rush of Blood To The Head and 2005's X&Y, Martin and company dug further into the past and deeper into the crate, cribbing from the romantic melancholy of Echo & the Bunnymen and the stateliness of U2. In each instance, the reference points were sanded down to their least threatening iteration. Coldplay has always has been about safety and familiarity. The band, its music and its lyrics are made for easy connections. Despite insistence to the contrary, there's only a small bit of art here. It's mostly a commodity.

To be fair, the 1.4 million online shoppers who've snatched up Coldplay records over the past eight years have likely done so as a result of their connection with Martin and the bouquet of his weepy falsetto and plaintive lyrics (and some tertiary tabloid appearances and some activism, for good measure). The front man/ mouthpiece/ figurehead focus allows "serious" rock fans to entertain the notion that they're listening to more than a singer-songwriter, even as the lights go down and Martin sits alone at his piano, spotlight on nothing else.

That's not to take too much away from the surrounding players: Jonny Buckland's dry guitar leads peak in moments of Edge-like melodrama. Guy Berryman anchors the era-spanning bombast with simple, direct bass lines, inspecting the rhythm alongside Will Champion's no-frills timekeeping. This offers the perfect support for the perfect heir to Bono's throne, each member getting out of the way while fans foster a deep connection with Messiah Martin. But that's not enough to explain Coldplay's electronic eminence. Plenty of acts have emblematic figureheads, after all.

Couple Martin and the band's familiarity with the momentum Coldplay creates for itself online, and we begin to understand the figures. Last year, Coldplay gave away a free download of the first promotional track from Viva. Most major labels and, by proxy, their bands still curse leaks and keep their content under lock and key (an idea that's slowly yielding). In May, Coldplay unveiled a free live album for download on its Web site. And the band and its crew regularly post behind-the-scenes vignettes, allowing a level of constant access that fans increasingly demand in a world of Twitter accounts and RSS feeds.

The drawback, of course, is that the construct of "band" is no longer restricted to albums and live shows. Coldplay is now a full-scale, 24-hour enterprise, churning out backstage content and general ephemera (set lists, song ideas, an "Oracle" you can question) at a furious clip. The mass of "stuff" saps some of the magic and mystery from the old idea of a rock star. But it's the way the band negotiates around that falling barrier—never half-assing it, fully embracing even the tiniest online initiatives (really, a blog at every tour stop?)—that turns that lost mystique into a net positive. In short, Coldplay rewards its following (specifically online), and its online following has repaid the band handsomely.

It's important to note, though, that Coldplay is not trailblazing with these techniques. Established titans have been experimenting with similar or even more radical lab tests for releasing music for years. Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor has given away actual studio releases and turned his Web site into a social media hub. Radiohead forwent pricing and adopted the ballyhooed pay-what-you-want model for its most recent album, In Rainbows. Had the sales administered through the band's own W.A.S.T.E. store (reportedly somewhere near 2 million) been counted by Nielsen SoundScan, you'd be reading a different article today.

And Coldplay's many years behind indie artists who, out of necessity, have transferred their focus from the old radio-CD-print press model to this new open, fan-engagement approach. Independent labels like Merge or Matador depend on intimate connections with their fans or on giving information directly to the people who care. Coldplay has simply taken that strategy to more people. Indeed, through kind circumstance and a handful of smart decisions, Coldplay stands almost alone within the major-label system as a shining example of how to do it right—and how to do it big—in the digital era.

http://www.indyweek.com

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