Oxfam America Tour Blog: 1 November 2008
From WikiColdplay
Duffy’s last stand, and roadies playing dead..
Directly in front of me, is the constant stream of Coldplay fans entering the Philadelphia Wachovia Center. Beep.. beep.. beep (etcetera), go the machines, as ticket bar code’s are scanned. There is one very enthusiastic security guard too, whooping and cheeing, singing ‘Violet Hill’, anything to put a smile on faces as they enter. That’s if the smiles aren’t already there.
Fans then walk directly over to the Oxfam booth to my right, where our Philly action group is busy signing up the masses, and talking about Oxfam’s amazing work. Those that miss us, are heading in to see the Duffy show, which is in full swing. She has a couple songs left before the end of her last show on this tour. Those (notoriously hard to please) roadies, have often been heard talking about her presence on stage. This girl from Wales is only going to get more fans, the more shows she does. One of the biggest hits of the year.. alongside Coldplay of course.
This is a huge venue, I can see 3 balcony’s if I look up. Amazing that it’s only a couple of months since we were last here. It’s full again. (That security guard is now dancing along to Duffy - it really is a pleasure to watch him putting smiles (or confused looks) on so many faces).
So last night. Last night. Let’s talk about last night. Last night I saw a few things I thought I’d never see on stage with Coldplay. There were giant pumpkins bouncing up and down above their heads. Tim Burton’s ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ faces smirking at the crowd. One dead roadie (*no roadies were harmed during the process of this show). Finished off with raining confetti bats! I haven’t even mentioned some of the fans costumes.. Halloween was a real treat. The band obviously enjoyed tricking the crowd with the ‘dead-roadie’ moment though. One of the band’s technitian’s (I won’t name names), was dressed with drumsticks through the heart, fake blood, dungarees, a jagged saw and a very odd looking mask.. He was priveledged to be chosen for his moment during ‘Cemeteries of London’. At least.. i’m pretty sure it was him.. and not the ghost of the Verizon Center. . .It was great to stand amongst the crowd, listening to people slowly realising there was a 5th motionless, blood soaked person on stage as the lights went up, and as he was dragged off stage. Anyway.. back to tonight.
Philadelphia has just celebrated winning the World Series Baseball. I have to mention it, as we are just a stones throw, from where the last pitch was thrown. I hear there were amazing scenes here last night, just before the Sixers Basketball game.. 2 million people. Wow. Congratulations to all those people walking in, proudly wearing their red hats.
No Halloween tonight. No Friday 13th on the roadie bus. No flaming pumpkins. Hopefully no dead roadies either. Plenty of high fives for the crowd coming in (from that guy), and plenty of sign-ups for Oxfam too. We continue to do our amazing work. Saving lives. Campaigning on climate change. Providing clean water. Giving life-saving injections. Providing footballs for children to play. Helping farmers sell their coffee. Going to a Coldplay show, and spreading the word. Almost time for the show.. i’d better go.
http://www.oxfamblogs.org/coldplay/?p=93
