13 June 2008: Friends & Family Pre-Season Gig
From WikiColdplay
Setlist
- Life In Technicolor
- Violet Hill
- Clocks
- Lovers In Japan/Reign Of Love
- Trouble
- 42
- In My Place
- Yes
- God Put a Smile upon your Face
- Strawberry Swing
- Yellow
- If Death Will Ever Conquer Me
- Politik
- Lost!
- Fix You
- Viva La Vida
Reviews
Viva Coldplay
Chris Martin compared the Coldplay live comeback to a pre-season friendly last night.
The singer told the crowd of friends and family at London’s Wembley Arena that getting back on stage was like a trip to the football with his dad when he was a nipper. He said: “Excuse us for this embarrassing shambles of a rehearsal. This reminds me of when my dad, who is 107, took me to Torquay for a pre-season game against Liverpool — and they were absolutely shit. We see this as a pre-season and we’ll be on it when the season starts. Luckily none of you have spent a blind penny.”
In typically modest fashion, Chris was only telling half the story. Coldplay were brilliant as they made their return to the stage in front of an almost empty venue. When it comes to seeing live shows, this job lands some great tickets. But one of the best I’ve ever had was last night’s. Within 30 seconds the audience were smiling as single Violet Hill kicked in with a video montage playing in the background.
World leaders including George Bush and Tony Blair had been edited to dance along to the song. Next song Clocks kicked in and the crowd were on their feet.
The band showed off their wealth with six fancy video orbs, hanging from the ceiling which cost the band a jaw-dropping £900,000. Chris performed his trademark lyric-changing to suit the gig, poking fun at relatives and pals who had turned up to see them on free tickets. And his wife, actress Gwyneth Paltrow, sang along while standing in front of the lighting desk.
Normally you would say the crowd got their money’s worth but even if tickets were £100 each it would have been a snip. The band moved from the main stage to a tiny platform in the middle of the arena and were almost elbowing each other off stage as they played.
They made plenty of mistakes but that was the whole point of the exercise. By the time they have perfected it the show will be unmissable. It’s brilliant to have one of Britain’s best live bands back.
Coldplay Play Wembley Arena Gig For Family And Friends
Coldplay warmed up for their forthcoming world tour by performing to 900 specially invited guests at Wembley Arena in London last night (June 13th).
The audience, which consisted mainly of family and friends, were treated to a full 16-song set from the band, who return to the road on Monday (June 16th) with a concert at the Brixton Academy.
Joking with the audience, frontman Chris Martin told them to excuse “this embarrassing shambles of a rehearsal.”
“This reminds me of when my dad, who is 107, took me to Torquay for a pre-season game against Liverpool — and they were absolutely shit,” he said.
“We see this as a pre-season and we’ll be on it when the season starts. Luckily none of you have spent a blind penny.”
The band’s set comprised largely of songs from their new album ‘Viva La Vida’, which sold 125,000 copies when it was released on Thursday (June 12th).
The album, the bands fourth record, is expected to top the charts on Sunday.
Jason Gregory http://www.gigwise.com
Gwyneth Paltrow sings along at Coldplay's world tour rehearsal
I was one of the lucky few to be invited down to Coldplay's final rehearsal for their Viva La Vida world tour.
I rubbed shoulders with Chris Martin's missus Gwyneth Paltrow, who sang along to every word of the 90-minute performance at Wembley Arena.
And I was not expecting Chris to hand over vocals to drummer Will Champion for the band's song If Death Will Ever Conquer Me.
It was a nice touch... but I don't think Chris has anything to worry about.
Zoe Griffin http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk
