13 November 2008: Sprint Center, Kansas City, MO, USA
From WikiColdplay
Contents |
Setlist
- Life In Technicolor
- Violet Hill
- Clocks
- In My Place
- Glass Of Water
- Speed Of Sound
- Cemeteries Of London
- Chinese Sleep Chant
- 42
- Fix You
- Strawberry Swing
- God Put A Smile Upon Your Face (techno version)
- Talk (techno remix)
- Green Eyes
- Postcards From Far Away (piano instrumental)
- Viva La Vida
- Lost!
- The Scientist (acoustic)
- Death Will Never Conquer (acoustic - Will singing)
- Viva La Vida (remix interlude)
First Encore - Politik
- Lovers In Japan
- Death And All His Friends
Second Encore - Yellow
- The Escapist (outro)
Photos
Photos from this show can be found at Coldplaying.com in the Gallery thread for Kansas City. http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/1549
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=44940
Discussion
All post-show discussion for this show at the forum thread: http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44940
Fan Reviews
All fan reviews have been submitted to us by the members of Coldplaying.com[1], unless stated otherwise.
Just got back and it was awesome. Can't recall the entire set list, but it seems to more or less mirror the ones from the previous dates in other cities. They did play a song early on (I don't recall the name) and Chris said something to the effect of "First time in America for that one."
Coolest part was that my wife and I were literally 5 feet from the little stage they set up out in the audience ("The Scientist" performance). Wooooooo!!!! And I got a high-5 from Chris as he ran back to the big stage.
[blil]
This is my first chance at a computer in two days, so I thought I'd say that the Kansas City show was awesome.
I wasn't much for Sleepercar as openers, but I thought Jon Hopkins' act was impressive. The video that went along with his live mixing was pretty cool.
We had seats in the middle of the first section on the floor, and it was definitely closer than I expected. When they did the techno God Put A Smile Upon Your Face, they moved over right in front of us, and we ran up to the edge of the extended stage. I was standing right in front of the piano and directly below little 7 year old Bruno. That was so cool of Chris to talk to him! He commented on how Bruno would one day be a bigger pop star than Coldplay and The Jonas Brothers. That last one got a huge reaction from the crowd. I loved Glass of Water, and I had downloaded a bootleg when it first came around, so I was ready to sing.
That scathing review by Jason Harper a few pages back was unfair. The only person not smiling by the end of the night was Guy, which he doesn't seem too fond of doing lately. I thought Johnny really got into it, and did a great job. And I am constantly amazed at the way reviewers slip in comments about Gwyneth, Apple and Moses, but don't actually talk about Coldplay's music. But they can throw in a few comparisons to U2 and Radiohead.
All in all, the night was fantastic. And I am many, many butterflies the richer.
[Howell Jenkins]
section 231 ... I'm only a casual fan but I went because I had bought my girlfriend tickets since CP is her favorite band. I was impressed, though, it was fun.
and just a note: SPRINT CENTER IS IN MISSOURI, NOT KANSAS.
not that anyone really cares and I know Coldplay is from England, so I give them a of a pass on this, but there IS a KANSAS CITY IN MISSOURI.
Little known fact: Missouri was the first Kansas City and, because we had so much going on back in the Jazz-era and whatnot, Wyandotte County Kansas actually took the name Kansas City so that people coming from the West would stop in Kansas first, thinking it was Missouri.
[oldwarpilot]
Hello! This is the first time I've ever posted a message on here. Just wanted to say that I was at the Sprint Center last night for Coldplay & it was absolutely fantastic! It's been 3 years since they were here last (I'm sure that goes for pretty much everybody) so it was a long wait. Especially once the concert got postponed from July 9th to November 13th!!! But it was definitely worth it. We were in section 106, row 10 so we had awesome seats. And when they came out in the audience to play "The Scientist" & "Death Will Never Conquer," they were right in the next section so I got some incredible pictures!
Production was incredible for the concert. The amazing video, the confetti, the lazers...everything. Can't imagine how much work goes into each & every show.
It was slightly disappointing that Chris didn't talk as much as he usually seems to. Don't get me wrong, it's great that they probably play more songs that way, but I, for one, always enjoy listening to their hilarious stories! And being that Coldplay is the best band EVER, it's always incredible when they make you feel like you know them personally by talking to you.
I have to say, I got a huge kick out of the fact that Chris kept calling it "Kansas" instead of "Missouri"! I'm from Kansas so I loved it & like someone else pointed out, the name of the city is Kansas City! Plus, when they were here last, for the X & Y tour, they really were in Kansas, in Bonner Springs at Sandstone.
Thank you also for clarifying that the guys played "Green Eyes" last night, not "The Hardest Part". I can't believe someone would not like that song! It's one of my favorites! And I was sooooo excited to hear "In My Place" too!
[clm994]
"Did ya see him? Chris Martin talked to my Pablo!!! Right after "Talk", he stopped and talked to Pablo from his piano! OH my gosh...Pablo is sound asleep right now WITH the drumsticks that he gave him....They had a little conversation and Pablo is over the moon. All these people were high fivin' him as we were leaving and we didn't know it but Pablo was on the big screen during the whole conversation! He's SO HAPPY, and that was so cool that Chris Martin did that. SO COOL. He asked him how old he is and told him that it's really cool that he came to the concert and that he's really happy that a 7 year old kid likes his band!!!! My little guy told me as we were leaving..."Mom, Chris Martin knows I'm a person"....."yep", I said.."he sure does". The drummer then gave his drumsticks to the roadie guy who came over and gave them to Pablo....and a few minutes later he brought over Chris Martin's playlist from his piano! Oh my god...I just can't believe it...for pablo, I can't believe that this happened for him. He's a music head. His sister is an academic and he's a music head. I decided to take him to this concert because I want to support his "thing", and inspire him...and inspired he is. He told me that he's going to sleep with the drumsticks every night...so that "I get Chris Martins germs"...hahahaha! my darling boy. Did anybody go? Did any of you guys see him???"
http://www.mom2momkc.com/forum/viewt...12&sid=#p72012
Media Reviews
To the question at hand: is Coldplay cool? Cool enough, that is, for a discerning, punk-bred, 45-collecting, uncomfortable-shoes-wearing music blog reader such as you?
Well, if you’re reading this review at all, most likely you already love Coldplay and you’re just waiting for me to (a) report on awesomeness of band and give the setlist so you can feel affirmed, or (b) dis Coldplay for being loved by squares so that you can eviscerate me in the comments, report The Pitch, Kansas City.
But on the chance that you are a certified hip dude who thinks that Coldplay is the Target of major bands, let’s look at a few attributes of the band. First of all, these guys are British. Next, they have guitars -- lots of them -- plus lasers and glowing orbs and waterfalls of butterfly confetti when they play live in enormous, sold-out arenas. Feeling like a chump yet? No? Alright, one of them – the good-looking one – is married to a famous, beautiful actress, and they have a child named for fruit. The other members of the band are fruit – two grapefruits and a pummelo, to be precise.
They dress like extras from Les Miserables. They’re wildly successful and play songs that boom in your miserable skull for years. Get the picture, hipster douche? They’re cooler than you. On to the show.
The first words out of Chris Martin’s mouth, and people were singing along. It was a new song, “Violet Hill,” but never mind that; people were prepared.
(White people, of course. Many of them hot and svelte. In fact, one of these hot-svelte people asked me and the people around me before the show began, “Do you smell Plato?” “Plato?” people asked. “Yeah, Plato – everyone’s been saying they smell it!” I leaned over and asked, “Plato or Play-Doh?” “That’s it!” he said.)
As the band rolled through a set weighted on the Viva la Vida side (not surprising, as it’s their richest, most musically sophisticated one ever) and peppered with songs from X&Y (three years ago) and A Rush of Blood to the Head (SIX years ago) with maybe just a sprinkle of Parachutes (like, 30 years ago), the stage setup moved from simple and livingroomlike to A Space Odyssey. At first, the only screen being fed by the two closed-circuit video cams down front was on a tiny antique TV on a pedestal. The backdrop was the Renaissance battle scene from the cover of the album: goddess with tits out, Frenchmen with muskets. Then, the big orbs descended from the ceiling, flashing marble patterns that eventually became images fed from the cameras. Later, a giant screen came down, showing chopped and screwed images from the stage.
Musically, the sound was BIG. Way bigger than four guys with one instrument and microphone apiece. How's that? Backing tracks, that's how. For all of Chris Martin’s wide-eyed, sweating-on-piano, knees-bent-running-about charisma and his switching between piano and craftpainted guitars, live, Coldplay’s music tends to plod along, dependent on the musical prowess of three-fifths of its members (Martin, drummer Will Champion, the aforementioned backing tracks) and is all but weighed down by the other two-fifths: the guitarist and bassist, a.k.a. two dudes who should be absolutely thrilled to flash their chops and strut around before crowds of thousands but who look and play, most of the time, like cranky old fudders stuck playing at a fairground on the off season in Blackpool.
In short, I was shocked to learn that Coldplay doesn’t do bona fide live versions of its songs.
Johnny Buckland, guitarist, did have his moments, most notably when he and Martin wound up on the stage-left platform that jutted a dozen rows in the audience during “Clocks,” playing off each other like toy soldiers reenacting the French invasion of Russia. But let's stop a minute: When critics compare Coldplay with U2, they seem to overlook the fact that Buckland and the Edge have only a rhythmic-echo sensibility and a chorus pedal or two in common. Buckland is the diet, caffeine-free Edge. (Likewise, for those who insist on comparing Coldplay to Radiohead, God is in the guitars.) He even flubbed up one of his only spotlight moments, the jig-like riff from “Strawberry Swing,” which, oddly, occasioned one of the only smiles he and Martin shared the whole show.
And what’s with the frownies? Even when the four dismounted the stage and wound their way high, high into the crowd to do two remote acoustic numbers – “Scientist” and the delightful, Champion-sung “Death Will Never Conquer” – all three except for Martin looked like schoolchildren forced to learn recorder (only in this case, it was guitar, mandolin and resonator guitar; why not, like, just one guitar and four guys singing and having fun?)
Maybe they’ve been on tour too long. Or maybe they just had an off night.
In the end though, as a whole, they ended up sounding fine and putting on a good show. They’re Coldplay after all. Cool as hell.
Critic's Notebook
Personal Bias: I like guitarists who can make it howl and move. Random Detail: Coldplay has sold somewhere around 40 million albums since forming in 1998. Oh, wait, that's not random at all. By the Way: I came down with a cold right in the middle of this show. For real.
http://blogs.pitch.com/wayward/2008/11/concert_review_coldplay_at_sprint_center_kansas_city.php
Coldplay performed to an arena packed with enthused fans Nov. 13 at Kansas City's Sprint Center in the Power and Light District.
The globe-trotting, British soft-rock group took the stage a little after 9 p.m., following two opening acts - a country-tinged alt-rock group from Texas, and a DJ who laid down beats in sync with an acid-trip-esque cartoon video.
Fans rose from their seats and cheered as the first chords of "Life in Technicolor," the opening track on the band's most recent release, "Viva la Vida," began to echo through the arena. Chris Martin and company took the stage to fill in the song's synth orchestration with their own instrumentation - Martin doing acoustic guitar duties as well as vocals, Johnny Buckland on lead guitar, Guy Berryman on bass and Will Champion banging the drums.
After getting the new album's first single "Violet Hill" out of the way, they launched into a performance of "Clocks," as a stunning laser light show dazzled the audience. Then came the big surprise: only a few songs into the set, Coldplay performed the new song "Glass of Water" from their upcoming EP "Prospekt's March" (due for release Nov. 25 in the States).
"That's the first time in America for that one," Martin said, causing the crowd to erupt in cheers and applause.
The band continued to impress, as they moved on to the hit single "Speed of Sound," which they played in the dark, as huge, multi-colored glowing globes descended from the ceiling. When they finally paused to say hello to the audience, Martin explained he had "heard you have to play six songs in Kansas before stopping to say hi," making the age-old mistake of not realizing which side of the state line his band was on.
Rather than booing, as Missourians are want to do when artists make such a flub, the audience chose to overlook his oversight and cheered him on all the same.
As the evening progressed, the four-piece squeezed onto a small floor-lit platform to play an electro-beat influenced medley of "God Put a Smile on Your Face" and "Talk." This moment, as well as a trip to another small stage in the back of the arena for some folk-infused versions of "The Scientist" and "Death Will Never Conquer" (complete with steel guitar, mandolin and harmonica), highlighted the band's ability to make even the Sprint Center seem like an intimate venue.
Martin's gentle character and British charm showed through in his banter. At one point he singled out a seven-year-old in the audience to thank him for coming to the show. "Wow, seven years old and coming to a Coldplay concert!" he said. "I wasn't going to Coldplay concerts when I was seven. I predict big things for you."
Martin also likes to check in on the audience regularly, asking, "You okay out there?" throughout the night. There's no cocky, rock-star ego from these guys.
After playing a fine selection of songs from their catalog (including their biggest hit to date, "Viva la Vida," and their latest singles "Lost!" and "Lovers in Japan"), the boys pulled out Viva's final track, "Death and All His Friends," and made a trite effort to pretend that was the end of the set.
After only a few moments, however, they retook the stage and banged out their breakthrough hit, "Yellow," much to the crowd's delight, as the stage lights bathed the audience in the song's namesake color. It was a triumphant ending to a performance that managed to be both grand and intimate at the same time.
