1 November 2008: Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA
From WikiColdplay
Contents |
Setlist
- Life In Technicolor
- Violet Hill
- Clocks
- In My Place
- 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)
- The Hardest Part
- 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 Philadelphia. http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/1613
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=49071
Discussion
All post-show discussion for this show at the forum thread: http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49071
Fan Reviews
All fan reviews have been submitted to us by the members of Coldplaying.com[1], unless stated otherwise.
SERIOUSLY...
BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE!!!!!!!!
(tied with the other coldplay concert at number 1!)
IT. WAS. AMAZING!!
I CAN'T STRESS THAT ENOUGH!!!
AMAZING!!!!
GOD THAT. WAS. AH. MAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
seriously, when they first come out and it's all dark, then life in technicolor starts playing...
i don't care if you HATE coldplay...
you can't help but SCREAM YOUR HEAD OFF LIKE A THIRTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL AT A JONAS BROTHERS CONCERT.
AND SEEING CEMETERIES OF LONDON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm so happy we put that petition on here, cause that song sounds AMAZING live!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the whole night was just, unbelieveable. and of course,
LOVERS IN JAPAN!!!
THAT BUTTERFLY CONFETTI. WHEN THAT COMES DOWN ON YOU, AND THEIR SINGING, IT'S SO OVERWHELMINGLY AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!
absolutely the best thing(s) that have ever happened to me... these coldplay concerts.
just, all the energy, it's, it's, amazing!
but, ima have to agree with the joker. the crowd didn't really seem that into it. that's why i stood out so much.
OH!
ANY OF YOU THAT WERE THERE...
the girl that screamed "I LOVE YOU!" when they were getting ready to do their acoustic set in the back.
THAT WAS ME!!!!!
OH AND THAT REMINDS ME!
ONE OF THE BEST PARTS OF THE NIGHT HAD TO BE WHEN JONNY CAME BACK OUT FOR THE ENCORE IN A PHILLIES SHIRT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
EVERYBODY WENT CRAZY! !!!
I LOVE YOU, SO MUCH COLDPLAY.
THANKS FOR GIVING ME AN AMAZING NIGHT!
[Coldplay_is_Louve]
Like I said earlier, I had an amazing seat near Guy's ramp. Totally unexpected since I was volunteering for Oxfam and was told that we get the seats that no one bothered to purchase..or something like that. I almost cried when I saw how close to the stage I was. Everything about the show was amazing...from Chris reading the Philadelphia Inquirer on stage to some amazing drumming courtesy of Will Champion. Chris was careful not to mention Obama, claiming that the band was non-partisan, but he made up for it by saying Democrats are intelligent. I'm not completely certain but I think I shared a moment with Guy during In My Place . My section had tons of energy, which made the experience even better. The crowd went crazy for Viva La Vida, and it was indeed a lovely performance. The butterflies during LiJ were incredible! Yellow was a great way to end the show and I couldn't have asked for more! Oh, A BIG SHOUT OUT to the sign gang, I saw you guys with your signs in the air....good job.
[dotty biscotti]
This is a fucking amazing show.I have over 15 confetti butterflies most of them pink and purple with me. Chris looked me when they were playing Scientist.I think he looked at me very clearly from up to down for over a minute while he was about to sing and making some fun at the starting. I was there at 8 section on floor Row 11 seats 2-1. He read a news paper and said Philly is the best city on earth. And said a word about Pennsylvania being a important state in elections. And setlist was regular but a lot of energy through out the concert and a lot of Chris jokes. I also have a picture of me and my husband passing signs.My husband passed in the front row and i in my row. And i have a picture of me sitting with all the signs in the rows visible around me which i passed. Some of the members and i held them during Yellow.
[pallavi]
I got down to the Wachovia Center at 4:00 almost exactly (after a charming 2 hour drive without cruise control up the most boring highway known to humankind). I did some venue stalking, but didn't see any activity. There were a few roadies milling about around the buses out back; I said hi but I didn't recognize any of them.
I went over to the box office just in case they might have unsold excellent tickets. They didn't, but the people working there told me they might get some later, so I waited and made friends with a bunch of really nice Wachovia Center staff. At about 6:30, the guy at the ticket window told me they had just released seat 9 in section 1 row 1 - the front row seat closest to Jonny's ramp. I think I scared the poor ticket guy with how loudly I squealed.
By about 6:45, I was looking around outside the box office for anyone from the Philly sign gang. I didn't see anyone, so I went down to my car and used sharpies and posterboard I brought with me to make a "Viva Coldplay" sign. It turned out pretty nicely, considering it was made in a dark parking lot on the hood of my car!
I went back and looked around for the sign gang again before concluding I'd probably gotten the time wrong. I got in through security with my 500 signs and zero problems. Even better, when I got down to my seat, I found that I was sitting near the most incredibly nice security people in the world! They not only didn't mind that I was handing out signs, but they also said they didn't need me to stay and help clean the signs up if people left them when I offered to do so.
I started handing out signs pretty much as soon as I got my stuff set down in my seat. I used up most of my 500 trying to cover as much of the front floor as possible. I ended up meeting Dave (musicman1990) as we were both trying to hand out signs on the floor. I think we got most of the front sections done with our combined efforts.
The show was FANTASTIC. They guys all had awesome energy - I wish I'd been up near them when they went to C stage, because I would have loved to catch Guy's smile on film. They all really seemed to enjoy themselves up in the crowd tonight and were more playful and chatty than usual. I took a ton of picures, mostly of Jonny, but I got a few good (or at least they looked good) shots of Jonny and Chris dancing together. Can't post them until I get back to my college, which means not until Monday.
The signs were good, but not great. There seemed to be a little bit of confusion about when to hold them up; a lot of people did it at the end of the second encore rather than beginning of Yellow, which is what I thought the plan was. Of course, quite a fair few of the people right around me were drunk, which might explain some of the misunderstandings. Case in point: during the blackout when they play the remix, I had two guys offer to hoist me on their shoulders. Definitely drunk. Even so, I'm sure the guys saw the signs, although they didn't mention them or bring them onstage or anything. Most people held them up, just not at the right time
And then, to put the icing on the cake of a really awesome night, I held up my big sign during In My Place (once the lights came up) and Jonny saw it and gave me a smile Even better, Chris looked right at me and gave me a thumbs up during his circuit around the stage (before going offstage before Yellow) and Jonny gave me another smile, and I got a glance from Will. I am SO glad I made that big sign to hold up!
I also got a setlist, although they didn't seem to have any taped to the floor, or at least the several roadies I asked didn't see any taped to the floor. That would be kind of impressive if the guys ran the whole show without a setlist to refer to!
[Fadelight]
Okay, my mom and I totally found the roadies and went from section 420 to row L, right by the side stage! We had a perfect view (no neck craning!) and got to see them right by the side stage! I got this awesome pic of Chris grabbing his behind while sitting down at the piano, and my mom and I swear that Guy posed for us when we called out his name. I hope. The set list could've changed a bit; could've been made more special as it was Halloween, but whatever. It was still magical. 'Fix You' got me so emotional; I cried so hardcore, but 'Yellow,' I think, sounded better as an encore! It was so powerful! 'Postcards' was beautiful as well. I enjoyed that one, and Chris dedicated 'The Hardest Part' to Sarah Palin.
LOL, my mom's listening to 'Fix You' right now.
Amazing and perfect as usual, I bought the 42 shirt (the guy at the booth was like, 'huh?' when I asked for it that way rather than Style 7. And I met Roadie 42, who was setting up a camera right by the side stage and I told him I enjoyed his blog. He seemed a bit distracted, but was a nice guy. I fixed up my jacket a bit (painted a 42 and a VIVA logo) and the hat (a violet and strawberry) and more people noticed it. And now, it's off to the Who, Oasis and if my luck is good, Coldplay in late '09!
I'll be sure to post some pics later!
[Strawberry Swing]
there is no way i will ever miss a coldplay concert if its in my area. not that i ever have since 2005 when i'm in the country, but jeez. they're just too fucking amazing. they make my academic career go down the tubes and my bank account bone-dry, but i don't care.
seats this time were...slightly different than what i had last time . i wasn't able to scout out any nice roadies, but hey, i got lucky once. these seats were pretty good too, thanks to the lovely jenn annie (starlight) . the photos i took are pretty much all shite, and the few videos i took, i mostly took for audio purposes because my camera has a surprisingly good microphone. i'll post those later, if people are interested.
i thought the crowd was a bit of a strange one--you could tell that at least in my section, there weren't a lot of diehards there. people seemed to get more excited when chris mentioned the phillies or when jonny came out with his shirt than when they started up a well-known song or something. i guess the phillies fever is still strong.
i loved chris's political comment this time; it was particularly scathing in the exact right way, in my opinion. i have to youtube to see if i can find the exact quote, but it was something like "just because we're intelligent, thinking people doesn't mean we're democrats necessarily, right?" i bet he pissed off a lot of people in that crowd, but i thought it was brilliant.
i realized that on sunday, being so close, i missed a hell of a lot. it was nice to be able to see the guys on the ramp and on the C stage, and the monitors...the quality of those things! i've never been to a concert with HD-quality video on the monitors, and it blew me away. they could just record whatever they put up on those screens and release it as a DVD and it would be fabulous.
the one thing i would say that is sort of negative is that i wish the guys trusted themselves enough to shake up the setlists a bit. i think they're capable of it, definitely, and sometimes i wish they would pull out an old, well-loved song that no one's expecting. i also think they could play for longer, but i can cut them some slack on that . they do this every night and need their rest, plus they all have families etc.
i was thinking a lot about how awesome these guys are on my long drive home last night. i won't go too cheesy on you, but they really mean a lot to me. becoming a coldplay fan and joining up to this site has changed a hell of a lot in my life, and it's most certainly one of the best things i've ever done
i'm in serious concert withdrawal now, though. it's going to be painful. and from now on, i'm going to try my damndest to get floor seats as close as i can. that first night of mine in NJ was the most epic thing i've ever been to. if angie can do it, so can i
oh! and there was bat confetti at the DC concert on halloween, but there were a few left over pieces in philly last night, because i somehow managed to scoop up two purple shiny bats! i didn't even notice until i was flattening out and de-crinkling my butterflies this morning, but i got two bats and a shiny red heart!
[ApproximatelyInfinite]
This was my first Coldplay concert and it was worth the wait!!
My seats weren't perfect but I was just glad to be there!
My experience for this show was different compared to my usual concert experiences. I chose to request Sign Language Interpreters . It was my first time experiencing a concert that way because while I don't need help following the songs, I know Chris likes to chat with the audience and change things around so I didn't want to miss a single thing from this band.
All in all, it went pretty well! I was afraid I'd not be able to see both the Interpreters and the band but somehow it worked out. There were a few tense moments before the show began because there was a chance I wasn't going to be able to watch through interpreters-- it was going to be too dark!! Naturally seating for anyone wanting accommodations is placed out of the way and in the dark areas so we weren't near any sources of light.
Those poor interpreters had to badger the Wachovia people to go pester Coldplays people about allowing the use of a small light to shine on the interpreters hands. At first we kept getting "No" but eventually someone worked magic and got us a light for which we were all so thankful!! They were kind enough to give us a set list as well.
I was at the front of my section and from where I was sitting, I was able to shake hands with Chris.
Which in turn completely caused meltingness....! I'm such a dork...though having had opportunities to
meet bands before and have experiences like that, Chris is the
only one who has what I call "The Stoopid Effect" on me.... sad, sad, sad...!
The boys walked right past me to get to the C Stage so the location was worth it!
I accidentally grabbed Jonny's shoulder or something...
(gently, not violently--don't hurt me!!) and unintentionally ignored the other 2 because
I had my eye on my target and didn't want to miss!
I would have loved to have said "Hi" to all of them but they move fast!
And yes I am ashamed of myself for missing Guy and Will, they were a couple of blurs!!
There are pictures capturing the moment but the guys were so hard to capture. By the time photos were snapped, Chris was on to the opposite row and Johnny came out as a bloo blur. Oopsie!
The music sounded great and I especially loved when Chris turned over Fix You to the audience.
It was as beautiful as I'd hoped it would be that it brought tears to my eyes.
It was also a thrill to get to here COL live, though I am sad it meant the sacrifice of Yes.
All of the songs from Viva were everything I hoped they'd be. One of my old favorites is
"Clocks" so that really knocked me out live. I was having so much fun that I ended up "singing" along
to the songs in Sign Language.I usually avoid doing that at concerts
because of shyness but Coldplay is such a blast!!
It was amazing to finally see for myself how hard the guys worked to put on a great show,
especially Chris with all of his crazy Gumby bends.
The confetti was more surreal than I ever imagined it could be, totally amazing!! The butterflies blew away from my sections direction so one of the event staff who kept an eye on us was kind enough to gather a few butterflies for me. Everyone was so nice!
Alrighty, enough babble!! Here is my contribution to photos from this show. The pictures aren't as good as the boyfriend and I usually take. Some turd at the Phillies Parade threw beer all over everyone and got my camera. So it got dirty and somehow stuck on certain settings so we were unable to change the shutter speed, etc. And there was the need to use phones and zoom because of the location but it's better than nothing! My boyfriend took a billion photos so I could enjoy the show. (For the record, he likes Coldplay but not as much as we do on this board.)
[frankenbubbles]
OK, here we go. I got there a lil later than I had planned, about 7:30. I didn't get to meet any of the sign gang peeps beforehand but I did catch up with musicman1990 and JBella76. I gave them some signs and passed the rest of mine out. No acknowledgement from the band, however. I think there was some confusion as to when to hold them up, but only half the people did anyway, so whatever.
The show was solid, but paled to the July one IMO. The boys seemed a lil tired and the crowd was rather subdued. I think at one point I screamed "You fuckers aren't singing, WTF?!?" It was definitely an older crowd this time. I'm 41, and there were a lot of people there older than me. Which is cool, but the energy level was lacking.
Chris's comments about our "baseball team" and Chase Utley's F-bomb were priceless. I have video of that except that I can be heard yelling "let's go Phillies" over some of his dialouge. Oops! And when Jonny came out with that T-shirt, the place went nuts. Very cool of them to do that, indeed.
So, stellar show by the boys all in all. They never disappoint. I had a great time but I'm paying for it today I believe. I'll post some vids as soon as they upload. Oh, and I just thought of something; I've never been to MSG!
[Galaga]
It was a big Saturday night date night in Philadelphia. Well-heeled yuppies and giddy-to-be-there teenagers were all gussied up for the big show. By the amount of bunnies on the arms of lunkheads singing along to "Yellow" - I proclaim Coldplay the biggest babe magnets since mid-70's Jackson Browne. I've lost sight of how much fun the big arena show can be. Flashing lights, smoke machines, big screens, real crowd anticipation and skinny pasty-faced Brits at the top of their game all added up to a spectaculary risk-free spectacle. Chris Martin was totally engaging as the boy next door frontman with grandiose rock star moves (along with giving Craig Finn a run for the coveted most awkward dancer title) and local market savvy (several Phillies references). But the band certianly gets gigged for their silly, psuedo-military outfits. My advice - go another direction there.
It really is an exceptional sight to see 20,000 fans explode as one to the opening chords of "Viva La Vida", "Speed of Sound" or "Yellow". I felt like part anthropologist, part proud papa as I surveyed not only the crowd but my 12 year old son Sean blissed out at his first big rock concert. He sang, he pantomimed, he danced (unfortunately my rhytmic genes did not skip a generation), he fist pumped... he was completely immersed in the music. And my very understanding wife was jumping around like a teenager and having a tremendous time.
So it was hard not to love for all those reasons (plus the tix were free), but still... the sound was your basic, bad, cavernous, echo-y hockey rink sludge we've endured forever at the local enormo-dome. You also had your $7.00 beers and $12.00 roast beef sandwiches (two waters - $8.50!!) and $35.00 t-shirts! Sean wouldn't even let us buy him one. That's how ridiculous a $35.00 t-shirt is.
But certainly Coldplay was better than I expected. All four of their cds reside in my house, yet I've never actively played a role in listening to any of them. Viva La Vida (at least 4 or 5 songs) has been my son's constant car companion for at least 2 months so I've heard those songs A LOT and enjoyed them. So I was surprised at how many other songs I recognized during the concert - I gotta assume that's mostly through exposure via local public radio station WXPN.
Coldplay has two speeds - ballad and mid-tempo. I'm never gonna love them and I'm never gonna hate them. But I'm always gonna dig them for giving my son his first hit of a big time rock show and giving my wife that rock and roll buzz that I get so often I sometimes take it for granted.
http://teenkicks.blogspot.com/2008/11/coldplay-live.html
8 out of 10 persons ridiculed me when asked if they were interested in going to Coldplay concert in Philly. They had a valid point, why would you drive/fly all the way to Philly just for a concert? Then there were some who were simply not interested in Coldplay type music. Lucky me, I was chatting with my buddy Gagan and asked casually and he turned out to find some merit in this whole Philly Coldplay idea.. that too sitting in Germany (Deustchland). Rest was taken care without much problem. We decided to fly and stay there for 2 nights in Sheraton Suites..... given both of us were meeting after 8 months and had definite plans to pamper ourselves. A common indian adage is, when you dont have a responsibility you can afford to do whatever you want....lol...... Atlanta served to be our meeting point being the hub of AirTran, and it was very nice to see him after long time, he was visibly tired after 6 hrs long flight from SF... we had lots of plans... I had to listen to his nonstop German adventures..test his Nikon D40, tell him about recent developments in my life, meet new friend, and at the very least watch Coldplay.... Aisle seat, 2 hrs long flight and a hot drunk blond sitting next to you, what else you could ask for. My god, which cologne you wearing, its so good....and she was smelling me all over my shoulder......whew....and G was smiling. No need to say how smooth journey was Next morning we met RT, our host, she turned out to be an amazing personality, a perfect host, awesome tour guide, patient with photography...(abe ek aur Orkut pic le na.... lol)..had some nice Indian lunch buffet and then Geocatching....I knew G it was going to be a pain in my fat laZ ass..... little did I know that his two GPS (yes he has 2) would even speak in German.. then we headed directly towards Wachovia Center where Chris Martin and his band "Coldplay" were playing... Two 24 oz. Stella Artois, and we were in full mood.. Some Brit chic opened the show for them and then came the band itself, opening with their tour theme song Viva la Vida.... the whole crowd went crazy on Louis XVI's fate nicely portrayed by Chris Martin, then their other hits, speed of sound, Clocks, trouble and all regular stuff.... Philly coincidentally won the world series championship defeating Tampa a week ago and a song was dedicated to them....even for Tampa bay and for John Mccain in advance, they performed Fix you. Alongwith floyd, Coldplay concerts are historically regarded as one of the best combinations of passionate music, soulful lyrics and amazing lazor shows, this show lived truly upto its remark...... Violet hill was as colorfull as it could get, and Yellow..my god, they are at their best when it comes to performing yellow.....look at the stars....look how they shine for you.. Well, it was totally worth it, and I am glad I made it..... even when I was lost totally !!! Did I say lost...whewwwwwwwwwwwwww
http://thewhitemischief.blogspot.com
Media Reviews
Last night I went to my first big arena show - Coldplay at the Wachovia Center in Philly. I had a blast, even with a pretty stuffy head cold and nosebleed seats. The music was great; the effects were awesome; and I was with good friends. Wonderful night. (Don’t worry - I will connect this to reading in just a bit.)
Here’s what I took away from the concert last night besides a desire to buy every Coldplay album on earth. 1. There’s something nearly magical about being absolutely encompassed by something. In this show the sound, the light, the atmosphere swallowed me. I wasn’t able to stay in my head and overthink things. I wasn’t able - or willing - to think about yesterday or tomorrow. I was simply engulfed in the moment. It was amazing. I need more of that.
2. Watching tens of thousands of people thrill at something is amazing. This crowd was alive and excited - they danced, they sang, they screamed . . . . Here were people who were happy and living that moment. In our country’s present situation, this was a great thing to see. Now, we were in Philly, home of the new World Series champs, so these people had been living large for a few days, so they were particularly good at it - but still . . . it was stupendous. (Can you tell I’m starting to run low on positive adjectives?)
3. I absolutely love to see people living their passion, and Chris Martin and the other guys in the band are absolutely doing that. There’s real sincerity in their performance. They play to the crowd, sure, but they love it - I could feel that from what seemed like miles away (we were closer to the top of the spotlight than the bottom, if that tells you anything). When people love what they do, they come alive in a way that nothing else can bring out. I see this most in artists - perhaps because our culture requires artists to sometimes be bolder to live their passions - but other people - teachers, stock brokers, graphic designers, tree farmers - live this out, too. Nothing makes me want to live into my passion more than watching other people live into theirs.
Reviewing a live show for a group as renown as Coldplay isn't really necessary, but since we snapped over 300 photos and shot more than 20 minutes of video, we owe it to you share some of our experience.
The Wachovia Center, which houses the Sixers and Flyers, played host to Coldplay for their November 1 show in Philadelphia. With a buzz already surrounding the city due to the Phillies winning the World Series, the stage was set for a night of celebration, waves of adulation and energy. Coldplay arrived as the headliner soon after Duffy and crew left stage.
From the get-go, the harmony of every instrument stuck out. While Chris Martin's voice is unique to him, the keyboard's electric tune met the rapping of the drums consistently, as Coldplay has perfected over the years. What the sound on the CD doesn't catch though comes when the lights flash during a guitar solo or when the group migrates around the stadium.
Perhaps unknown to Coldplay fans who have yet to attend a show came over an hour into the show when the four bandmates left center stage and headed towards the back of the venue. There they were prepped for a few acoustic songs, which they played at an armslength from overjoyed onlookers. From here they stood shoulder to shoulder to play as the near 20,000 person crowd followed every earnest lyric.
After a brief interlude, the group reappeared on stage. The large screens showed guitarist Jonny Buckland clad with a "Fightin' Phillies" shirt. Just as the sight of seeing this shirt, any mention of the Phils sent roars around the arena.
Overall, the concert was as flawless as one could really want it to be without being overly critical. The Wachovia Center doesn't house the best acoustics while the special effects they have at their disposal are as good as any. Getting to hear and see a band as big as Coldplay from multiple angles was something special while the variety they keep with their own songs also kept each song intriguing.
Below we have the set list from the show as well as a mass of pictures.
http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2614125#post2614125 http://musicunderfire.com/2008/11/concert-review-coldplay.html
