25 July 2008: Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA (Videos & Media Reviews)

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Media Reviews

Coldplay Hot, Openers Not

Saturday night I didn’t sit in for Coldplay’s delayed visit to Philadelphia’s Wachovia Center. I stood. The entire time. Coldplay’s brand of rock, which escalates from melodic to anthemic, was perfect for enthusing a crowd eager to hear some good music. I was eager to hear Coldplay from the moment I got the tickets. I got online within the first minutes and still landed back in section 213.

But when I tell you that I heard perhaps the worst set of opening acts I’ve ever witnessed in my concert-going repertoire, I do not exaggerate. So let’s get the bad vibes out of the way before we talk about the main event.

Opening the show was 93.3 WMMR-contest-winner Jonah Delso and his band. I knew from the introduction we were in for a little bit of an ego-trip as he said “I’m Jonah Delso, and this is my band.” Isn’t that how Genesis split up? “I’m Phil Collins, and this is my band,” and then off goes Peter Gabriel? Poor chaps. Or maybe they were lucky in the sense that we can’t tie their names to this performance. Anyway, the way this garage band got up on such a grand stage was through a video they sent in to WMMR. The video was voted (from online poll) into the top three of those submitted, and then Coldplay picked the winner. I have not seen the field Mr. Delso was competing with, so I can’t make a full analysis there. What I will say is that they put out more destructive feedback than a bad psychiatrist convention. The lyrics were dull and uninspired pop/rock. The band was musically okay, but Delso was not. It was formulaic, and maybe Coldplay picked them because they had a piano? Not my question to answer.

After that rather iffy experience, and a small break with the lights on, I and the thousands of others left in the arena saw a group of white shirt, black pants individuals walk out. It was something like the Robert Palmer backup girls from “Addicted to Love,” but throw in some Clockwork Orange. I was interested, very much so. Techno, club, trance maybe? Bring it on! It turned out to be Philadelphian Santi White, better known as Santogold. Another bad start let loose, as she sang the whole first song apparently without monitor support. Her strained wailing (which her set confided to be her style) was so off-key I think maybe–just maybe–my ears actually cried. Every song’s completion was followed by earnest hope that her trance-hop punk self would trot off stage. She even made the audience aware of the monitor’s problem, which just gets me going to no end. As a performer (of a different type admittedly), rule number one is that if the audience doesn’t know it’s a problem, you don’t let them know there’s a problem. If Delso had an ego, Santogold made him look tame. You know it’s bad when an opener tells you “It’s my job to pump you up.” Mission from-thereon-out thoroughly unaccomplished. I know my entire section was mock-clapping for her followed by calls of “What?” and “Get off, where’s my Coldplay!”

That unpleasantness out of our systems, Coldplay took stage at 9:30 p.m. Glory of glories, it was finally here. The concert was originally scheduled for late June, but they had to postpone. Later front man Chris Martin would make a joke of the delay, noting that the band had mandatory nose job appointments. The stage was interesting from the moment I walked into the arena. Giant white spheres hanging in the rafters, intelligent lighting on lightweight (soon to be moving) frames. Double curtains and front screening. Those Western European bands really know how to throw a concert (reference: U2, Muse).

The album cover from Viva La Vida dropped (Eugène Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People) and the concert got rolling. The instrumental “Living in Technicolor” rolled right into the new album’s first single “Violet Hill.” Instantly, Martin owned the crowd; they eagerly anticipating every note and sang along with the passion perhaps only Philadelphia fans can offer. Martin made note several times through the concert that our singing blew him away, and frequently he shoved his mic away and let the crowd take a chorus. It was particularly fun to hear the crowd, and I joined in on “The Scientist.”

Laser lights adorned the arena starting with Clocks, perhaps their biggest hit from their album A Rush of Blood to the Head. The band then took their set to different performance settings. Down the stage left runway was a lit disco-esque platform at which they performed a couple songs. They also did a song on the other runway.

After the majority of their set was completed they suddenly ran off stage, down the hockey boards and into the first floor concourse. The audience abuzz (and many drunken fans sloppily sprinting for the concourse), Coldplay re-emerged in section 106 and performed a set from the entrance space which included “The Scientist” as well as “Death Will Never Conquer.” Acoustically, “The Scientist” worked wonderfully. Until this point I was very happy with the performances, but I did want a little more change from how we’ve heard it from the studio albums. This was the right injection at the right time of some new flavor. The band then headed back to the stage while a rather political video played to the recorded tune of “Talk.” It included the jab Bill O’Reilly took at Martin and the band on his show. Is there anyone the man doesn’t take a hit at? Oh yeah…the President. Following the video, which played on those neat little hanging spheres that doubled as both live and recorded rotating projector screens, the band uncorked a rendition of “Politik” that made sense following the video.

The concert finished covering all of the hits, past and present, as well as the majority of the new album. Encores consisted of “Green Eyes” and “The Dubliners,” which rocked the crowd to the very end. I will tell you I’ve been to many big concerts. I was on the field for The Police last summer in Citizens’ Bank Park. I was front row for The Who in Washington, DC. This was the most pumped I have ever felt a surrounding audience. It was non-stop singing and pure fun brought on by amazing spectacles of performance with a little humor interspersed from Martin and the gang.

While I maintain The Police and The Who delivered just a bit of a better concert for me as a band, the energy that I felt just blew me away. It put it into that echelon of concert-going. And in my book, that’s great company. The exciting fact for me is that Viva La Vida is the beginning of a new Coldplay, as the older three albums were part of a “trilogy” as Martin has detailed. With what has happened thus far, Coldplay has nowhere to go but up. —Doug Phelan

http://chevronsays.wordpress.com/200...t-openers-not/

Review: Coldplay

The world’s most palatable rock and roll band came to the sold-out Wachovia Center in South Philadelphia on Friday, working hard to please.

An hour and half spent with Coldplay is like enjoying a light summer meal, spread out on the lawn on a humidity-free late July evening. Chris Martin and his bandmates make for mildly engaging company, and even when they aim lasers to the rafters, the bombast goes down easy. Airy melodies carry the day, and it never threatens to develop into a hot and sticky situation.

The British foursome - along with Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckman(), bass player Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion - took the stage half-obscured behind a scrim, with Martin strumming an acoustic guitar on “Life in Technicolor,” the vaguely exotic instrumental that leads off the band’s formula-tweaking fourth album Viva La Vida, Or Death and All His Friends.

Then, the curtain came up to reveal the backdrop of Eugene Delacroix’s bare breasted Liberty Leading The People. Nudity - at a Coldplay show! Then the arena sized entertainment began.

Sporting the silly blue and red military outfits that signal they’re all on the same soft-rock team, the foursome kicked off with “Violet Hill,“ the dark and stormy first single off the Brian Eno produced Vida. Martin and mates then proceeded to march through agreeable past hits like the mass singalong “Yellow” and momentum gathering “Speed of Sound.” They also did nearly all of Vida, the album which moved over 700,000 copies in its first week of release and together with Lil’ Wayne’s Tha Carter III, has thrown a lifeline to a floundering music industry, and whose highlight was the kettle drum powered iTunes-commercial title song.

Martin’s a high energy, ingratiating performer whose music is in its comfort zone when he’s bouncing on his piano stool on pulsing songs like “Clocks,“ with verses that can’t help but hurry towards anthemic choruses before settling back down to share intimate confidences. If you pay too close attention to the lyrics on heart-on-sleeve ballads like “Fix You” and “The Scientist” you might think you had wandered into a Hallmark card pep rally.

But though the band’s tendency toward grandiosity can’t help but come off as U2-lite, Martin self-deprecating charm diminishes the cloying quotient. “Even objectively, this is a tremendous reception and we’re incredibly grateful,“ the well-spoken rock star told the date night crowd, and later made a bad joke about how the band “all had to get nose jobs,“ when he apologized for rescheduling the concert, which was originally slated for June 29.

And to prove that Coldplay is a band of the people, the foursome - who distributed leaflets from anti-poverty organization Oxfam America - closed the set with by doing two acoustic songs in the midst of the crowd at the back of the building, including a quite lovely “Death Will Never Conquer,” sung by Champion. That interlude went so well that Martin received several “terrorist fist jab” congratulations from fans. “Don’t tell Fox News!” he quipped.

Mt. Airy raised Santi White - who has risen to ultimate hipster status as Santogold - warmed up with an half hour set that did its best to connect with a half full house. The Brooklyn based White fronted an black and white color coordinated eight member ensemble that expertly navigated the New Wave, dub, reggae and electro-pop textures of her terrific Santogold debut, and included two stylish female robo-dancers who looked like a cross between Devo and Public Enemy’s paramilitary S1W’s. It wasn’t her crowd, but White was greeted warmly enough by the Coldplay crowd, even if she had to shout “Philadelphia!” twice to get a response that “sounds like my home town.“

Singer-songwriter Jonah Delso - from Westhampton, N.J., in Burlington County - won a WMMR (93.3-FM) contest to open the show. Delso did 20 solidly crafted minutes of piano cushioned pop songs like “Elevator” and “Before I Go Away” that dovetailed nicely with the unfailingly pleasant sounds of the headliner.

http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news...?referrer=digg

Coldplay takes jab at Fox pundit

PHILADELPHIA -- Bill O'Reilly's ears must have been burning Friday night.

After an evening of super-sized anthems and even bigger sing-a-longs, Coldplay left the stage and completed their main set in the back of Wachovia Center Friday night, surrounded by a sold out crowd of 20,000 fans as they performed a pair of acoustic songs in section 105.

After finishing an acoustic, guitar-based "The Scientist," singer Chris Martin received celebratory fist bumps from fans.

"There are terrorist fist jabs all over the place," Martin said, joking about a Fox News anchor who used the phrase in June to describe Barack Obama's fist bump with his wife, Michelle. "Don't tell Fox News!"

Soon after, the foursome left the cheap seats and began their journey through the bowels of the arena for the show's encore back on the main stage. While the crowd waited, they were treated to a clip of O'Reilly calling the band "pinheads" for bashing Fox News at their concerts, eliciting an avalanche of boos.

Then, a techno song played as sped-up clips of President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Karl Rove dancing interspersed with images of explosions in Iraq and former President Nixon.

For a band that has seemingly taken great pains to be everything to everybody in an attempt to become The Biggest Band in the World, the pointed detour into American politics by the British band was somewhat jarring.

But when the band reappeared, they emerged with the night's best moment: a forceful "Politik" off their Grammy-winning "A Rush of Blood to the Head" from 2002. "Open up your eyes, open up your eyes," Martin sang. "Wounds that heal and cracks that fix, tell me your own politik."

As was the case for much of the night, Coldplay's songs from their first two albums had more great moments, whether they be more delicate like "In My Place" or a bit more muscular, as was the night's version of "Yellow." (Martin said "Yellow" was the song that first brought them to Philadelphia, joking that the year was 1971. The crowd, oblivious to his attempted humor, roared. "I don't think many of you were alive in 1971," he responded.)

The band has sold nearly 40 million albums since they first appeared with "Yellow" -- in 2000, for the record. And on this night, they marched through nearly every song from their latest album, "Viva la Vida," produced by longtime U2 collaborator Brian Eno.

Unlike their earlier work, which may not have been genetically engineered for arena and stadium shows, "Viva" was made exactly for this moment: 20,000 Philadelphia fans looking for a show.

And that's what they got.

Whether it be the massive amounts of neon confetti blown into the crowd or the live footage of the band shown on a giant screen behind them, there was as much intriguing visual art as musical meat.

But the bombast backfired at times as the show left no room for the intimacy that some of Coldplay's songs yearn for. The sweet "Fix You" was pimped out with Martin skipping across the stage doing high leg kicks reminiscent of Van Morrison during The Band's "Last Waltz" concert as fans sang the chorus.

The band also ventured onto a runway and into the audience for a pair of songs. Even though they were in a far more cozy setting once they were off the expansive main stage, they sped through a techno version of "God Put A Smile Upon Your Face" almost as if they were afraid to lose momentum by indulging a quieter, slower song.

And maybe they were right. The audience stood for the entire 2-hour, 21-song extravaganza, singing along to songs from 2000 just as loudly as they did for the newest tunes from "Viva la Vida," released in June.

Even though Coldplay took an abrupt detour to mock Fox News and the Bush Administration, they proved their investment in sweeping anthems has paid off. The band that began as an alternative rock band is now anything but.

They really are a band that is everything to everyone. And when Martin called his own group a "young, soft rock band" at one point in the night, it was hard to tell if there was any sarcasm in his voice.

But to be fair and balanced, Coldplay proved themselves Friday night as arguably one of the few bands that could possibly claim the title as the Biggest Band in the World.

And if they fall short, they can certainly lay claim as the Biggest Young, Soft Rock Band in the World.

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/p.../NEWS/80726006

Coldplay's palate pleasers charm Wachovia crowd

The world's most palatable rock-and-roll band came to the sold-out Wachovia Center in South Philadelphia on Friday, working hard to please.

At the Wachovia, the British foursome - which includes guitarist Jonny Buckman, bass player Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion - took the stage half-obscured behind a scrim, with Martin strumming an acoustic guitar on "Life in Technicolor," the vaguely exotic instrumental that leads off the band's formula-tweaking fourth album, Viva La Vida Or Death and All His Friends.

Then, the curtain came up to reveal the backdrop of Eugene Delacroix's bare-breasted Liberty Leading The People - nudity, at a Coldplay show! - and the arena-sized entertainment began.

Sporting the silly blue and red military outfits that signal they're all on the same soft-rock team, the foursome kicked off with "Violet Hill," the dark and stormy first single off the Brian Eno-produced Vida. The rockers then proceeded to march through agreeable past hits like the mass singalong "Yellow" and momentum-gathering "Speed of Sound." They also performed nearly all of Vida, the album that moved more than 700,000 copies in its first week of release.

Martin is a high-energy, ingratiating performer whose music is in its comfort zone when he's bouncing on his piano stool on pulsing songs like "Clocks," with verses that can't help but hurry toward anthemic choruses before settling down to share intimate confidences. If you pay too close attention to the lyrics on ballads like "Fix You" and "The Scientist," you might think you had wandered into a Hallmark-card pep rally.

And although the band's tendency toward grandiosity can't help but come off as U2-lite, Martin's self-deprecating charm diminishes the cloying quotient. "Even objectively, this is a tremendous reception, and we're incredibly grateful," the well-spoken rock star told the crowd.

And to prove that Coldplay is a band of the people, the foursome closed the set with two acoustic songs played in the midst of the crowd, including a quite lovely "Death Will Never Conquer," sung by Champion. That interlude went so well that Martin received several fist-bump congratulations from fans. "Don't tell Fox News!" he quipped.

Mount Airy-raised Santi White - who has risen to ultimate hipster status as Santogold - warmed up with a half-hour set that did its best to connect with a half-full house. The Brooklyn-based White fronted an eight-member ensemble that expertly navigated the New Wave, dub, reggae and electro-pop textures of her Santogold debut. It wasn't her crowd, but White was greeted warmly enough by the audience, even if she had to shout "Philadelphia!" twice to get a response that "sounds like my hometown."

Singer-songwriter Jonah Delso - from Westhampton, Burlington County - won a WMMR-FM (93.3) contest to open the show. Delso did 20 solidly crafted minutes of piano-cushioned pop songs like "Elevator" and "Before I Go Away" that dovetailed nicely with the unfailingly pleasant sounds of the headliner.

Dan DeLuca

http://www.philly.com/philly/enterta...via_crowd.html

Coldplay Bring the Bombast

J.I. would like to think we are pretty open minded, and jaded as we might be, we’re not music snobs – if we get drunk and nostalgic enough, we can karaoke “American Pie” from start to finish. So when last minute Coldplay tickets came along, we decided to live in the moment and hopped on a train headed for Philly.

You see, we’ve never been big Coldplay fans. We don’t dislike them, per se, and we think they serve as great background music in one of our favorite movies (the deliciously snarky Igby Goes Down). But we never quite got the mass appeal, either.

Perennial J.I. fave Santogold opened the show, and after a lackluster SummerStage performance last week, totally redeemed herself. The addition of a full band, as opposed to the DJ and dancers she performed with previously, filled out her sound and her seem more like a real group and less like a hipster karaoke act. Unfortunately, the Coldplay crowd didn’t really seem to get her; she wasn’t booed, but she was met with plenty of shrugs.

While Santogold might have been met with ambivalence, Coldplay were met with an outpouring of support from the sold out arena. J.I. has always respected bands that take their job as entertainers and performers seriously; while we’re not big Bon Jovi fans, we admire their respect for their fans and their determination to provide a memorable night. Coldplay, much like a U2, are in the same vein – they bring the bombast, and act like they genuinely want to give the assembled masses a good time. From the opener, “Violet Hill,” to the hits from their previous albums, the band was tight, energetic, and true showmen.

We probably won’t be running for the president of the Coldplay fan club any time soon; the songs did begin to blend in to one another, and something still leaves us a little cold. But the show did provide us with a newfound admiration for a band that takes their craft very seriously.

http://billboard.blogs.com/jadedinsi...lay-bring.html