2 December 2008: NIA, Birmingham, UK
From WikiColdplay
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Contents |
Setlist
- Life In Technicolor
- Violet Hill
- Clocks
- In My Place
- Speed Of Sound
- Yellow
- Chinese Sleep Chant
- 42
- Fix You
- Strawberry Swing
- God Put A Smile Upon Your Face (partial techno remix)
- Talk (partial techno remix)
- The Hardest Part (Chris solo piano)
- Postcards From Far Away (Chris solo piano)
- Viva La Vida
- Lost!
- Green Eyes (acoustic)
- Death Will Never Conquer (acoustic - Will lead vocals)
- Viva La Vida (remix interlude)
First Encore - Politik
- Lovers In Japan
- Death And All His Friends
Second Encore - The Scientist
- Life In Technicolor ii
- The Escapist (outro)
Photos
Photos from this show can be found at Coldplaying.com in the Gallery thread for Birmingham. http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/1558
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=45469
Discussion
All post-show discussion for this show at the forum thread: http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45469
Fan Reviews
All fan reviews have been submitted to us by the members of Coldplaying.com[1], unless stated otherwise.
Just got back from the concert. Absolutely amazing night!!! I didn’t keep a note of the set list but the set list in the image is wrong. Trouble was not played. Though green eyes was!!!, which was amazing. Also it is the the wrong order for instance the talk remix was not played after DWNC. So basically don’t rely on it. (Just a few things I instantly noticed…its late). Nope cemeteries wasn’t played unfortunately. The concert itself was epic. Coldplay really do sound just as good live as on CD, if not better. At the start me and my friends were the only people to stand up in our block to LIT but eventually everyone got on there feet to chant the ‘whoooaaa’ bit towards the end. Chris and the band, as expected, put on an amazing performance with the lights (lasers were amazing) , sound, music, everything just being perfect. Chris also does a great job of getting everyone singing and 12,000+ people singing fix you ended up with one of my friends in tears. It was that incredibly moving. The support band was ok apart from a DJ (Don’t remember his name) who seemed to be playing the same music for about 25 minutes to some very strange video. Overall, most amazing night I’ve had all year….period.
[Pezza]
My second coldplay gig this week(first being sheffield) and again the lads put on one hell of a show! The crowd took a while to warm up(one person told me to sit down then got told where to go by moi). Me and my friend where wearing santa hats, because we where the only two stood up in our block when chris looked at us and smiled lol. Green eyes and lit ii where big highlights for me they were amazing. At the end i got a setlist and loads of confetti… Happy days
[BlissfulyMuse]
They We’re Simply Amazing! Got loads of video’s but I was literally at the back so no one would want to see them! However being at the back had it’s advantages as you got the whole atmosphere including the best view of all the lights!
[ncrawley]
So, we got there. Took a look around went to that nearby pub for some food and drink.. then we looked at where the lorries and stage trucks were parked. Saw no one and it was too cold, although I did see a load of the footballer people leaving (at the time I was thinking.....what the fuck?? hahaha)
Major props to Jen for managing to get these AMAZING seats for me and her )))))) thanks sooooo sooo sooo so much. Sold our other tickets to touts... no other options, no one wanted it from this forum! Tried to persuade a couple in the pub to take them, but the man hated Coldplay. Got inside, saw Pete on the Oxfam stall, Jen had a chat with him. He's so cuuuute
...I did a hardcore dance when I saw where my new seat was... block AA....row M. seat 10 a.k.a directly in front of the ramp. JONNY SIDE TOO!!!! Jen's seat was in block CC..... GUY ZONE!!!!!!! Serious, serious result!!!!!
I had a mighty good feeling about this gig from the beginning. Even though people hate Jon Hopkins, there's one song of his where I just LOVE the bass! When Eugene thingy threw his Captain America arm shield thingy, Jen caught it. haha. Rather hilarious moment involving falling over a chair.
Saw the roadies dancing/torches just about....awesome. hahah! Wish I could have joined in, its my favourite Jay-Z song.
Coldplay come on , LIT...Violet Hill....niceee..... great Clocks..... yeaaaah... In My Place! So at this point, I know whats coming... and my stupid camera starts mucking me around. It took some film and then cut out, turned off....lost what it had taken. UGH!!!!!! SO ANNOYING!!! but yes...I enjoyed the Chris and Jonny love intensely. It was in front of me. So close. Chris was on his knees in front of Jonny, grabbing him trying to pull him all over the place, haha. less than a metre or so away. DAMN CAMERA!!!
The only thing I managed to get, was one photo. Jonny is so shy....!!! Only came down that ramp the one time. :/
Speed of Sound, and then Yellow! So I'm happy here, because at Sheffield they finished on Yellow.... Yellow, had everyone singing really awesomely, and Chris was impressed. Chinese Sleep Chant, 42, Fix You. Everyone in the whole place is singing and really getting into it. It's 100 times better than Sheffield already... Chris and the boys keep smiling and lauging, I think they enjoyed it because they were here for three days in a row and theyre relaxed Chris mentions that the singing is the best he's heard in a long, long time (and I know people will say 'oh he says that everytime') I genuinely believe he meant it, combined with their goofy happy faces last night He also made another comment further on in the evening about our singing.
The techno GPASUYF and Talk- awesome Everyone in the crowds loving it. The Hardest Part was beautiful, I havn't heard it live before and it really, really was something lovely.
People in Birmingham didn't go as apeshit crazy for Viva La Vida as the Sheffield people did (the only song they knew, ha). Lost was great, I liked that last night.
Next was an unexpected moment, that was amazing for me. I thought that as they'd played Green Eyes last night, it might have been a one off and I wouldnt get my hopes up. It's one of the songs I've been longing to hear at all previous 5 concerts I've seen...but alas no. So I didnt quite believe it at first when Chris said 'This is a song called Green Eyes' OHHHHHHHHH Ive waited sooooo long to hear it!!!! x a million. People around me didn't have a clue what song it was.... but to me.... it was just perfect. Its so lame but I felt my eyes well up. I need to hear Warning Sign or Spies now. Impossible.
another amazing moment, was when the Viva La Vida remix came on and almost every person in the venue waved their phone lights!! I loved the crowd last night, everybody was up for it. when Chris came out, everyone was still singing it... and he sounded surprised...he also played it on the piano and said 'wow....you're all actually IN TUNE!' hahah He was also saying halfway through one song, how they wasted airmiles going around the world, when all they needed was right here at home. YEAH boys....you know your home country is the best roud:
Politik, another moment I was jumping up and down so much...... that song sooooooooo much. Loveers in Japan, greeeeattt....got some nice video and the butterflies looked great as usual!!!
I really wondered what they were going to play, since Yellow was the encore before. I loved The Scientist as it's full proper song, not acoustic like at Sheffield, which really doesnt do it justice. It was great. and then LIT 2..... it's just lovely. REALLY really lovely. I HAVE A VID.... will upload
After the gig, I stood there unable to believe my seat, and where I was, and it really was one of the very best times I've seen them. The crowd was great, hearing Green Eyes , Chris was being his usual funny and charming self.... it would have been better if Jonny had ventured down the runway a few more times... but it was awesome. AWESSSOOOOOOME!!
Afterwards, me and Jen went to the front....thought about trying our luck to get something from the stage. A security guard gave us a photocopy of the setlist which was a bit crap, and on later inspection, it was the first night's setlist! haha. So, we talked to some of the nice American sounding roadies on the stage, one of them searched all around Jonny's area for anything for me.... and he got me Jonny's setlist and a pick..... but not sure if it was Jonny's or not. Great! He looked all over the stage for cool things for us! Really great guys, the roadies. We thought about trying to hang around outside to meet the guys but no point, they leave so quickly.
Anyway. cheers Coldplay..... a very, very great night. I loved it. And thanks for Green Eyes.....next time, I want Shiver or Spies....thanks
[crazyduckette]
So I went to see Coldplay last night and to be quite honest there's only one way to describe their performance and that's "fucking amazing!!!!" (the exclamation marks are necessary). When we arrived the support DJ was already in full flow. I was quite disappointed I missed him come on because throughout the the set and even now with the power of the internet I didn't have a clue who he was. It wasn't too heavy so was actually quite cool to arrive and there was this live music being played in the background. The accompanying video was seriously hypnotic though, it was a strange mix of cartoons and wierd imagery. Once his set had finished there was obviously a break before Coldplay actually came on, a break that went on just that little bit too long.
Just when I was starting to get really pissed off they came on. I realise now why they included an instrumental version of Life in Technicolor on the album, because it is absolutely amazing as a tune for the band to take the stage to as they did at this performance and the fact that with another to the album it actually works really well as the first track on the album. It really does create an amazing atmosphere immediately. Judging from the atmosphere in the arena I really don't think Coldplay could have done any wrong from that point on. Then they launched into their first single off Viva La Vida, Violet Hill. I certainly wouldn't imagine that song, which is quite a slow as one that could get an arena all worked up, but such is the quality of Coldplay live because that's exactly what they did.
They then worked their way through old favourites as well as few tracks off the new amazing album. It was nice to hear Fix You when it isn't the final track of their set because the last time I saw Coldplay was in Bolton in 2005 where they filmed the performance part of the video and so they were trying perform it amazingly as possible. Obviously the track has the kind of strength that it will stand out wherever it is played in the set, but it's just ice to see it performed in a normal manner. Then they broke up set for a few songs by doing techno performances (including lasers) of God Put A Smile Upon Your Face and Talk. So much so that Will Champion moved onto a set of electronic drums. Chris Martin still played a traditional piano, but the tracks were really transformed. I think this was just a nod towards Kraftwerk because the versions were a similar style to and Kraftwerk because they had sampled their track Computer Love for Talk. Unfortunately they only did this for two songs because I actually quite liked how they had re-worked the tracks.
They then went back to normal Coldplay mode, which there is certainly nothing wrong with. They played two tracks and then it was the highlight of the concert for me. They played Viva La Vida and the sight of the drummer, Will Champion, pounding away on kettle drums and using an actual bell instead of cymbals will never get old for me no matter how many times I see it. They then moved into Lost!. I'd actually forgotten ho good the original track is because I'm so used to hearing the version including Jay-Z off Prospekt's March and the single itself.
They then went off, which was seriously surprising because they'd only been for just over hour. Then all of a sudden they re-appeared on some of walk ways in the stadium as they made their way to back of the stadium to a little performance area, which I hadn't noticed initially. There actually a bunch of acoustic guitars there that they all played for Green Eyes. Then they played their short single, Death Will Never Conquer, which gave away free on their website a while ago. Only Chris Martin was playing the harmonica so drummer, Will Champion was proving himself to be the most versatile member of the band by doing the vocals for the track.
They then went off for a short while to get back to main stage. Viva La Vida was playing over the speakers with the whole crowd singing along, to which Chris Martin was actually shocked that the crowd was singing in key. When the were at the stage they sang two or three songs they played the album closer, which is an absolute tune and a half to finish a set off before they properly went off for a short break because they had been playing for an hour and a half. They did come back on for the obligatory encore which all culminated in the last song proper song of the night being their other version of the song they had opened with, Life in Technicolour ii.
The whole way through the set it was absolutely amazing. All the songs just take on a whole new life when you hear them live. Chris Martin is also a good front man, having cheeky jokes with audience the whole way through. He only went wrong once the entire concert and like a good front man made it into a joke of it with the crowd by playing end section about 3 or 4 times to "get his confidence back".
http://thehuddleformation.blogspot.com
After reading that Coldplay had modified their setlist at yesterday’s Birmingham show, Kara and I were praying that the same thing would happen tonight. We got up to Birmingham in quite a good time as it’s not far from where Kara lives. The weather however, was even more colder than when we went to Sheffield, so we stayed in the carpark, looking down, trying to see if Coldplay’s car would arrive. We did see a blacked out vehicle drive pass by, so, you never know, it could’ve been them.
We went in just after 6pm and had a look around. We said hello to Oxfam Pete again [he must be sick of seeing my face LOL!] and then went to go find our seats. I tried so hard to get seats together and went to the NIA’s official ticket outlet www.theticketfactory.com. What a frustrating website! There were good seats left at normal prices and I was trying to get two together [Kara and I existing seats were apart and way far away from the stage]. We’d ordered them in the initial allocation and it really pissed me off that there were good seats available at the last minute for these gigs. There were 3 seats left in block CC [on the Guy side of the stage :D] and I was trying to book 2 and it wouldn’t let me. So I went and booked one, thinking that I could then go and book another single one after, but it still wouldn’t let me. So I ended up buying a seat on the other side [block AA] for Kara [jonnyfest!!]. I rang up to complain and was told “that’s how the ticket system works. You can’t leave one seat on it’s own”, blah blah blah. Oh man, they really need to sort things out. You should be able to order whatever tickets you like, whether 1 or 2, it shouldn’t matter. I was hella mad.
Anyway, as we were walking in I saw Jon Hopkins sitting in the sound area/mixing desk, doing his DJ thang. He was wearing a really bright blue top. You couldn’t miss him :P.
Eugene Francis Jr and his band were great again. I was whooping and clapping and yelled out ‘We love you!’. He was trying to get the crowd going by asking them to get their mobile phones out. A few people were compliant, but I guess they were saving their energy for Coldplay. He mentioned that it was good that Coldplay picked him to support based on his musical merits and not that he was a friend of the band. He also threw his Captain America shield out into the audience. Because it’s frizbee like, it flew above people’s heads [kinda dangerous, really]. It fell near where we were sitting. I hopped over the seats in front of me and got it. I kept it, because he did the exact same thing the night before. It had stuff written inside promoting his album The Golden Beatle. A nice keepsake.
Then I played Bejewled, whilst waiting for Coldplay to come on. When The Blue Danube came on, the crowd were getting into it [they were clapping], which was a good sign of things to come. The show was exponentially better than the Sheffield show. The Brummies were sure up for it and were dancing in the aisles and singing and shouting loudly. Chris was really shocked. During ‘Violet Hill’ he said “If you love me, let me hear you scream” and we screamed alright. And something like “I don’t know if you’re having a good time unless I hear you scream”. During ‘In My Place’ Chris said “t’s our 2nd night in Birmingham, I have a feeling it’s going to be better than the first one. Everyone feels like they’re in a good mood and we are too!”
I’m so glad they’ve moved ‘Yellow’ up in the set. Kind of reminds me of the X&Y tour. I miss the giant balloons though. Chris let the crowd sing most of the song and kept turning the mic toward us. ‘42′ was amazing [as always] and Chris was doing his crazy dancing during ‘Fix You’. I tried to capture his moves. He was jumping really high at times.
I had these people in my row who kept leaving and coming back during the entire gig. They did it quite a few times, which was getting on me nerves. I said I was going to charge them a toll everytime they did it. LOL! Plus, they were closer to the ramp than I was which really pissed me off. If you aren’t appreciating what you’re seeing, why did you bother coming?
Also, we were really getting hassled by the stewards to stop filming. It was really bugging me. I’ve never known anything like it at a Coldplay gig. I guess it was because they were going a live blog because apparently, it wasn’t like that the night before. Oh yeah, I saw Roadie #42 when he was taking pictures of the band during their ‘techno’ set. He was right in front of my row. The guys came down the ramp and I got out my ‘Glass of Water Rocks!’ banner, which they all saw. Please please please PLEASE play this at least once during the O2 shows, otherwise I don’t know what I’ll do. I’ll be very upset if I don’t hear it live this year. The techno set was a blast from start to finish. Shame I couldn’t film it, I just took loads of piccies! The guys were really close. I’m glad I upgraded my seat. I can’t be dealing with being way back in Block D.
Just before Chris sang ‘The Hardest Part’ he said “we’ve traveled all around the world, but the best thing is we’re right here at home. We fucked up! We wasted all those airfares and airmiles.” LOL! He also recounted a story about a girl he used to date, who dumped him and he bought Cadbury’s mini eggs to console himself [awwww] and that that was the inspiration behind ‘The Hardest Part’. He did an amazing job on the song and it was great to be so close to him that you could even see the sweat dropping down off his brow. I just wish I was further forward a bit so I could see this hands moving the keys.
‘Viva la Vida’ was amazing. The crowd loved it and were jumping up and down. Later on, just before Coldplay came back for their final encore, someone in the tiers to my right started the ‘ohs’ again. Chris went to the piano, started playing it and said “God, you’re in tune! What unbelievable talent!”.
Chris beckoned to Will to start Lost! but something went wrong and the song didn’t start as quickly as it normally does. That was funny. I had my Lost! banner up and I’m pretty darn sure that Chris saw that one too, coz he was on the ramp again in front of us. He shook hands with someone and also was waving at people.
The guys left the stage and I thought they would walk past where Kara was sitting [which would've been a great view]. Instead, they went upstairs somewhere and were walking on the gangway between the lower and upper tiers to where they would do their acoustic set [boo! LOL!]. I guess there were too many people trying to tackle them at previous shows.
Chris said “here’s the chance for the people at the front to have a rest from the terrible smell and for people at the back to see that they’re not really missing out on that much of a good looking band” [yeah rite!]. He also tried to introduce the band and got Will and Guy’s named mixed up. Chris introduced ‘Green Eyes’, by saying “this is a song about Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand - not really, but it could be…”. Green Eyes was lovely to hear live again and Will, Jonny and Guy were all playing guitars, which just sounded wonderful! Guy’s mandolin really gave the song a sweetness.
Chris went over to Jonny’s side for ‘Death Will Never Conquer’ and I swear he was backing into him during the song [my eyes were not deceiving me!]. Will’s intro was “here’s our lovely, but grumpy drummer” - charming! LOL! The Viva La Vida remix had the video on the magic balls again, but this time round the crowd got well into it and started waving their mobile phones in the air. It was such a lovely sight. The lights in Politik made my eyes hurt, they are crazy bright. The song was rockin’ though and I was jumping up and down. ‘Lovers in Japan’ had Chris spinning around and flying all around the stage, he was everywhere. Chris started ‘Death and All his Friends’ a capella, which was just adorable!
It was great to hear the full band play ‘The Scientist’ as it should be heard. When Guy’s bass kicked in it was so loud. That was absolutely blinding! Also Chris started singing more of ‘Back for Good’ at the end. The two songs really go well together. I was so amped when they started playing ‘Life in Techinicolor II’. What a fantastic song! And I see from my poll, it’s the favourite one off Prospekt’s March and deservedly so. I was singing away and filming on both my phone and my camera. And then it was over. The guys were gone again…. It’s always sad at the end of a Coldplay show, but I was overjoyed that they’ve shaken the setlist up a bit for the UK shows. I’m really looking forward to what they’ll deliver at the O2. It should be good… Kara got Jonny’s setlist and I got Guys :D. The two roadies who gave them to us were really nice [should've got their names]. Also the stewards weren’t in a hurry to kick us out like they were in Sheffield. Brummies are cool people.
[WF]
