Let's get the bad stuff out of the way first. Remarkably, it only took Becca and me a little over an hour to get to the venue on a Friday afternoon, so we had plenty of time to hang out and grab a bite before the show. Leaving the show, on the other hand, was a first-class nightmare. After getting to my car a little after 11 pm, I didn't even start my car to move an inch until an hour later. Then, it took close to another hour to actually exit, but not before we dealt with some ridiculous parking lot antics and near fender-bender drama with some really moronic girl. Luckily, Becca and I didn't have to start a parking lot riot, and we carried on our way, not letting the post-concert misery ruin an otherwise amazing evening.
As I mentioned in another blogpost from months back, I managed to score pretty sweet tickets for this show (the general admission orchestra section), so when I walked into the Pavilion a little after 7 pm I found myself just feet away from the stage. It was definitely an incredible feeling to be that close for what I knew was going to be one of those knock-your-socks-off, big stadium, crazy lights kind of show.
Here's what it looked like behind me. Pretty freakin' crazy:
Rilo Kiley was the opening act and they played a 45 minute set. Prior to last night, I was a casual listener, but I'd never really gotten into them. But after seeing and hearing them perform live, I enjoy them a lot more and will definitely give their music another chance. It's a nice mix of alt-country, rock, with splashes of pop, and a female vocalist (who is Jenny Lewis of "Troop Beverly Hills" fame, no less!).
Here's Jenny along with her Conor Oberst-lookalike guitarist (who was also a childhood actor with a recurring role on "Boy Meets World," though I don't remember him):
After what felt like an unusually long time to set up the stage for Coldplay, the lights went down around 9:30 and the last show of this U.S. leg of Coldplay's Twisted Logic tour was on.
They opened with "Square One" as a huge digital clock projected on the big screen and counted down to the big, booming chorus of the song.
They opened with "Square One" as a huge digital clock projected on the big screen and counted down to the big, booming chorus of the song.
The show's setlist followed with a nice combination of songs from X&Y, A Rush of Blood to the Head, and Parachutes. Between "Politik," "The Scientist," "God Put a Smile on your Face," and "Trouble," among other old favorites, they really did a great job as far as crowd pleasers go. While some of you may remember me not being crazy about the new album, I will say they were well-suited for the stadium show and I enjoyed hearing them performed live. Chris Martin is definitely a showman, and it's great to see him so passionately perform his music and know that he's a genuine guy. He was running around from one side of the stage to the next, jumping like crazy and really engaging the crowd.
During "Talk," he did a totally cool rockstar thing by grabbing someone's cell phone out of the audience and singing into it. Ok, so he's kind of a cheesy guy...at times he changed his lyrics around to fit the Washington, DC theme...but it's also cute that he's a self-professed geek.
Here's a shot of the guys (minus drummer Will Champion, who oddly was out of my view for the entire show, leading me to believe they were playing a drum track), and also a view of Chris's now well-known Make Trade Fair logo piano:
The biggest highlight for me was hearing "Green Eyes," which is my favorite Coldplay song. It was particularly awesome because as diehard fans know, Coldplay announced a couple years ago that they would no longer be including it as part of their regular setlist. The reason? Chris wrote it about a girl who was not Gwyneth. That pissed off just about every Coldplay fan, but it appears she must be 'over it,' since they've reintroduced it into their show. Still, it's only been performed live a handful of times over the past few years, so it's pretty damn awesome that we got to hear it. They performed it in an acoustic set which also included "Til Kingdom Come" and "Ring of Fire" (a Johnny Cash cover).
I also decided that Chris Martin is one of those guys who can pull off the lead-singing without a guitar without looking awkward. On the piano, he works, but when we saw him playing the guitar he just looked like a big dork. I think he was holding it high up on his chest, à la Dave Matthews, except he didn't pull it off quite as well. Anyway, just a side observation.
As expected, Coldplay ended the show with a resounding version of "Fix You," a song which Chris Martin has said is the band's favorite. I have to say, I definitely liked the song before, but after hearing it performed live, it's still stuck in my head and I've been completely hooked on it for the past couple days. It's just a great, powerful and anthemic song, all building up to that moment where all four guys sing together in harmony. At the show, that part was especially moving, as all of their faces were projected on the big screen and the place was just erupting. It was the chill-inducing concert moment, I suppose.
Final verdict: Coldplay put on a damn good show, and it was nice to go to back to a huge venue to remember what a really big and dramatic concert is like. I'd been so hooked on the 9:30 club recently that I think I forgot what it was like to hear a crowd of tens-of-thousands singing the same song in unison. It's pretty awesome.
During "Talk," he did a totally cool rockstar thing by grabbing someone's cell phone out of the audience and singing into it. Ok, so he's kind of a cheesy guy...at times he changed his lyrics around to fit the Washington, DC theme...but it's also cute that he's a self-professed geek.
Here's a shot of the guys (minus drummer Will Champion, who oddly was out of my view for the entire show, leading me to believe they were playing a drum track), and also a view of Chris's now well-known Make Trade Fair logo piano:
The biggest highlight for me was hearing "Green Eyes," which is my favorite Coldplay song. It was particularly awesome because as diehard fans know, Coldplay announced a couple years ago that they would no longer be including it as part of their regular setlist. The reason? Chris wrote it about a girl who was not Gwyneth. That pissed off just about every Coldplay fan, but it appears she must be 'over it,' since they've reintroduced it into their show. Still, it's only been performed live a handful of times over the past few years, so it's pretty damn awesome that we got to hear it. They performed it in an acoustic set which also included "Til Kingdom Come" and "Ring of Fire" (a Johnny Cash cover).
I also decided that Chris Martin is one of those guys who can pull off the lead-singing without a guitar without looking awkward. On the piano, he works, but when we saw him playing the guitar he just looked like a big dork. I think he was holding it high up on his chest, à la Dave Matthews, except he didn't pull it off quite as well. Anyway, just a side observation.
As expected, Coldplay ended the show with a resounding version of "Fix You," a song which Chris Martin has said is the band's favorite. I have to say, I definitely liked the song before, but after hearing it performed live, it's still stuck in my head and I've been completely hooked on it for the past couple days. It's just a great, powerful and anthemic song, all building up to that moment where all four guys sing together in harmony. At the show, that part was especially moving, as all of their faces were projected on the big screen and the place was just erupting. It was the chill-inducing concert moment, I suppose.
Final verdict: Coldplay put on a damn good show, and it was nice to go to back to a huge venue to remember what a really big and dramatic concert is like. I'd been so hooked on the 9:30 club recently that I think I forgot what it was like to hear a crowd of tens-of-thousands singing the same song in unison. It's pretty awesome.
2 comments:
he's the one that was Harley Keiner's 'errand boy' with the big dude that was in Remember The Titans. know what i'm talking about? i think he was on Salute Your Shorts too.
-Owen
blake sennet was on salute your shorts!!! he was the "new guy" after michael left the show...
i was going to go to the coldplay concert in va beach. but not to see coldplay, to see rilo kiley.
~Maggie
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