My Coldplay.com

Pictures from last night’s Madison Square Garden gig are here [the magic balls look awesome]. Vids are below and here are some fan reviews:

Tonight I went to the free Coldplay show at MSG. There were not many “surprises”–the show was almost identical in set list as the free Brixton Academy show, but it was super fun nonetheless. You cannot beat FREE!

Setlist: Life in technicolor (intro), Violet hill, clocks, in my place, viva la vida, Chinese Sleep Chant, god put a smile upon your face, 42, square one, trouble, lost!, strawberry swing,[yellow, Death Will Never Conquer (from gate 60, toward the back of MSG)], fix you, lovers in japan/ reign of love

From Gate 60:

http://www.themodernage.org/

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Hey Everyone,

Just got home. It was awesome as everyone said, throughly enjoyed the setlist, YES it was being recorded for FUSE network (expect to see that sometime), The magic balls were awesome and I think i may have the best video ever from when they moved into the crowd to play yellow, I was 10 ft from them and recorded Yellow and the song that Will sang- very very good. How do i post it? I’ll post it as long as you all PROMISE not to make fun of my screaming, singing, shaking of the camera. I nearly had a heart attack when they came right to me!!!!!!!!!

Most amazing night ever. OH and I really loved the confetti!!!!!

During Lost!! The magic balls had the lyrics on them. Pretty cool. I’ll post what I have of it tmw for you to see

Dreaming of the magic balls,
Alex

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Quick summary:

Same setlist as previous shows (it is pretty amazing that they don’t play longer unless it’s for health issues, i can see chris’ voice running out pretty quickly if they extended the concert, also jonny was actually getting steroid shots for his hands bc he was playing so much and dvlpd tendinitis)

Anyway, they have enough songs to play for 3 hrs straight.

All the songs were really good/amazing. One thing i can’t understand about American audiences, they get all excited for the band, but they barely dance or move, they just sit there or stand motionless watching the band gyrate and play. U might as well sit at home and listen (or stand I guess). I went to Killers concert in MSG last year, and luckily i became friends w/ a group of Englanders, and man they know how to rock out. One of the best concerts I had been to in part bc of these people jumping and rocking like mad from the get go. Anywho, it was sad to watch some get great tickets and just sit there or stand motionless.

alright enough griping…

Opening was great, they should have Jon Hopkins start off the synth with them (since he opened for them), but LiT was great, i want to hear the words.

VH - not bad, great chorus everyone could sing
Clocks - the lasers are back, good Grammy winning classic, although he didn’t do the speed up at the end
In My Place - oldie but goodie, no run back to the end of the stadium, must be getting old j/k
Viva - What an amazing song, everyone went up for it, and began clapping to the rhythm, the woah uh ohho or whatever is a great sing along (and very frequent in the newer songs)
Then they were attempting to go acoustic by moving closer to the crowd,

but they played Chinese Sleep Chant, which i like a lot w/in the genre, but a lot of the concert goers have no idea who My Bloody Valentine or Shoegazing rock is. It didn’t go over well with crowd, that it doesn’t have discernible or a catchy hook for the masses. But still a great song and you can see the love for the music they grew up with esp. Jonny

GPASUYF - was a good pick me up after chinese sleep chant, it’s amazing how many people know the song so well ( i know it was a single, but i never felt it was as catchy as some other Rush of Blood favorites, although it’s a great rock out song (lot of foot thumping, thanks Will’s drumming and Guy’s great bassline)

Then, they transitioned back to the big stage w/ Chris staying behind playing the opening to 42, people had no idea what was going on (i’m sure many have not heard the new album or the song for that matter). But it was amazing live, i’m glad they could pull it off (it would be like seeing the Beatles play A Day in the Life live). But people did not seem to appreciate as they were puzzled by the oblique song structure and change in keys/time signatures. but regardless it is amazing and will grow in time for the masses.

Now I know some people criticize their last album, but people let’s be serious here and honest of course, that album was amazing and brilliant as well, every song on there was good if not great. So, it was a good surprise to hear Square One, what a great opener to last album’s tour. Plus, many people recognized it and loved it, a lot of people got up from the chairs to rock out to it, they should play more x & y as well. Don’t deny a great album and its tracks (SoS, Talk, SintheS, White Shadows, A message, what if). Anyway. moving on…

Trouble… what can I say it’s one of the first songs i heard from the Coldplay catalog, and what got me hooked, classic and the audience participation was ultimate, esp. on the bridge. nuff said

What a transition into Lost, with rhythmic beat, handclaps, and Chris hopping around like he’s in a tribal ritual. People really liked this song and seemed to know it (a lot of them, not including Coldplaying members, of course). it’s a sure fire single and will be I’m sure, regardless if people think the lyrics are corny (big fish, small pond, etc.) these guys know how to write hit songs and catchy hooks. I liked it a lot, it really works: organ, guitar, handclaps, rhythmic (almost tribal) drum beats.

Now Strawberry Swing… amazing song, makes me want to just drive into the coutnry, or go onto a safari. people really got into it, w/ handclaps in unison, really caught the masses at MSG, i’m really glad, it could be another single in the making, but I’m sure coldplay will hold it back for the album buyers, much like for Swallowed in the Sea. A perfect song to a perfect day….

Yellow acoustic, (they moved back to the other side of the arena to play it, everyone went nuts of course), good rendition and a welcome change from the album version. they need to do an acoustic session on vh1. they’re that big now of course, even after the third album.

Will sang well, not bad, underrated assist vocal for Chris that’s coming to the fore, Good Goldrush song btw. If death will conquer me… or something like that

And the encore that people didn’t realize was an encore,

Fix You - magical, and a great melody lines and riffs despite what the naysayers and critics say. it is their With or Without You. and will be a staple for years to come. Again X & Y is much better than people give it credit for

And the transcedent Lovers in Japan, very u2, but just love the opening chords, and the harpsichord sound. The piano/keyboard sound is perfect, and plus jonny’s solo is a great topperfor the night.

And that was that. no encore, no nothing. 16 songs in 100 mins, could have been better or at least longer come one 4 albums and all u tho

Great concert, crowd could have been better as it was supposedly real band fans.. And they need to changeup the setlist, what’s up w/ playing the same songs over and over again. I hope there up for their tour.

We need to hear Death And All His Friends, and Cemeteries.

[bdevil89]

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Many have bemoaned the lack of an encore and/or the “short” setlist. And while I would have preferred Coldplay have a longer set, to me, encores just seem like excuses for the band to get that added jolt of applause. I say, get out there, do the show, play the songs you want to play, the ones you want your fans to hear, and put on a kick ass show. Don’t tease us with 3/4 of a show then make us beg for the rest Razz As for the length of the show, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was is pretty close to what the general tour will see. VLV is selling better than any of their other albums…which means a lot of people that haven’t bought Coldplay in the past are buying now. To appeal to the greatest common audience, they can’t ignore these people that are, shall we say, late to the party. Politik is awesome, What If, … the list goes on, we all have our favorites. But the new album and the big radio hits are going to appeal to those CURRENTLY being marketed towards. Putting a bubble around the long-time fans is not going to help the group grow their fan base.

That being said, the guys did put on a great show. It was especially nice when they came up RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR SECTION (the gap between 101 and 133) to sing Yellow. The magic balls were VERY cool! As was the staging for the whole show…save for Violet Hill. The staging was WAY too dark and, save what you could see on the one ball, could barely see Chris or any of the guys.

My only other real objection was based more on wishful thinking than anything. With some of the musical leaps they’ve taken with this album, I was kinda hoping to see some of it come to life. I was really hoping to hear some live orchestration. Especially the violins in Viva. They seemed to rely too much on pre-recording back-up for some of the more impressive musical choices…but again, the band themselves are still the awesome music act we’ve all come to love.

Oh, and Jon Hopkins…errr…what the hell was that I saw? Just not my style. I didn’t HATE it, but I know I didnt really care for it. Didn’t feel like I wanted that half hour of my life back, but defiantly didn’t take anything valuable away from it.

[kaykordeath]

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Even More Coldplay @ Madison Square Garden

Some additional thoughts/photos from Monday’s free Coldplay show.

At one point, early on in the night everyone got great amusement out of screaming out “BLUE BALLS!” in reference to the gigantic video screen projection spheres that were lowered from the ceiling at various points through the show.

Throughout the show pre-recorded footage and live feeds of the concert were projected onto the AV balls, and as I mentioned in my earlier post, they were used as lyric prompts during “Lost!”

These magical spheres are called “PufferSpheres,” made by a Edinburgh-based company called Pufferfish. Previously they have worked with companies like Google for special events and presentations.

During the final song of the night, machines through the arena shot out tons and tons of confetti into the air. It was especially cool when they made the glowing balls turn blue and all the neon-colored confetti became awesome GLOW IN THE DARK CONFETTI!

As some of you may remember, my mom loves British bands like Coldplay and Keane, so I ended up taking my mom to the concert. She wrote me this email yesterday:

Thank you for taking me to the Coldplay concert. I really enjoyed it and had a great time. I am so dead tired today. All I want to do is sleep. All that anticipation and excitement wore me out, but it was worth it. Thanks again for one of the highlights of the year for me.

http://www.themodernage.org

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Videos
Life in Techinicolor [Thanks ernestime]

Violet Hill [Thanks ernestime]

Clocks [Thanks ernestime] Ooh coloured lasers

In My Place [Thanks ernestime]

Viva La Vida [Thanks ernestime]

Thanks to y2jerik0 for this.
Viva La Vida

Trouble [Thanks ernestime]

Lost! [Thanks ernestime]

Lovers in Japan [thanks ernestime] Loving the screen