My Coldplay.com

Coldplay performed their 3rd US arena concert at the HP Pavillion in San Jose. Pictures are in the gallery here, including some cool pictures by julianasur, and dixonr315 and benha who all attended a pre-show meet and greet [courtesy of iTunes - the lucky dubbers!] . Fan comments/reviews/videos are below.

Setlist [Thanks IneedYou23]

1 Life in Technicolor
2 Violet Hill
3 Clocks
4 In my Place
5 Viva la Vida
6 42
7 Yes
8 The Scientist
9 Chinese Sleep Chant
10 God Put A Smile Upon Your Face
11 Square One
12 Speed of Sound
13 Strawberry Swing
14 Yellow [full band]
15 Politik
16 Lost
17 The Hardest Part [acoustic]
18 Death Will Never Conquer
19 Fix You
20 Lovers in Japan
21 Death and all his Friends

Some Fan Reviews/Comments

warning… this is rather large…

soo just got back from the coldplay concert in san jose. woo! and, yes. it was my first concert.

And it was a really good first concert =)

i’d been having second thoughts about going up until like a few days ago because i was just nervous. it sounds really stupid, i know, but i didn’t know what to expect and i don’t really like loudness or crowds. and i wouldn’t be able to drive because there’s no way my car would make it down that far. and the idea of hugo driving scared me since he hasn’t driven in forever.

but i convinced myself to do it so we rented a car and hugo practiced a little and he was really ok. so after work today we drove down to san jose. we managed to get parking really close which was awesome and only had to wait in line for about half an hour. our seats were pretty good cuz i got them pre-sale through best buy. we certainly weren’t super-close to the stage but it was decent and we weren’t in the high-up top section.

so we were in 113, two rows up from… how do you describe it? another doorway, set into the wall, for the section below us you know? ok.

(the pictures are pretty blurry cuz they’re from hugo’s blackberry. it’s pretty humorous, actually)

when we sat down, there were very few people there because it was still early. but, apparently, there were people above us because someone dripped quite a lot of beer onto my knee and the floor around me. and a few drops onto my head. i smelled lovely. but it wasn’t a big deal, really. i wasn’t going to let something freak me out now that i’d made it there.

the first openers were this band… they were from san jose and had won this contest to open for coldplay. picture atlantic: http://www.myspace.com/pictureatlantic. They were pretty good, energetic. you could tell how excited they were. the singer was like “yesterday we were playing for a crowd of 40, today we’re playing for 1500! thanks for voting for us!” it was cool.

the next openers, shearwater (http://www.shearwatermusic.com/), were like the ultimate opposite. they were so like looooowwww. the music was ok but they didn’t engage w/the audience at ALL. they said like one or two sentences to us the entire time and it was like blaaaaah. and i couldn’t help but think damn if this is what concerts are like, you can count me out thanks.

but then coldplay came on, all flashing lights and a huge backdrop of liberty leading the people and it was AWESOME.

Chris Martin was wearing the exact same suit that he’s worn every time he’s been on tv over the past few months. it was a little odd. (that little white spec is him. i swear they were bigger in real life)

they played viva la vida like the 3rd or 4th song in. it was awesome. that song is the whole reason i was there. it like… music is magical. and i know that sounds uber-corny, but it’s true. it changes your perception of things, it just… i can’t even describe what that song has done for me. nor do i think i want to, since i’m starting to sound more than a little creepy.

anyway. i discovered that i like coldplay more than i thought. i mean, i’d always enjoyed their songs and all. but they are so much better live. they sound awesome. and chris martin, i dunno, i’ve always thought the media paints him out to be kind of an asshole. but he was really cool. i mean, as cool as a rockstar performing to a bazillion people can seem. he was talking to us, thanking us for being there since, as he saw it, it was a friday night in the summer and there were so many good tv shows on and so many strip clubs we could be at. (it was funny, not asshole-y)and he joked around about how some of them were slowly approaching 50 and how nice it was that we’d come out to see a slowly aging british soft rock band. nice, self-deprecating humor. who doesn’t like that? and at one point he was like “ok, i’m going to get corny. and it’s the beginning of the tour so i’m allowed to get a little corny,” (or something to that effect) and started nearly gushing about how awesome the audience was and how no one ever recognizes that.

he messed up lyrics once or twice and actually stopped and laughed and went “damn messed that one up again. o well.” and then kept singing. he was quite funny and enjoyable. it made it feel like it was an intimate performance for over 1000 people.

they had these really cool like giant… ball things that hung from the ceiling that were like tv screens of them on stage as well as colors and images and things depending on the song. i don’t know how to describe it any better….

so, things were going awesome and i was enjoying myself immensely. and i was looking at all those people crammed up at the stage (because by the time they came on, obviously, the place had become absolutely packed) and i thought “it could be kind of fun to be up there right next to them.” and then i thought “no. that’s just because you can watch it from here and think that. if you were there you’d hate it.”

it was nearing the end of the show. they played ‘politik’ for the last song and at the end, Chris Martin was like “i don’t like playing that song at the end. let’s change that.” they started to walk along this side-stage thingie and it looked like they were going to exit but then they started to run along the aisle on the floor, and then up the stairs right next to our section! we got all excited, thinking they’d exit by us. but then they stopped at that doorway thing right below us! and they had microphones all set up and started playing unplugged! it was FREAKING AMAZING! they were like “uh, we wanted to try something a little different. obviously. if you don’t like it, you can make a lot of noise and we’ll come out again and try and fix it.”

i was 15 feet from coldplay. well, the back of their heads anyway.

Thanks http://gringa-loca.livejournal.com/

---

Coldplay and Chris Martin’s Sweat…

Last night we saw Coldplay. It was our 3rd time seeing them and I think my fave thus far.

We had wicked good seats on the floor. Towards the end of the show, lots of security started assembling next to us and down the aisle. We’ve been to enough concerts to know what this means: SWEET! The band is comin’ on down!

Sure enough, Chris Martin starts running down the aisle towards us, headed for a pocket in the audience further up in the stands. The Husband has video of him running towards us; I stuck my hand out and it landed right on his VERY VERY sweaty chest.

So my hand smelled like SWEATY Chris Martin for the rest of the night. That man was drenched (which makes sense because he bounces around the stage/instruments for nearly 2 hours).

Here is a very blurry pic from my phone - that’s not my hand, it’s the hand of people next to us:

Great show - Coldplay always delivers.

http://enterfromtheexit.blogspot.com/

---

From Coldplay Oxfam Blog…

The Coldplay show shifted a little tonight. Don’t Panic was an acoustic track, with ‘Yellow’ played in full, I think for the first time so far. No venue seems too big for this band. If anything, the bigger the better. More people = more noise from the crowd. The HP Pavillion in San Jose is a huge concrete dome. Home of the Sharks hockey team. Coldplay seem to feed off the singing voices of big crowds. Not quite like sharks though.. thankfully.

---

This fan review by DiabloAzul126

I touched them…. I touched them all:
Gave Jonny a high-five, Chris a chest smack, Guy a shoulder pat, and Will a back-tap.. I don’t know if I should ever wash my left hand.. ever again.. I got Chris’s sweat all over it.

Awesome….. *in shock*

---

We went to Coldplay concert tonight in San Jose. Needless to say, it was amazing, as expected. I absolutely love their “Viva la Vida” album, and seeing it live, coupled with Coldplay’s older hits was just an icing on the cake.

My only grouse was the show started at 7.30 and endured two long opening acts, and by the time Coldplay made an entrance it was almost 9.15pm. They played till 10.45pm, which felt awfully short given the breath of Coldplay’s hits. By the time it ended, I felt it had only just begun!

Something funny - this place is so full of desis, but shockingly it felt like there were no desis at all in the concert. Out of 10-20000 people, I am willing to bet there were not more than 100 desis around! What were they doing? Watching Mahabharat perhaps.

All in all, an awesome concert though. Coldplay rocks!

http://www.suyogdeshpande.net/

---

The first opener was good/great, second was ok, and headliner = awesome. Har har, I wish I had the financial stability to drop everything and just follow them around the country.

That was an amazing show.

---

I thought that this was a GREAT opportunity for the band to really ’step it up’ from their last two shows in LA. The first half somewhat left me disappointed (same order like last time from Life in Technicolor to Strawberry Swing). But right after, Chris then goes on saying “I wish there was a way for us to be up in the back *wink*” (YES I SAW HIM WINK/GRIN, THAT LITTLE SNEAK!). I guess I, along with maybe the other few Coldplay fanatics, knew about the bits and surprises from LA, but when Chris spurted that line I was immediately suspicious. Before anything else was said, the first downbeat note of YELLOW was done and I went nuts!! It’s been A LONG TIME since I heard the album/electric version of Yellow since the Twisted Logic tour!

---

oh my goddddddddddddd
worth the price of admission
they played the acoustic songs right next to me

it was so much fun
exceeded all my expectations
and jesus
god
the guy next to us told us that the doorman said we were getting a surprise in our section
the boys 5 feet a way was more of an early christmas present

yellow(electric)/politik were so unexpected
and i was geared for trouble
but its an equal trade
but when the first note of yellow played i immediately wondered what theyd do acoustic
i was hoping for see you soon or swallowed

[thanks guster]

---

I HAVE THE SETLIST!!!

HOLY SHIT THEY PLAYED YELLOW ON-STAGE, POLITIK, and THE HARDEST PART (in the nosebleeds!!)

I thought that this was a GREAT opportunity for the band to really ’step it up’ from their last two shows in LA. The first half somewhat left me disappointed (same order like last time from Life in Technicolor to Strawberry Swing). But right after, Chris then goes on saying “I wish there was a way for us to be up in the back *wink*” (YES I SAW HIM WINK/GRIN, THAT LITTLE SNEAK!). I guess I, along with maybe the other few Coldplay fanatics, knew about the bits and surprises from LA, but when Chris spurted that line I was immediately suspicious. Before anything else was said, the first downbeat note of YELLOW was done and I went nuts!! It’s been A LONG TIME since I heard the album/electric version of Yellow since the Twisted Logic tour!

But that doesn’t end there….THE BOYS KICKED IT INTO THE HARD-HITTING NOTES OF POLITIK!! You guys probably wouldn’t believe it, but I FUCKING WENT CRAZY HERE!! OMFG that had to be the best performance of Politik that I’ve ever seen since the Grammy’s (….okay that’s sort of an exaggeration, but it’s been a while since they busted out that song!).

After the grandiose-rockin’ song, Chris then goes off and says among the lines of “Okay I’m tired of this here!” and so the four of them went off the stage and up into the lower-level seats in the back. I was prrraaaaaaayying to dear heavens that they would play Don’t Panic….but the first few words ended up being “The Hardest Part.” DOOODE I was excited anyway; the acoustic version sounded much MUCH better because it was ACOUSTIC and that the song was played in a lower key (which sounded a bit darker, but fuller, in my opinion).

Oh, and LOL Will’s guitar wasn’t working for a minute before they started to play “THe Hardest Part”, btw.

Honestly I think after “Yellow” was played, the crowd finally picked up the momentum of the concert. I’m sorry to say this, but THE LOS ANGELES CROWD WAS MUCH MORE WELCOMING AND EXCITING THAN HERE IN NORCAL! EVERYONE in the 128 section (lower-level section right NEXT to the end of the catwalk, where the boys play “Chinese Sleep Chant” and “GPASUYF”) was sitting down!! …..Then again, I lucked out by buying my seat through general sale instead of the auctions….which is WEIRD…

I’m sorry, but HOW THE FUCK CAN SOME OF YOU PEOPLE SIT THROUGH THE CONCERT WITH A VIEW LIKE THIS?!

Really now…this is a ROCK concert, ffs. Though I have to applaud the people in the first few rows for keeping up with the energy, at least (instead of most cases where the front doesn’t move at all!)

[thanks talkingonsquareone89]

---

But that doesn’t end there….THE BOYS KICKED IT INTO THE HARD-HITTING NOTES OF POLITIK!! You guys probably wouldn’t believe it, but I FUCKING WENT CRAZY HERE!! OMFG that had to be the best performance of Politik that I’ve ever seen since the Grammy’s (….okay that’s sort of an exaggeration, but it’s been a while since they busted out that song!).

---

Heres my review.I took my brother to the concert.We got there at about 730.We roamed around for a second.I was going to by some tshirts but the lines were crazy long.Ill get them tomorrow at the vegas show. We found our seats.We were in section 115 row 14 pretty sweet view. The first band was pretty good.They were the band that won the contest.Shearwater wasnt all that great.They were ok i guess.But not my cup of tea.

The boys came on at 915ish.And in my opinion the crowd was electric for the first 5 songs.And i think Chris and the boys were feeding off of the crowd.They came out with so much energy it looked.I guess a couple days off will do that.But during songs like Yes,Chinese Sleep Chant,Strawberry Swing i saw people sitting down.Which was i dont know,whatever.I would say in the middle of the concert the crowd kind of died down.But when they played Speed of Sound they crowd seemed to get back into it.I was suprised that they played Yellow with the full band!!I was really pleased because i think that song is just too big not to be played with the full band.And the crowd was definately back into from then on. Politik was also a great suprise!!I looked at my brother when they started the song and was like YESS!!!Politik was one of the songs i was wishing they would play because i think it has so much energy for it to be left out.I got my wish!!! The they went into Lost and chris was dancing like crazy.And my brother again was like man look at him dance haha.I swear at one point it looked like chris was having a seizure. He was doing this shaking thing that was so funny.Me and my brother were laughing so hard.But i must admit chris’ moves were on tonight!!!Haha.

Then Chris was like im tired of playing here.So they ran through the crowd and started to play an acoustic version of the hardest part!!It was awesome!!I really liked that version they did.I have a video of it.Then after will singing they went back for the final 3 songs.It was a really great show!!!They sounded so good!!Any doubts that we had before about chris’ voice or the band can surely be put to rest!!I thought that the light show from last tour was a little better than this tour.Not that thats a bad thing.It was still a good light show but we come to see the band.I loved the magic balls too!!But they had that big screen the whole time and hardly used it til the end. I guess thats what the balls were for.Anyways it was an awesome show!!!Ill upload the videos i took.I will be going to the Vegas show to take my girl!!I cant wait!!!

[thanks IneedYou23]

---

great show, weird crowd. lots of people sitting down all around me. this was my first coldplay show ever, and i had high hopes. my hopes weren’t let down by the band, as much as the “fans”. lots of great moments though. hilights for me were “in my place” with the crowd really belting out the chorus and viva la vida. fix you was amazing! great showing by the band, wish the audience was a little more with it. they seemed very flat. strawberry swing and lost are powerful live! love them… great night out.

[thanks electricalstorm1]

---

OMG OMG OMG.

That was quite possibly *the* single most incredible experience of my life.

Seriously, though… everything about the concert was so freaking awesome…. I’m still attempting to recover from it, which totally isn’t working (I got home about an hour ago). I’m just…. wow. Like, completely overwhelmed. In all the best ways. Anyway… the set list was absolutely fantastic! Obviously, Coldplay loves us North Californians better than you people down south, because we got at least one extra song, and practically three encores. Oh, and the set-up/lighting was seriously brilliant. The laser show in Clocks was INSANE! And those magic balls were absolutely perfect…. not to mention the butterfly confetti during Lovers in Japan, it made the performance/song a hundred times better… I must’ve collected at least 100 pieces, I’ll post pictures very soon.

AHHHHHH, SO EXCITED! The only downside was not getting to meet/see the band up close… but I wasn’t really expecting for that to happen, so whatever. And, I got an awesome VLV shirt… not to mention my seat was really really close, comparatively.

[thanks strawberryfields]

---

So I just got back from the San Jose show 2nite, it was just lovely. Of course all the awesome songs were played especially one of my favorites “Politik”, I had fun body and head banging to that one. “Yes” and “Chinese Sleep Chant” were other highlights 4 me. The crowd was cool, the top and lower sections all did the wave b4 Coldplay came out. But what was up with the people in my section (128) sitting down during some of the songs?….really! Literally I was pretty much the only one standing up in my section but at least the band could locate me more easily, I would like to think that Guy Berryman was applauding me for my dancing, even if that’s very much wishful thinking.

HP’s sound was better than normal so all the booming bass, banging drum kicks, and crisp euphoric guitar notes, and choir-like singing was very easy to enjoy.

Chris slipped up a few times on some of the newer songs, I liked it cuz it showed he is human (knew that already btw). Also I just barely learned all them songs meself. But he bounced back singing something along the lines of “San Jose…the people here are very forgiving” Some lucky people were graced by the band singing right by them, the whole band managed to run across the floor and up into the lower section and Chris said “Oh now I see what it’s like” and in2 “the Hardest Part”. After that Will sang a song, quite a good singer, he should do it more hans solo.

All in all, it was nice with all the neonized confetti, magical balls, & the band’s humble presence.

I hope someone got footage of the Lovers In Japan video on the big screen, loved the screenshot of those 2 puppy dogs : )

[thanks soulsalsa7]

---

Flickr user benha has taken some babe-o-licious pictures of Coldplay’s San Jose gig. Go check ‘em out!

The Coldplay fans of the world salute you!

And go here to see a video montage of the gig by emma.c who says…

I saw Coldplay live at the HP Pavilion in San Jose last night (7/18/08), and it was quite possibly the most incredible experience of my life. I’m still recovering from the excitement.

---

Another surprise I got this week was COLDPLAY TICKETS!!!! George introduced me to the wonderful band that is Coldplay when we first started dating and I have been hooked ever since. So many of their first songs remind me of the our first classic dating moments… first date, first kiss, and the uncertainty of it all… could he really like me?! Then their later album reminds me of all the giddy moments of our engagement and early months of marriage. And then their newest album came out earlier this year and it just might be better than the other three! I literally love every single song and their music makes even my long running days (I’m training for a half-marathon) seem to go by in a breeze!

Anyway, when we found out they were coming to San Jose I was so excited, but once we checked out ticket prices… we were a little less so. We mutually deemed them too pricey and were disappointed… but then earlier this week I got the greatest surprise!! Apparently George did some wheeling and dealing and got us great tickets for a better price. When he told me I was screaming and jumping all over the place so much so that an outsider would have probably thought I won the lottery.

I was so excited on the way to the concert that I took pictures of our tickets everywhere… lame, but what can you say, it’s Coldplay! So, here are our tickets next to our XM radio that just happens to be in the middle of 30 days of solid Coldplay - the perfect way to pump us up for the concert, as if I needed it!

Then the concert started and I was ecstatic! They were amazing! Chris Martin, the lead singer, danced all over the stage and looked like he was having a blast! At one point he flubbed up the ending of “42,” one of their new songs, and he spontaneously recovered with, “We all make mistakes, but it’s ok because they’re forgiving in San Jose.” I was snapping pictures like a mad women in any attempt to capture the moment, but given the conditions most of them didn’t really turn out. But here’s a decent shot of Chris Martin singing and dancing around.

Here’s the crowd while they were playing their iconic first big hit “Yellow.” The whole place was appropriately covered in dramatic yellow lighting.

At one point, towards the end of the concert, they came down from the stage and sang a song up in the stands. Would have been incredible if we had been a few more sections to the right…. but since we weren’t, this was our view.

A lot of their music also incorporates piano and here Chris Martin is playing for their closing song.
All good things must come to an end and after an all out finale, the concert was over. It was an incredible show of great music and special effects and was definitely worth it! Plus, George and I were really impressed how clean and humble they were for an alternative band - even though they are super famous, they still just seem like good ‘ol boys who love to make music… and I hope they continue to do so for a long time!

http://georgeandjohanna.blogspot.com/

---

Coldplay finally made their entrance at 9:00 and they rocked it! The Pavillion was packed with all 15,000 seats filled and the band put on a great show. I was worried, for some reason, they wouldn’t sound as good live as their CD but they did. They mixed it up with some old and some new songs from their latest album. The stage was amazing too, with these huge globes that lowered and raised from the ceiling and my favorite part of the night was the ending where paper butterflies flowed down covering the people with floor seats. It was a great concert and well worth getting home at 2:30 in the morning for. Our seats were really good too

http://thelebdas.blogspot.com/

---

VIDEOS

LIFE IN TECHNICOLOR [thanks ekcherry]

Lovely version by pluginbabyrocker07

VIOLET HILL

CLOCKS [thanks GuyinCA123]

IN MY PLACE [by What Gives!?]

Another from shivanair2384

VIVA LA VIDA [thanks babetiina]

Video by GuyinCA123

42

YES

THE SCIENTIST [thanks lafraise]

Vid by babetiina

Vid by pluginbabyrocker07

CHINESE SLEEP CHANT

GOD PUT A SMILE UPON YOUR FACE

SQUARE ONE [awesome video by pluginbabyrocker07]

SPEED OF SOUND

STRAWBERRY SWING

YELLOW [thanks danwilsoncomedy]

Vid by pluginbabyrocker07

POLITIK [thanks alew24]

LOST

THE HARDEST PART [thanks alew24]

Ooh, here’s a closeup of a lovely, sweaty Chrissy [thanks lexicdyss]

Vid by lexicdyss

DEATH WITH NEVER CONQUER

FIX YOU [thanks jsabatin]

Vid by wendeelee31

LOVERS IN JAPAN [thanks : jsabatin]

DEATH AND ALL HIS FRIENDS

AUDIO

Here’s an audio rip of ‘The Hardest Part’ taken from a fan video clip [thanks sertao]

The Hardest Part