Coldplay Live in Boston, MA 04/08/2008 [Review/Setlist/Photos/Video]

Aug 5, 2008

Coldplay Live in Boston, MA 04/08/2008 [Review/Setlist/Photos/Video]

Coldplay’s last date of the first leg of their World Tour ended at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, Massachusetts [shame Barak Obama missed it...]. Pictures from the show are here and Reivews, Videos are below…

Coldplay flexes its muscle in all-out rock show at Garden

Lead singer Chris Martin at the TD Banknorth Garden on Monday night. (Justine Hunt/Globe Staff)

Coldplay closed out the North American leg of its tour with an exclamation point Monday night.

Befitting their status as radio kings, thanks to the success of their fourth album “Viva La Vida,” the quartet gave a big performance on a big stage with a big audience singing along to the big choruses. (Speed-dial friends U2 would’ve beamed with older brotherly pride).

Whether it was the presence of frontman Chris Martin’s famous wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, and mother-in-law, Blythe Danner, with special guests Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld at the TD Banknorth Garden or the hero’s welcome the band received, the British hitmakers signed off with a giddy, high-energy performance that seemed as much for their own enjoyment as for the hyped-up, sold-out crowd.

While the obsessively self-deprecating Martin joked about being a “soft rock” band, drummer Will Champion - the band’s true MVP - gave the entire affair a welcome brawn from the very first downbeat of opener “Life in Technicolor.”

Songs such as “Speed of Sound” and “In My Place” that sometimes come across as more placid and pleasant on record leapt off the stage thanks to the mighty efforts of Champion and his similarly uncorked bandmates.

Martin flailed about with his lunatic wobbliness during such stompers as “Viva La Vida” - taut and soaring with timpani and bells - and rocked like a madman behind the piano teasing out the curlicue riffs of “Clocks.” In all his gadding about he managed to keep ahold of that valuable falsetto for the night’s biggest ballad singalongs including “Fix You” and the inanely simple but irresistible “Yellow.” He took it lower for the slithering, Eastern-tinged rhythms of the hypnotic “Yes.”

The band took to a smaller lighted stage halfway into the audience for an oddly insular, techno-fied interlude that felt like they were playing in their own tiny nightclub. Large orbs, some which obstructed views, descended, beaming out images to those farther away. More successful was a later two-song acoustic bit way up in the right-hand corner of the arena that included the Beatlesque sing-song gem “The Scientist” and Champion handling vocals on a sweet version of “Death Will Never Conquer.”

Those aspiring to be the biggest band in all the land would be wise to heed the example of their oft-name-checked predecessors in one way: Play longer shows. Given that they have four albums of material to choose from, a 90-minute set, as energetic as it was, felt like not enough bang for the sizable soft rock buck.

Santogold put her heart into the groovy, electro-quirk rock of her critically lauded debut but wasn’t quite the right fit for the large crowd that showed up early enough to hear the buzzy charms of tunes such as “L.E.S. Artistes” and “Creator.” And if you’re going to have a hipster-cred building opening act, provide her with a better sound system.

Victors in an online contest, judged ultimately by Coldplay, Boston rockers the Luxury took the stage with confidence for a short set that should draw a few more fans to their gigs around town.

http://www.boston.com/

Setlist

Life In Technicolor
Violet Hill
Clocks
In My Place
Viva La Vida
Yes
42
Fix You
Strawberry Swing
Chinese Sleep Chant - B Stage
God Put A Smile On Your Face - B Stage
Speed Of Sound
Yellow - Full Band
Lost!
The Scientist - Acoustic
Death Will Never Conquer - Acoustic
–
Politik
Lovers In Japan
Death & All His Friends/The Escapist

Chris screwed up the beginning of “Death and All His Friends”: “All winter we got married…Aw, FUCK.”

chris said the boston fans were better than all the other shows combined!!
after the scientist he talked about how his harmonica playing was pointless and didn’t sound good.
chris said before the scientist that he wrote the song after spending a steamy night with condeliza rice!! it was hilarious!
when the crowd was singing during either in my place or fix you chris said “you can HEAR all the Irish blood out there!!”

Won’t elaborate too much but it was a fantastic show. Crowd could have been into it a little more at times but overall great night! I was at 2 shows during the X&Y Tour and those were equally as great but what was fun to see was that this was 100% different and still just as much fun! Plus, Jerry Seinfeld, Steven Spielberg, Giselle and Tom Brady (not to mention Gwenyth) were all in attendance tonight…

[thanks uwwedoogie, Mug Costanza, jlq13 & BostonSportsTD]

Boston Bash for Obama

THYS: On the plaza in back of the building, after the guests had gone in for the fund-raiser, European tourists and people going to the Coldplay concert at the garden waited, hoping for a glimpse of Obama. Sitting at a table, Patty Boyer, of Dorchester, was not one of the curious.

http://www.wbur.org/

Hot-and-Coldplay have few moments

It seems that Coldplay is still searching for their niche among the world’s major rock acts.

That might explain why the British quartet experimented with so many different styles and formats at the sold-out TD Banknorth Garden last night - some successfully, others not so much.

The night of massive sing-alongs and fist-pumping anthems began with the dark, brooding “Violet Hill” and the pounding chords of “Clocks,” during which lead singer Chris Martin almost fell off his piano stool with enthusiasm.

That set the tone for a night of Martin swaying, rocking, doing awkward versions of the running man, dripping with sweat, occasionally convulsing, dropping a few F-bombs, flubbing lyrics, and often convening with lead guitarist Jonny Buckland and bassist Guy Berryman for impromptu emo huddles.

During “Fix You,” Martin stumbled around as if from a love hangover, and towards the end of the transcendent “In My Place,” he ventured out to a side stage to fall to his knees and writhe.

Even after four albums and massive success, the husband of actress Gwyneth Paltrow (who was present along with her mother, Blythe Danner, and Jerry Seinfeld and Steven Spielberg) clearly isn’t too big for his retro-military britches, and it is this lack of pretentiousness and raw emotion that drives the Coldplay engine.

Occasionally, things got a bit dull, however. After the anthemic “Viva La Vida,” a mid-set lag took hold with “Yes,” which featured Martin in his lower register and fans the closest they’d be to motionless all night.

Fans wanted the band to stay loud, bright and center-stage, but they took to a small side stage for what you might call the U2 interlude, an electronic-inspired “Chinese Sleep Chant” and “God Put A Smile Upon Your Face.” Later, the band took to another side stage - this time in the rafters - for an underwhelming acoustic version of “The Scientist,” which didn’t capture the song’s considerable emotional power.

But the band was frequently brilliant throughout the night, and never moreso than on the piano-driven masterpiece “Politik” during the encore - which was followed shortly thereafter by a quirky shower of confetti butterflies.

About the only thing Coldplay has in common with opener Santogold is the nebulous designation of “alternative.” Born Santi White, the New York native blends too many styles - rock, punk, hip-hop and reggae among them - to be placed into a singular category, and with vocals that soared up to the rafters.

http://news.bostonherald.com

Coldplay rockers dedicated to Tom Brady

Patriots QB Tom Brady, shown here jogging in NYC listening to his iPod, is a Coldplay superfan and has the playlist to prove it!

New England PatriotsQB/QT Tom Bradytook a pass on practice yesterday probably to rest up from the rockin’ Coldplay show he took in with glamazon galpal Gisele Bundchen at the TD Banknorth Garden!

Tom, who is reportedly a HUGE fan of Chris Martin & Co., blew out of a late practice at Gillette Stadium Monday night to join Gi and her GFs at the Garden shortly after the British rockers took the stage at 10 p.m.

In fact, Martin dedicated the last song, “Death and All His Friends,” a cut off the new CD, to Brady. Perhaps Chris’ good buddy, Bono of U2, told him a shout-out to No. 12 always brings down the Boston house!

“I don’t want to do this really because it’s cheesy . . . but we’re great fans of his and he’s probably left the building anyway,” said the Coldplay frontman. “We’d like to dedicate this to Tom Brady - your quarterback. We’re big fans of his and very honored he came to the show, and I hope to goodness it was worth it.”

And then Martin flubbed the lyrics to the tune. But no biggie. Brady wasn’t on the floor at the end of the show anyway!

According to a music blog called meanspeed.com, the Pats QB has an iTunes playlist that starts off with Coldplay’s mega-hit “Speed of Sound,” and he’s been a “fan of the band for years now.”

Brady told the meanspeed blogger that he can be caught “patiently waiting for every album. Each has been better than the last.”

Also making the scene at Coldplay’s Garden party were Mrs. Martin, Gwyneth Paltrow, and her actress mom, Blythe Danner. They settled into seats in the third row of the Loge 13 with director Steven Spielberg and wife, Kate Capshaw; funnyman Jerry Seinfeld and wife, Jessica; and “21” star, Cohasset homegal Kate Bosworth, who played pingpong backstage before the show.

BTW, we don’t have any snaps of the celebs since LiveNation forbade the photogs covering the concert from shooting the stars. Apparently, they aren’t used to having cameras in their faces all the time.

Anyway, our spies in the primo seats said Gwynnie was “gazing lovingly at her hubby” and “singing along with him” while Gisele never stood up during the show. Ditto for Jerry.
“He didn’t move all night,” said Casey, a fan from Lynnfield who sat behind the comedian. “Might have been a statue, actually.”

Perhaps Jer was peeved when Martin poked fun at the crowd, congratulating them for coming out on a Monday night when they could be home watching “Home Improvement” or “Seinfeld” re-runs!

Not that there’s anything wrong with that . . .

Also mixing it up backstage was Toro chef/owner Ken Oringer and wife, Celine, who talked Spanish food with Gwyneth. No, she wasn’t hungry for some of Kenny’s authentic tapas. She and Chef talked about her soon-to-debut cooking road show with Mario Batali called “Spain . . .On the Road Again.” It’s supposed to debut this fall on PBS.

After the show, Coldplay was quickly escorted out of the arena, so there wasn’t a mob scene. Chris and the boys open the Asian/European leg of their tour in Osaka on Saturday.

Viva La Vida en Boston!

http://news.bostonherald.com

Coldplay Viva La Vida en Boston

Coldplay cemented their crown as the “ultimate radio band” performing for a passionate sold-out crowd at the TD Banknorth Garden last night for the final date of the United States leg of the Viva La Vida tour.

The opening jam, “Life in Technicolor” exploded with energy that carried on into “Violet Hill,” after finishing the song Chris Martin responded to the crowd “Now this is gonna be a really good one.” Maybe it was because of all the celebrities in the house like Martin’s wifey Gwyneth Paltrow, Tom Brady, Steven Spielberg, or Jerry Seinfield but it was a performance that was incredibly extraordinary in all epic proportions that redefined the words big performance (U2 would have been proud).

Chris Martin paraded on the stage completely drenched in sweat several songs in, dropping the occasional f-bomb, particularly when he messed up the lyrics to “Death and All His Friends,” (”All Winter we got married…ah fuck”) which was dedicated to New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Martin swaggered with goofy style and grace jumping around during “In My Place,” finishing the song on the floor, and hammering maniacally away on the keys like a mad scientist on the laser-filled “Clocks.”

At one point in “Fix You” Martin yelled “you can hear all the Irish blood out there” as his response to the crowd singing along to the entire song to Martin’s brilliant falsetto that held up despite all the wobbling around the stage.

The set mostly included tracks from Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends including a soaring performance of “Viva La Vida,” a powerfully rocking version of “Lost!” and “Lovers In Japan” where the Garden was raining with colorful, paper butterflies. The pace slowed down slightly for “Yes” but was picked back up by an extended jam lead by Jonny Buckland on guitar with those Middle Eastern riffs.

The only cut from Parachutes on the set was “Yellow” which Martin called the Monday single while talking about all the Monday night television we were missing, but insisted that this was better than watching reruns of Seinfeld, upon which the crowd looked at Jerry and laughed. (Martin also poked fun at Spielberg by playing the Jaws theme before “42.”)

Drummer Will Champion (the most underrated member of Coldplay) pounded on the drum kit all night bringing new intensity to songs such as “Politik” and “Speed of Sound” but Champion softened things up during their two song stint in the loge section by strapping on an acoustic guitar and taking over vocal duties where his John Lennon-esque, tender voice sang a sweet rendition of “Death Will Never Conquer.”

While up in the loge section, Martin described “The Scientist” as a song he wrote after a steamy night with Condaleezza Rice, “not really, but it sounds cool,” remarked Martin. The performance felt like a camp fire sing along with Martin adding a bit of harmonica, which later he joked about every British singer thinking they can play harmonica, saying there really is no benefit to it and just wastes everyone’s time, but I do not think anyone’s 90 minutes was wasted in the least bit, if anything the crowd wanted more time.

-RR

Last night’s Coldplay concert in Boston was simply epic! Even though E and I had spent the day driving back from Toronto, we felt the pain go away once things got away. I’ve chronicled it all in my latest Flickr set
.
[thanks banhuss]

The Luxury Opens for Coldplay

The dream is a familiar one for anyone who has ever picked up a guitar, switched on a keyboard, or plugged in a microphone: the chance to open for one of the biggest bands on the planet, in front of ten thousand screaming fans, at a sold-out arena. Boston-based OurStage band The Luxury got that chance when they they were chosen by fans on a local radio station to open for mega-stars Coldplay at a sold-out TD Banknorth Garden. The Luxury, with their thick layers of driving piano, swirling guitars, and anthem hooks, sound like they’ve been ready for a show like this for quite a while. Frontman Jason Dunn talked with OurStage about The Luxury’s gig of a lifetime.

OurStage: How did it feel to find out you guys were going to be opening for Coldplay?

Jason Dunn: When I actually got the call that we’d won, I was at work hauling around AV equipment in hotels I can’t even afford to stay in, so the whole situation was pure comedy - I had to get permission to go hide in a storage closet so I could call them back and accept a gig at Boston Garden. Crazy. Made it hard to concentrate on setting up projectors, for sure.

OS: What was the experience like for an up and coming band to play such a huge show?

JD: The show was great. The sound crew were absolute professionals and everyone had their own tailored monitor mix with exactly what they needed, and from audience reports we sounded unbelievable, and obviously that’s what matters. The crowd was about half-full for the local opener, so, you know, only about 10,000 people or so? The response we got was fantastic. It was huge. But it was really comfortable, I mean, these are my boys and this is what we do, it was just projecting to a big arena instead of a mid-sized club. We didn’t feel out of place. In fact, I think we should just play arenas from now on.

OS: Any interesting moments from the night?

JD: A couple - Coldplay left us four bottles of champagne with a hand-written note, and that was really classy and nice of them. Good champagne, too. We ran into Coldplay in the hall behind the stage and chatted for a bit - I’d actually met them a few years previous at a bar in Allston, I was a bit drunk and was going on about wishing them all the luck in the world with their music. I think “Clocks” came out two weeks later. I told Chris Martin about this at the Garden and he said, “Oh! It seems you wished us very well, then.”

Another great moment was when Steve (our drummer) gave Chris a copy of his “Christmas Chickens” record for his kids - it’s an album he made of Christmas songs rewritten about chickens. Chris was reading the song titles and was like, “I might have to run back to the dressing room and learn a cover real quick…”

OS: What’s next for The Luxury?

JD: Well, right now I’m focusing on pushing this AFAM (Advocates For Autism of Massachusetts) we’re playing on Saturday, August 9th. We just had a massive amount of good will and good karma come our way, and I want to bring as many people into this show as possible and give some of that back as fast as I can. Then in September, we’re going to California for a week to tour around the LA and San Francisco areas. I’ve never been there before so I’m thrilled. After that I think it’ll be time to focus on finishing the next album - we’re a good 8 or 9 songs deep into it right now, with another 7 or 8 in pieces or awaiting lyrics. We did the first record ourselves and it did very well for us, and I’d like to have a label involved on the second one if they’re a decent label and know what they’re doing, and they plan to really work with us.
–

-Matt Watson/OurStage.com

http://huss.tumblr.com

No Clever Title Needed, Coldplay Was Unbelievable

Coldplay
TD Banknorth Garden, Boston
Monday August 4th, 2008

Yep, that title says it all. They were that good, and somehow made spending $120 to not sit all that close to the stage seem completely justified. From the laser show and confetti to the surprise mini-set they played at the top of section 10 and their terrific rendition of of “Death and All of His Friends” to end the show, there wasn’t a second of their 90 minute set that I wasn’t completely impressed by, to put it mildly.

Opening the show were two acts, a local band The Luxury, and hip-hop group Santogold. We missed most of the Luxury’s set, but did have the misfortune of sitting through Santogold’s half hour on stage, which wasn’t all that enjoyable. It was obvious that this nigh would belong entirely to Coldplay, undeniably one of the world’s biggest and most popular rock bands.

After a transparent black screen was lowered in front of the stage, the band walked out to a huge roar from the sold out Garden crowd and tore into an arena-worthy version of instrumental Viva La Vida album opener “Life in Technicolor.” From there, the screen lifted and it was on to “Violet Hill,” the song which, when I first heard it, made me step back and say “wow, this new Coldplay record is going to be amazing.” Throughout the entire show, Chris Martin jumped and shook his way around the stage, working up quite a sweat and making good use of the ramps which extended out from each side of the stage. After “Violet Hill,” a piano was wheeled out and the band played crowd-favorite “Clocks.”

The next two songs turned out to be, in my opinion, one of the huge highlights of the show, as the band played an enormous sing-along version of “In My Place,” which included Martin at one point walking to the edge of one of the ramps and simply admiring the thousands of people singing and swaying along in front of him. Then came “Viva La Vida,” which I think is pretty much one of the best songs ever. One of the great things about this show as the fact that every song seemed to leap off the stage and out of the huge speakers in a way they don’t on CD, and I was amazed at how arena-ready the band’s otherwise more mellow songs sounded in this setting.

Coldplay would then go on to play equally great renditions of “Yes,” “42,” “Fix You,” and “Strawberry Swing” before moving to a small stage set up at the end of the ramp at the right side of the stage. Here they would play acoustic-ish versions of “Chinese Sleep Chant” and “God Put A Smile On Your Face.” I would have rather seen a full electric version of the latter, but it was interesting to hear a different take on the song and it didn’t sound bad by any means.

The band would then return to the stage to play “Speed of Sound,” “Yellow,” and “Lost!” During this part of the set, a rather amazing visual display took place on a giant screen behind the band, at times showing images that related to the songs, and at other times showing live shots of the band. One camera angle I especially liked was the one mounted on the side of the keys on Martin’s piano. Also, live shots were somehow displayed on giant white balls hanging from the ceiling, another nice touch.

After “Lost!,” the band suddenly decided to run down one of the ramps and though the crowd assembled on the floor. They then ran up the aisle of the section where we were sitting, passing about ten feet away from us to the next section over, located toward the back of the first level of the arena. While this expectantly drove the crowd around us wild, the band went on to play an amazing version of “The Scientist” on a small platform about 30 feet from us. This was possibly one of the coolest things I’ve seen at a show (and it’s also pretty high up there on the list of coolest things I’ve seen, period). After Martin explained how useless attempting to play the harmonica was, the band played “Death Will Never Conquer,” with drummer Will Champion handling vocals and Martin on the useless harmonica.

While there wasn’t a great deal of between song banter from Martin, I was surprised by the fact that the things he did say were always amusing, and while many would consider them to be “rock gods” the band never seemed to take themselves too seriously, for Martin was often too busy making fun of himself or thanking so many people for coming out on a Monday night and missing Seinfeld reruns (Jerry Seinfeld, along with Tom Brady and Gwyneth Paltrow were apparently in attendance).

After their section 10 set, the band disappeared from view and readied for the encore while some type of political video played. I’m not really sure what it was about because I was still trying to catch my breath after all that excitement. The band then returned to stage and began the encore with “Politik” and then “Lovers In Japan.” This is where a huge amount of glowing confetti was dropped from the ceiling, always a welcome addition to any show. After this, the screen in at the back of the stage dropped to reveal a huge “Viva” backdrop, and the band broke into “Death and All of His Friends,” undeniably the perfect song to close both a record and a live show. Following the song, the band took their bows to a thunderous applause and left the stage, ending the North American leg of their “Viva La Vida” tour.

While Coldplay’s amazing performace made the night great, it was the crowd that made it so memorable. While I wasn’t around when the Celtics won the NBA championship in June, I’m guessing that the same level of euphoria was felt by the thousands of people streaming out of the Garden that night. A bunch of my friends were at the show, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen them so excited and so happy. The energy in the building before, during, and after the show was unbelievable, easily making this one of the most memorable concerts I’ve ever seen.

Setlist:

Life In Technicolor
Violet Hill
Clocks
In My Place
Viva La Vida
Yes
42
Fix You
Strawberry Swing
Chinese Sleep Chant (B-Stage)
God Put A Smile Upon Your Face (B-Stage)
Speed Of Sound
Yellow
Lost!
The Scientist (Acoustic Set)
Death Will Never Conquer (Acoustic Set, Will on vocals)
—–
Politik
Lovers In Japan
Death And All His Friends

http://leafsacc.wordpress.com/

Coldplay Update

The Coldplay light show was spectacular !!! They had these cool orbs that hung above the crowd and serves as screens or reflectors of the lights and colors depending on the song! Hard to describe but very, very cool to see !

- My favorite song of the night was “Yellow”, I think. I just loved how Chris let the crowd sing most of it - his Monday Night Sing-Along as he called it. It amazes me how huge crowd of people can sound so very beautiful singing along…

- We had several big celebrities attend the show with us - Gwenyth Paltrow (Chris’s wife ) was there with her mom, Blythe Danner and their guests for the evening, Jerry Seinfield and his wife Jessica. Also, Tom Brady, star quarterback of the Patriots was there. Not to mention, Kim and David Mailhot from New Hampshire, ….. hee hee… actually I am not sure if this was a highlight as they were all seated very far away on the other side of the arena and all we could see was the flashes from the “illegal” cameras of their paparazzi.

A couple of low lights…

- the extremely drunk woman and her only slightly less drunk friends who were sitting beside us and who tripped over, trampled and annoyed us all evening as they staggered across us to the aisle to go to the bathroom about a hundred times !!!
Yikes !!!!!!!

- the first opening band, “Luxury” from Boston was ok but the sound was so horrible! The second band, Santogold, was really, really bad - some techno crappy stuff that just didn’t fit in at all !

- the Coldplay set felt really short - only 90 minutes including a very planned encore and that’s it. They have so much great material, they could play forever, and the crowd was so energized it would have been great for the show to go on longer…

But all in all, it was a great show and a great event for the hubby and me !

http://queen-of-arts.blogspot.com

holy fucking shit.

i sat…. TWO…. ROWS… IN FRONT OF GWYNETH, SEINFELD, AND KATE BOSOWORTH.

THE SHOW WAS INCREDIBLE. 100 TIMES BETTER THAN HARTFORD (sorry hartford buddies). I

i literally could have touched gwyneth paltrow. she was in the same seat as me but two rows back. like… it was insane. i don’t even know where to start with the show.

we got to our seats right around the end of santogold’s act (great timing!) and then we were just sitting around waiting as you do at any concert. so then the girls next to us start taking pictures of a lady behind us so i asked who it was and they said kate bosworth. so i’m like… that’s cool because she’s famous but i don’t really know her. so then these people come out from behind the stage and again the girls next to me are pointing and one of them yells GWYNETH! and then the whole crowd in our section and everyone in that corner of the floor stood up and gave her an ovation and she just kept coming closer and closer to me until shes sitting directly behind me just two rows back. i was shaking that i was in awe so much and right when i thought about shaking her hand and talking to her… the lights went down and my focus was completely diverted to coldplay. life in technicolor had so much energy tonight and i could tell right off the bat the show was going to be incredible. the crowd went nuts during violet hill and at the end chris said ‘now this is gunna be a REALLY GOOD ONE!’ i got the biggest chills when he said that because i know he only says that if he means it. clocks seemed a lot better tonight because he did more with the vocals… went higher at some parts… it was great. the sold out crowd was IMMENSE during the chorus of in my place. viva la vida was better and i don’t even know why. but i just enjoyed it a lot more. yes was the same. a little bit of low energy but the jam sesh at the end is just SO INCREDIBLE. i could watch that over and over there is just so much energy in it. 42 was great. i looked at gwyneth during it and she was singing all the words! fix you was like… hartford times 20 (2732 aka nick… you would have died). the crowd LOVED it and chris did his hopping on stage and sang the end of it SO BEAUTIFULLY!! chinese sleep chant was dull again. i know some people out there like this song but i just don’t get it! really i dont get how they play this live and not cemeteries!! but GPASUYF was cool again and he added in some lyric about ‘playing down in massachusetts’ (anyone remember it exactly??). the one area of the show that was worse than hartford was that they replaced square one/hardest part with speed of sound. it was nice to have at least one change but i was really looking forward to hearing square one again!! Lost! was great… crowd knew it really well. chris put a great ending on it. i think it was before this song that he talked about all the monday night TV we were missing and he mentioned home improvement and SEINFELD and everyone in my section looked back at him and laughed and i swear we made eye contact!! scientist was beautiful… bigger crowd = more amazing NOBODY SAID IT WAS EASYYYYY. before death will never convquer chris wouldn’t stop talking about how amazing will was and then he said ‘ok now i’ll shut the fuck up’ it was hilarious. back on stage politik was INCREDIBLEEEEEE. like FUCKING INSANE!!!!! i like came close to getting emotional during OPEN UP YOUR EYYYYYES. the piano solo as usual was stunning. lovers in japan was just as good but a tad less for me than hartford because i was on the floor at hartford so i got the confetti. but at one point he came down the ramp in front of us and pointed to gwyneth!! after LiJ gwyneth and her crew left. then chris dedicated death and all his friends to tom brady!!! haha at the beginning he messed up the lyrics and said ah fuck. crowd went nuts and he started again. it was BEAUTIFUL. he added so much to the vocals and the instrumental build up was crazy yet again. i couldn’t even breath during the NO I DONT WANNA BATTLE… becaue i was jumping up and down so much. chris said a long goodbye and then they left. the lights stayed down for awhile and i was really hopeful for another encore but it never came! i’m really not that disappointed and i thought i would be but that shows how amazing the show was!

other thing i can remember:
chris said the boston fans were better than all the other shows combined!!
after the scientist he talked about how his harmonica playing was pointless and didn’t sound good.
chris said before the scientist that he wrote the song after spending a steamy night with condeliza rice!! it was hilarious!
when the crowd was singing during either in my place or fix you chris said “you can HEAR all the Irish blood out there!!”

ahhh that’s it for now! i’m sad its all over but i’m still in such a buzz from the show. amazing amazing amazing and that’s all i can say!

[thanks BostonSportsTD]

Coldplay Kismet

If anyone has been to the Boston Garden you know how big it is, if you haven’t here’s a diagram, and here’s where my seats were for the most recent Coldplay concert that was there (this Monday).

Due to my insane eagerness to get to the concert on time we were given free seat upgrades. We moved from the worst seats, to the best. Here’s where we ended up:

Broke college students: it pays to be on time and have crappy seats. Sometimes.

Third. Row.

Tim

Coldplay!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new band in the Top Three Bands That Are Amazing To See Live club…and they just shunted Foo Fighters out of the coveted #2 spot (sorry, David).

Coldplay. Was. AMAZING. Clearly, they have learned much from the masters of soaring arena rock, U2. But much to their credit, the show was quintessentially Coldplay. Fortunately for my fingers, this review from boston.com sums it up pretty much the way I would. So enjoy:

http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2008/08/05/fire_over_ice_coldplay_bounces_belts_out_hits/

The review you won’t get from boston.com, however, is the review of our insanely good, “so lavish I may never be able to see a concert like a normal person ever again” luxury box seats. Oh. My. GOD.

First of all. The box, called The Boardroom, was unlike any box seats I’ve ever seen before, with the possible exception of the 600 Club at Fenway Park. It was like walking into a hip and trendy bar, complete with a hostess who greeted you and showed you the menu. Yes, menu. There was a FREE buffet of spectacularly yummy food: I had BBQ chicken, whipped sweet potatoes and Caprese salad while the Esposo had steak and a pizza freshly-made to order just for him. The bar (a sleek, shiny full bar with a plate full of fancy cheese and crackers…pffft, who needs beer-nuts?) was cash but the food, as much as you could eat, was all included.

The Boadroom itself was equipped with cocktail tables and cushy arm chairs for watching the show. “Just sit wherever you’d like,” the hostess said. So we did.

I cannot BELIEVE we didn’t think to take our camera, but Esposo took a few shots with his old reliable cell phone…

Suffice to say, we would have had a great time even if the concert was terrible. But seeing as it was take-your-breath-away amazing, I think I can honestly say I am GLAD we didn’t go to San Francisco after all. And that is saying something.

Oh. A few things the boston.com review didn’t mention…

1. The Luxury, the local band that opened the show, said two ballsy things. First, they plugged a benefit show they are doing next weekend at the Hard Rock Café. Second, when they wrapped up their set, the lead singer said (with no small amount of irony I am sure): “Thanks very much! Stick around for Coldplay!” Heee.

2. Mid-song during the opening number, Chris Martin said almost more to himself than to the insanely screaming crowd: “Oh, this is going to be a good night.”

3. During “Lovers in Japan,” a blizzard of shiny confetti rained down on the crowd. As we were leaving, we saw up close what it had been: foil butterfly-shaped confetti. Esposo picked up an intact purple one and it is now gracing my cork-board at work.

4. On a more personal note: when the driving piano of “Politick” began pounding out for the band’s first encore song, I felt a dizzy, breathless sensation that only one other band has ever made me feel before (two guesses who those lads might be).

***

Ok, I think I’ve bored you all with my fan-girl babble long enough. But dear God. Last night was even more proof that this August is going to totally RULE.

Rock on,

http://mostly-irish.livejournal.com/87579.html