Coldplay

I think I've FINALLY recovered from my Coldplay excitement. Well, at least enough to write about it anyway. ;-)
Two word review... SIMPLY AMAZING!!
ok. I'm done.
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ha.
not really.

The entire evening was like some kind of wild dream. Seriously, it didn't really feel like it was actually happening until we were sitting in the United Center... Level 300-- eagle-eye view baby. ;-) The crowd was electric. So what if the opening guy sucked (it was the lead singer from the band The Verve-- of "Bittersweet Symphony" fame... I think he was seriously either high or drunk... nothing that came out of his mouth seemed to make sense... well, except for the explicatives!), so what if our seats were at the top of the stadium (you get the WHOLE picture that way), so what if the break between the two bands was the longest 30-45min EVER, so what that half the crowd probably won't even remember most of the concert because they were drunk off their butts... it was COLDPLAY!!

Out of all the concerts I have been to in my life, I would have to say this was one of the best ever-- and that is saying a lot considering I've probably been to over 30 concerts... Sure, I knew the words to ALL the songs that they did (I'm that much of a coldplay dork) but I think even if I wouldn't... it still would have been an amazing show.

Quick rundown of the set list...

Square One
Politik
Yellow
Speed of Sound
God Put a Smile Upon Your Face
What If
Don't Panic
White Shadows
The Scientist
Til Kingdom Come (acoustic)
Ring of Fire (acoustic)
Trouble (acoustic)
Clocks
Talk
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Swallowed in the Sea
In My Place
Fix You

So... what makes an outstanding concert? One that outshines the rest and really sticks with you? Here are some of my own personal "requirements" and how this concert really meet and surpassed the mark.
* Sound quality- I would say it was pretty decent. Especially considering we were sitting way above most of the main speakers. Chris Martin has such an outstanding voice, even live. I think that is when you KNOW a band is good... when their stuff sounds great in a studio, but just as great or better live.

* Lighting- every song was different. From a crazy laser show during "Clocks", to a completely black stage with single spotlight on Chris' face... very dynamic. During Politik they also used some dramatic spotlight effects. I also really liked how in two of the songs they made good use of the LED "advertising rings" that run around the two levels of the United Center... one song they had all these stars like you were in space... and then for "Speed of Sound" they had the X&Y logo just continuously scrolling all over the place. During "Swallowed by the Sea" it looked like they had taken pages from Chris' journal and inverted them to make all the letters white.. .then they projected that onto the big screen behind them as well as through spotlights all over the area. Very cool.

* Venue- ok, so the United Center is pretty massive. Sometimes I really have a hard time focusing on the performers if the space they are occupying is too large, but for this concert I was so sucked in the space didn't seem to matter. Actually, it put me more at awe then anything to see a completely sold out audience-- a gigantic sea of people all there... totally into the music. Sure, I'm still one for smaller more personal venues, but for a band as big as this you know that's never going to happen, so you just deal with it and concentrate on more important things

* Enthusiasm of the performers- Completely off the charts here! You can tell these guys LOVE to preform, and have so much fun doing it together. Chris was all over the stage-- jumping, twirling around, laying down with the guitarist on the ground, practically falling off the stage at times... during the second to last song "in My Place" he completely ran from the stage all the way to the back of the arena just to sing with the "back row" people. That guy is in shape! wowzers

* Crowd participation- imagine hearing 15-20,000 (im not sure of the exact number but know it was completely sold out) fan sing along at the top of their lungs. Unreal.

* Song selection- From the heart pounding ones like "Clocks" & "Speed of Sound" to the real and honest, almost haunting sounds of "what if", to jonny cash's "till kingdom come" and "ring of fire" this set was jam packed with lots of sweet morsels... nice variety.

Definitely got an "A" grade from me.
Personal highlight: during "Yellow" huge yellow balloons fell from the middle of the arena. (they were bigger than me I think) It was so much fun to see them bouncing around on the audience.... and then after bouncing a few times... BAAAAMM! They exploded in a shower of gold glitter! AAAH! how much fun is that?!

Ok. Long enough rant for now... but a show this good deserved a good long post.
*happy sigh*