Rock on!
It's a really weird feeling to look back at the day before (less than 24 hours before, mind you) and think, "Did I really see Chris Martin standing about a few hundred feet from me?"
I left home at around 4:30 yesterday to get to Philly. The concert was scheduled to start at eight so I thought, OK. I'll leave well in advance so I can find my way there, find a parking spot, eat dinner (which I packed) and then go into the arena with ample time to spare.
What a waste for me leaving so early. Once I got out of the tollway into the Schuylkill expressway, I was stuck in traffic. It took me an hour and a half to go 20 miles. I have never been stuck in so much traffic before (as a driver). People were switching lanes and I almost got hit by people moving from the left to right lane. HELLO people, I know I have a small car but can you please look before switching? And my problem is, I don't honk my horn because I've never gotten used to it (the horn didn't work in the first car I drove so it's just been force of habit to not punch the horn when someone's coming at me from the next lane) so instead I just scream in anger and move away. PA drivers are terrible. Seriously. I've had issues with them since the first day I moved here.
Anyway, I get there and park. I found a nice snug spot in between an SUV and a Minicoop. I managed to smuggle my camera in (they made me throw away my water bottle. Why I didn't expect that, god knows) found my seat (holy CRAP it was a huge stadium! I forgot the Sixers play there!) and waited for about an hour and a half before Coldplay went on. Oh by the way, when I finally parked my car, it was 8:03 p.m. I'd been on the road for three and a half freaking hours.
The opening act, Santogold, was all right at best. I couldn't really hear what she was singing and it sounded like a mix of synth-pop with some indie and some reggae-ish stuff (at times she reminded me of M.I.A.). And at that point I was getting a headache (hunger) and listening to really loud music that I couldn't understand was not my cup of tea. There were some songs I liked but the more she sang the more I wanted Coldplay to come on. Most of the people around me echoed the same sentiment.
At around 9:30 p.m., my favourite band finally, FINALLY took the stage and of course, we all screamed as they started with "Life in Technicolor" from Viva La Vida. I would've preferred they start with "Square One" from X&Y, but well, I'm not the one calling the shots here. After the intro, they immediately started "Violet Hill," which is my favourite song from the new album. Right after that they moved to the the second album and played "Clocks." Overall they played everything from the new album, except for "Cemetries of London," which made me sad because I like that song. They played six songs from the second album, two from the third (both the usual, overplayed ones. I feel they could've played "Square One" instead of "Speed of Sound" IMO) and only one from Parachutes ("Yellow"). I really, really, REALLY wanted them to play "Everything's Not Lost" but of course, they didn't. But I didn't mind :)
The show was spectacular. During "Lovers in Japan," paper butterflies fluttered down from the ceiling to the floor. I have a pic of that, will post it here. They performed a weird, distorted version of "God Put a Smile on Your Face." I had no idea what song it was until Chris started singing. They did acoustic versions of "The Scientist" and "Green Eyes" (their encore song). At one point in the show, the band ran off stage and down the floor and left, only to come back in the stands and perform there. Chris's reasoning: "The people in front have seen too much of us and you in the back haven't." I cursed myself then for getting floor seats :) But Chris was about a few hundred feet away, along with the band, and I got a much clearer view of them than when they were on stage. They performed "The Scientist" acoustically (though I would've loved the piano) and then either Jon Buckland or Will Champion (although I'm sure it was Jon) performed a song that Chris played the harmonica to. It wasn't a Coldplay song though.
Then before they returned to the stage we got some video of Bill O'Reilly commenting on whether Chris Martin is a "pinhead" and the plaigarism allegations from some lesser-known band (which I thought were ridiculous, by the way) and they had all these videos flashing of Bush, the war and random political events. And then the band played what I thought was the best song of the evening: They segued perfectly into "Politik" and it was FANTASTIC. I unfortunately didn't get videos of that one, but it's one of my favourite songs and it was absolutely brill. Just brill.
Right after the concert was over, I felt a bit deflated because I'd really wanted them to perform more songs from their first album and we only got "Yellow." And I felt the show ended really fast. They played for two hours, which is a decent amount of concert time but it felt like it just went by sooooo fast. Haha, I guess I just wanted more from the first time I went to see my favourite band. And once I got out to the parking lot and waited for the rush of cars to leave before I myself drove out, I got stuck in traffic about five minutes after I hit the expressway. HURRAH. I was stuck in an hour and a half worth of traffic again until I reached the tollway. Twenty miles had never progressed so slowly. I got home at 3:30 in the morning and it still hadn't hit me that I'd seen Coldplay. Only now, as I write this post do I feel that fangirly OMG I JUST SAW MY FAVOURITE BAND EVER LIVE YESTERDAY!!!
I went by myself but honestly, I didn't care. As I expected, i did befriend the girl sitting next to me. Once the music started though, I just let loose and sang along, screamed and enjoyed the show for every single second. It was worth the crazy stuck-in-traffic drive, late night, and the floor seat that wasn't as great as I thought it would've been (I'm jealous of the people who got the surprise visit from the band in the balcony seating. SO JEALOUS that they got to have him right by them!). I didn't get to take as many pics/videos as I wanted because a) my camera crapped out on me (but that's to be expected) and b) if it hadn't, I couldn't have gotten good pics since I was far away from the stage and my zoom wouldn't have caught anything. I actually got some good video clips from my cell phone so I'll put those up. You'll hear me singing along in them and I'm very annoyed at how awful I sound during "Violet Hill." I sing better than that, really! My voice was all over the place!
I finally got to see Coldplay! Next up, I really, REALLY want to go see The Who at the same venue in October. If I can convince my roommate to go along, I'm totally not missing this chance to see my favourite classick rock band!
If you read through this, bravo/brava you! I just had to write everything from my experience. OMG I still can't believe I saw Chris Martin in the flesh last night!
The butterflies falling from the ceiling during "Lovers of Japan":
The stage and floor area after the concert. I sat a few seats to the left of this picture:
From my camera, a very bad, blurry picture of the band as they stood in the stands, performing "The Scientist:
And the piece de resistance: Coldplay performing "Violet Hill" (about 1.30 minutes or less of it):
I left home at around 4:30 yesterday to get to Philly. The concert was scheduled to start at eight so I thought, OK. I'll leave well in advance so I can find my way there, find a parking spot, eat dinner (which I packed) and then go into the arena with ample time to spare.
What a waste for me leaving so early. Once I got out of the tollway into the Schuylkill expressway, I was stuck in traffic. It took me an hour and a half to go 20 miles. I have never been stuck in so much traffic before (as a driver). People were switching lanes and I almost got hit by people moving from the left to right lane. HELLO people, I know I have a small car but can you please look before switching? And my problem is, I don't honk my horn because I've never gotten used to it (the horn didn't work in the first car I drove so it's just been force of habit to not punch the horn when someone's coming at me from the next lane) so instead I just scream in anger and move away. PA drivers are terrible. Seriously. I've had issues with them since the first day I moved here.
Anyway, I get there and park. I found a nice snug spot in between an SUV and a Minicoop. I managed to smuggle my camera in (they made me throw away my water bottle. Why I didn't expect that, god knows) found my seat (holy CRAP it was a huge stadium! I forgot the Sixers play there!) and waited for about an hour and a half before Coldplay went on. Oh by the way, when I finally parked my car, it was 8:03 p.m. I'd been on the road for three and a half freaking hours.
The opening act, Santogold, was all right at best. I couldn't really hear what she was singing and it sounded like a mix of synth-pop with some indie and some reggae-ish stuff (at times she reminded me of M.I.A.). And at that point I was getting a headache (hunger) and listening to really loud music that I couldn't understand was not my cup of tea. There were some songs I liked but the more she sang the more I wanted Coldplay to come on. Most of the people around me echoed the same sentiment.
At around 9:30 p.m., my favourite band finally, FINALLY took the stage and of course, we all screamed as they started with "Life in Technicolor" from Viva La Vida. I would've preferred they start with "Square One" from X&Y, but well, I'm not the one calling the shots here. After the intro, they immediately started "Violet Hill," which is my favourite song from the new album. Right after that they moved to the the second album and played "Clocks." Overall they played everything from the new album, except for "Cemetries of London," which made me sad because I like that song. They played six songs from the second album, two from the third (both the usual, overplayed ones. I feel they could've played "Square One" instead of "Speed of Sound" IMO) and only one from Parachutes ("Yellow"). I really, really, REALLY wanted them to play "Everything's Not Lost" but of course, they didn't. But I didn't mind :)
The show was spectacular. During "Lovers in Japan," paper butterflies fluttered down from the ceiling to the floor. I have a pic of that, will post it here. They performed a weird, distorted version of "God Put a Smile on Your Face." I had no idea what song it was until Chris started singing. They did acoustic versions of "The Scientist" and "Green Eyes" (their encore song). At one point in the show, the band ran off stage and down the floor and left, only to come back in the stands and perform there. Chris's reasoning: "The people in front have seen too much of us and you in the back haven't." I cursed myself then for getting floor seats :) But Chris was about a few hundred feet away, along with the band, and I got a much clearer view of them than when they were on stage. They performed "The Scientist" acoustically (though I would've loved the piano) and then either Jon Buckland or Will Champion (although I'm sure it was Jon) performed a song that Chris played the harmonica to. It wasn't a Coldplay song though.
Then before they returned to the stage we got some video of Bill O'Reilly commenting on whether Chris Martin is a "pinhead" and the plaigarism allegations from some lesser-known band (which I thought were ridiculous, by the way) and they had all these videos flashing of Bush, the war and random political events. And then the band played what I thought was the best song of the evening: They segued perfectly into "Politik" and it was FANTASTIC. I unfortunately didn't get videos of that one, but it's one of my favourite songs and it was absolutely brill. Just brill.
Right after the concert was over, I felt a bit deflated because I'd really wanted them to perform more songs from their first album and we only got "Yellow." And I felt the show ended really fast. They played for two hours, which is a decent amount of concert time but it felt like it just went by sooooo fast. Haha, I guess I just wanted more from the first time I went to see my favourite band. And once I got out to the parking lot and waited for the rush of cars to leave before I myself drove out, I got stuck in traffic about five minutes after I hit the expressway. HURRAH. I was stuck in an hour and a half worth of traffic again until I reached the tollway. Twenty miles had never progressed so slowly. I got home at 3:30 in the morning and it still hadn't hit me that I'd seen Coldplay. Only now, as I write this post do I feel that fangirly OMG I JUST SAW MY FAVOURITE BAND EVER LIVE YESTERDAY!!!
I went by myself but honestly, I didn't care. As I expected, i did befriend the girl sitting next to me. Once the music started though, I just let loose and sang along, screamed and enjoyed the show for every single second. It was worth the crazy stuck-in-traffic drive, late night, and the floor seat that wasn't as great as I thought it would've been (I'm jealous of the people who got the surprise visit from the band in the balcony seating. SO JEALOUS that they got to have him right by them!). I didn't get to take as many pics/videos as I wanted because a) my camera crapped out on me (but that's to be expected) and b) if it hadn't, I couldn't have gotten good pics since I was far away from the stage and my zoom wouldn't have caught anything. I actually got some good video clips from my cell phone so I'll put those up. You'll hear me singing along in them and I'm very annoyed at how awful I sound during "Violet Hill." I sing better than that, really! My voice was all over the place!
I finally got to see Coldplay! Next up, I really, REALLY want to go see The Who at the same venue in October. If I can convince my roommate to go along, I'm totally not missing this chance to see my favourite classick rock band!
If you read through this, bravo/brava you! I just had to write everything from my experience. OMG I still can't believe I saw Chris Martin in the flesh last night!
The butterflies falling from the ceiling during "Lovers of Japan":
The stage and floor area after the concert. I sat a few seats to the left of this picture:
From my camera, a very bad, blurry picture of the band as they stood in the stands, performing "The Scientist:
And the piece de resistance: Coldplay performing "Violet Hill" (about 1.30 minutes or less of it):
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