Last night Wifey and I had the pleasure of attending the free concert by Coldplay at Madison Square Garden. It was the very first (and only) free concert in North America where as of this past week, Coldplay's single Viva La Vida became the first single ever to be number one in America top 100 and the U.K. at the same time for them.This was our first time in Madison Square Garden and it was exciting to go to a place where I know so many great events took place (Knicks championship, Muhammad Ali fights, Hockey Cups wins). This was no different. Matter of fact, by the time I stood in line to exit the seating area at the end of the show, I looked up at the ceiling where old jerseys of famous players like Ewing were hanging and I thought "This band deserves a jersey up there." This show was legendary.
I come here not as a HUGE Coldplay fan. They are my favorite band (although as for favorite albums I would say Damien Rice wins that one with "O"). I do give this review as someone who really feels like he can't handle concerts anymore.
We arrived at 7:10. Show starts at 8:00 according to the ticket and I could not find any info prior to it regarding an opening act so I didn't want to risk it. We sat down in our seats with popcorn and a $9 Amstel. The first opening act was "Blue Jackets". A local rock band from Long Island. The band had some good rock tracks and some not as good. I have to say, I felt a bit of curiosity to follow up on this band this morning after hearing the last song lastnight which sounded like the lead singer singing "Let me see your stinky feet, your stinky feet..ya ya ya". I couldn't figure out if he was really saying that. You can find the band on iTunes. I would recommend atleast the single "None The Wiser".
The second opening act was the closest thing to ever drive me to suicide. It was a DJ. Not exactly sure if it was a man or a woman. Tall, skinny, thin hands and flat chest. That is basically every raver I have ever see (male and female) so I can't tell you for sure.
The DJ played something along the lines of lounge, trip-hop, mixed with sound effects and crappy dark alley noises. All the while projecting acid-trip like animation on the screen that looped to the drum beats. I felt like I was having a seizure. It was cool for the first 6 minutes, but after going on for 30, I wanted to boo the guy off stage. This alone will be the reason I give this show a 9 out of 10. Terrible.
Now, on for the Coldplay show:
For 10,000 free concert tickets, these guys had fun doing it. The show was not entirely perfect, with sound issues and even lyric and equipment mistakes...which in a way, did make it perfect. Wifey said that it made it feel natural and not so "perfect" and the fact that mistakes happened, let you see the band in their natural environment. It was like watching a rehearsal which was cool.
Some celebrities were in house, from Chris Rock, Kristin Dunst, Stuart Townsend, Molly Sims, and Charlize Theron. This was the bands first show in North America in over two years...so no pressure. :)
Although mistakes did happen, the band took it in stride and made the best of it. At one point, Martin even said "Well, there are no refunds" while attempting to fix the guitar that gave him trouble.
The stage started with a black curtain covering the stage which lifted slowly as the band opened up with their album opening track "Life In Technicolor". Once the curtain rose to the top, the whole band can be seen with extreme energy. Chris Martin on vocals, piano and guitar (he switched between instruments all night), guitarist Johnny Buckland who hands down owned the night. The guy tore up on his electric guitar and by far, stood out the most musically that night. Bassist Guy Berryman, who Martin jokingly mentioned between songs "It just goes to show that with a big production, and a handsome bassist, you can achieve anything" while talking about the Viva La Vida single going to #1 in the U.S. Last but not least was Will Champion who through out the night was going from a normal drum set, to a couple of large drums and banging on a giant bell. He even gave a surprise, but more on that in a bit.
The band went on to play Violet Hill as the first official song of the night with extreme energy with Chris jumping all over the stage, platforms and speakers. He maintained this energy all night and spending equal amount of time on all sides of the stage for every fan to enjoy.
The continued on to play Clocks and then In My Place which are old favorites. This got the crowd up and singing along. Many times during the show, Martin would ask for a little help singing along on many tracks. The crowd really got into it (the fact that they served beers in the seats probably helped a little).
They continued onto Viva La Vida, the hit radio single which brought out amazing light shows.
About the light show, it was incredible. For the first two songs, they had lasers across the stadium along with giant light bulb looking things hanging from the ceiling which displayed words, images and at times, the band itself live. Martin could occasionally be seen projected on them when he stopped skipping around for a bit. Which was not often.
For Chinese Sleep Chant and God Put A Smile On Your Face, the band took to the edge of a platform, literally setting up the whole drum set for Will and the whole band squeezing together to play what seemed like was going to be an acoustic session but ended up being a full rocked out jam. This is where some of the technical difficulties occurred when the guitar did not work for Martin or John. Chris (who is married to Gwenth Paltrow) joked "oh this is embarrassing - let's go home. We come over here, we steal your women and we can't even play one song."
They finally got fixed and went on to an incredible, low lit, set on the edge of the platform.
After that they went on to new album track 42, and then to Square One, Trouble (which Martin begged for a crowd sing along help which was given), and off to "Lost" which was a powerful performance with amazing light show and sound.
They then switched to Strawberry Swing and then after finishing, Martin exclaimed "We are going to try something we never ever tried before, so please excuse us" and then the whole band jumped off the stage, surrounded by bodygaurds and continued to cross the stadium stage left. They kept going to what seemed like a final exit but then proceeded to go up the steps to the third section of seating, directly opposite of the stage. The basically went to where the crappy seats were all the way toward the back. When the lights turned their way, they had equipment set up with microphones and guitars. The crowd was at aww as nobody could believe they can play from the other side of the stadium. People were climbing on one another to get closer as the band literally set up shop in the walkway between seats.
They proceeded to grab an acoustic guitar and play an acoustic version of "Yellow" which was at its purist form. While the album version has beauty in its electric guitar rifs, this was a much smoother and more enjoyable version. After Yellow, Martin joked that they are an old band, and that everyone is probably sick of hearing his voice, so he asked that his drummer Will, take over as lead vocals for a song. To my surprise, Will was amazing. He grabbed the guitar and played "Death Will Never Conquer" (which I think is a cover by The Goldrus). He did a great job. The band then said "Thank you" and vanished out the exits.
I have to mention that when we left the show, I was a bit weirded out that they did not have an encore, but now I realize that when Will finished singing, Martin said "Good Night" and that was the last song. Then, when they arrived to play two more songs back on stage, that WAS the encore, although it did not seem like it at first.
As I mentioned, they arrived back on stage about 4 minutes after vanishing and proceeded to play Fix You and wrapped up the night with Lovers In Japan which closed out the song with cannons blasting glow in the dark confetti into the air throughout the song (by the butt load) onto the audience. The lights went off during the song and the confetti filled the air with yellow and blue bright glow in the dark pieces.
The band thanked everyone for coming and took off. I should mention that they did thank everyone after the 3rd song, saying that it is a pleasure to perform here in NYC where they feel is there "Second Home".
The show was outstanding. I must say I was annoyed by the two Princeton students (with the Princeton hoodies on) who sat behind us who kept talking about how they are so much smarter than their friends. One of them I heard saying to the other "He thinks he is so much smarter than me. I am like, I go to the best school in the country man. There is no way".
I was also not pleased with the people in front of us who seemed like two 17 year olds who just started dating (although they were in their 20's). The were french kissing during every song. Full tongue and groping right in front of us while we stare straight into the stage.
But as I said, the show was outstanding. The energy and a 16 song set list which was an hour and ten minutes long, was by far, the best Coldplay show I have seen. Totally worth every penny...oh wait...it was free :)
Enjoy the photos below (I didn't take them, they were collected on flickr).
Here is the setlist:
Life in Technicolor
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
Fix You
Lovers in Japan
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