#52 Coldplay Concert!

I may have witnessed one of the best performances of my life (with one exception of seeing U2 at Madison Square Garden)!  One of my besties from undergrad (Anna) is obsessed with the band Coldplay. I would like to think myself a faithful listener, but I missed out on the release of Viva la Vida CD and caught back up with the release of Mylo Xyloto.  Anna and I had talked about going to the concert last fall when concert dates were released, but neither of us had paid much attention to the "getting tickets" aspect until the show got closer.  Long story short, Anna was able to find two tickets for us to attend the Tuesday night concert. And what a show it was!!!!

Before the show even began I was giddy with anticipation.  I had seen a few of their recent interviews and performances on TV, but nothing could compare with what I was about to see.  First, when we entered the Rose Garden, we were handed bands to place on our wrists.  Not sure what they would do, we followed instructions and found our seats.  The opening bands were talented, but I found myself getting anxious for the show to begin!

And then, the lights were dimmed and those wristbands we were asked to put on prior to the show, lit up with an abundance of bright colors- almost like thousands of tiny glow sticks illuminated by black light. The band made a grand entrance to what sounded like Star Wars themed music.  The stage was also lit by black light and had the neon graffiti etched into the instruments and the surrounding walls.  I ended up filming the intro and was pleasantly surprised how well the sound came through.  And then there was the light show... phenomenal! I felt like I was at a laser light show with all the combinations of colors and patterns that exploded from the stage into the audience.

I was impressed with not only the quality of the music being played, but the energy of the band (especially Chris Martin). The way he poured his soul into the performance was as though he was striving to make eye contact with every audience member. The effects throughout the show were unbelievable.  Not only were the colored bands on ours wrists controlled by the band- pulsing to the beat, but also confetti was dumped from the ceiling at different points throughout the show. At one point, beach balls were also released into the crowd and magically disappeared by the end of that song.  All well-loved songs were played as well as many songs from the new album.

Confetti!

And then there was the encore!!! Obviously the band was coming back, but to what extent, no one knew! The lights were dimmed and the band left the stage only to reemerge from within the crowd! And true to fashion, Chris gave each band member their share in the spotlight.  Then, they rushed the stage and finished the concert with a fantastic rendition of "Clocks", which I was dying to hear! My only complaint was the concert was not longer.  I wished each song was 6 minutes instead of the 3-4 minutes they actually played.

Notice all the little lights? Those were our wrist bands