So as mentioned below I wasn't really "feeling" Coldplay prior to the gig. I kind of felt I was arriving at the party about 3 years too late. I was also dreading another show in the god awful Dome, it so sucks in there acoustically and the seating layout is possibly the worst in the world.
We got there pretty early because the parking is another major hassle at this place (surprisingly they proved me wrong this time round) and so we caught the support act, Mercury Rev. Well it's always a tough ask to support another band isn't it? You get a shit lighting setup, half the sound output of the headliner and a crowd who'd rather you got the hell off the stage ASAP. But every now and then a support act kicks the butt of the main dudes. Not so much on this occasion.
Firstly who the feck are Mercury Rev, what kind of name is that and when will you decide on your own music style. I think we determined they were a bit Muse meets Coldplay meets My Chemical Romance meets Freddy Mercury...........ahhhh so that's what the name is all about.
They just exploded onto the stage and suddenly I started to feel it, finally, thank christ. This whole French Revolution feel was pretty cool and I kind of started to "get" their latest album a bit more after hearing it in this context. It's still their worst though IMO.
These guys really take a leaf out of the U2 how to play an arena gig handbook and I'm okay with that. It was a great show, sure they played for an hour less than a certain 74 year old legend did only a few weeks ago but in their defence they were slightly more active.
Possible highlight of the show would have to be the two bogan chicks about 4 seats down from us who decided to scratch each others eyeballs out only a few songs into the show. Something about one of them having such a huge fat ugly head that the other one couldn't see. Bonus entertainment for your dollar right there.
I gotta say though that I wished we'd bought mosh pit tickets, we so wanted to get up and dance, the fear deep in our stomachs that bogan chicks would leap at us like a pack of rabid vampire vixens ripping out our jugulars if we dared stand up kept us firmly in our seats. Next time it's the mosh or nothing.
Highlight would have to be when the band left the stage and left the arena via the crowd only to reappear way up on the second tier of seats to a small stage with mics and commence an acoustic "busking" session, some peeps got an awesome up close coldplay experience even if it was stinky and sweaty. Pretty sure they didn't mind.
So basically song after song that you almost new the words to and if you didn't it didn't matter because you simply mouthed along and everyone believed you did. I had an awesome time, probably top 20 all time gigs and only just out of the top ten. Oh and the confetti pouring out of the roof made for a very cool visual highlight.
Edit: The sound was actually pretty good last night, the first track had me thinking it was going to be nothing but reverb all night but I never really noticed it after that.
I've put some larger versions of a few of these shots over at YeLPanorama, much better in that format.
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We got there pretty early because the parking is another major hassle at this place (surprisingly they proved me wrong this time round) and so we caught the support act, Mercury Rev. Well it's always a tough ask to support another band isn't it? You get a shit lighting setup, half the sound output of the headliner and a crowd who'd rather you got the hell off the stage ASAP. But every now and then a support act kicks the butt of the main dudes. Not so much on this occasion.
Firstly who the feck are Mercury Rev, what kind of name is that and when will you decide on your own music style. I think we determined they were a bit Muse meets Coldplay meets My Chemical Romance meets Freddy Mercury...........ahhhh so that's what the name is all about.
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Anyhoo on with the show. Coldplay come out....now is a good time to watch my crappy vid of the opening songs.....
They just exploded onto the stage and suddenly I started to feel it, finally, thank christ. This whole French Revolution feel was pretty cool and I kind of started to "get" their latest album a bit more after hearing it in this context. It's still their worst though IMO.
These guys really take a leaf out of the U2 how to play an arena gig handbook and I'm okay with that. It was a great show, sure they played for an hour less than a certain 74 year old legend did only a few weeks ago but in their defence they were slightly more active.
Possible highlight of the show would have to be the two bogan chicks about 4 seats down from us who decided to scratch each others eyeballs out only a few songs into the show. Something about one of them having such a huge fat ugly head that the other one couldn't see. Bonus entertainment for your dollar right there.
I gotta say though that I wished we'd bought mosh pit tickets, we so wanted to get up and dance, the fear deep in our stomachs that bogan chicks would leap at us like a pack of rabid vampire vixens ripping out our jugulars if we dared stand up kept us firmly in our seats. Next time it's the mosh or nothing.
Highlight would have to be when the band left the stage and left the arena via the crowd only to reappear way up on the second tier of seats to a small stage with mics and commence an acoustic "busking" session, some peeps got an awesome up close coldplay experience even if it was stinky and sweaty. Pretty sure they didn't mind.
So basically song after song that you almost new the words to and if you didn't it didn't matter because you simply mouthed along and everyone believed you did. I had an awesome time, probably top 20 all time gigs and only just out of the top ten. Oh and the confetti pouring out of the roof made for a very cool visual highlight.
Edit: The sound was actually pretty good last night, the first track had me thinking it was going to be nothing but reverb all night but I never really noticed it after that.
I've put some larger versions of a few of these shots over at YeLPanorama, much better in that format.
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Comments
Coldplay was worth the wait though as expected.