Manchester Review [14 April 2003]

busybeeburns · April 15, 2003

This might sound a bit cheesy, but I can't be bothered editting it, pictures should follow later in the week :D

After waiting for almost 4 ½ hours from the doors opening to Chris and the gang walking on stage, here is a blow by blow account of the evening (including the argy bargy in the ‘pit’).

The MEN arena is a funny place. They have outside doors, inside doors, even further inside barriers, and then when you get to see the staging you’re making your way towards, you get told not to run. It was a good 30 minutes before I sat cramped on the third row of bodies right in the middle section, knowing Chris would be bouncing somewhere close later on.

First band up (at the request of Chris I believe) was Ian McCulloch (Echo & The Bunnymen fame) with a few songs including one I’ve not heard of in a while ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’ which can’t have been recognised by many of the younger generation in the crowd. I don’t think Ian means to look or act like Liam Gallagher, but the way he swaggered on to stage with a fag and a bottle of beer certainly gave that impression, especially being on the biggest stage in Manchester.

Feeder finally arrived just after 8pm. You could tell who the Feeder fans were at the front, screaming for the leader singer (who’s name escapes me and the girl next to me was screaming too high a frequency for me to distinguish the name she was calling out to). Their set lasted for about 45 mins to an hour, and included new singles and old first album tracks like “High”.

The loudest cheer (amongst the Coldplay fans at least) of the night so far was reserved for the groupies, all four of them who carried Chris Martin’s piano into place. It seemed to take an age for the stage to be set up, and yet they seemed to have the least equipment of the three bands. Quality, not quantity as they say.

The lights subsided and familiar intro music finally arrived at approx 9.30pm, and the two new big screens either side of the stage (ALA Glastonbury) flashed into action. You couldn’t see them but you knew they were here as the cameras flashed nothingness and the shouting got louder. Finally Will, Guy and Jonny arrived on stage and grabbed their equipment instinctively, but Chris had to be different and bounce his way right to the front of the stage, before getting to the piano just in time to start Politik with the rest of the band.

Politik was the usual opener with simple white strobe light lighting up the whole arena and Chris bouncing off his stool (well ok he never does but you wish he would). God Put A Smile… was energetic as ever and I remember Chris managed to get the first line of Spies right for once unlike some of the sets I’ve heard.

Daylight was my highlight of the opening songs as the orange and yellow colours swirled around the stage. The Scientist was introduced by Chris as a ‘semi-hit’ but he played it like an age-old classic. It was about now where he dedicated one of the songs to Liam Gallagher, “The second best singer in the world”.

I was not expecting ‘A Rush Of Blood To The Head’ to appear on the setlist, but pleased was I when I heard the first few chords. There was something different about this song, Jonny had been given a free role to use his slider whenever he felt the need, and replaced some of Chris’s o-o-o-oh’s to good effect. Yeah ok, this was the best version I’ve heard yet, and it was right on my doorstep.

The two next songs could never be parted, Don’t Panic and Everything’s Not Lost. During the latter song, Chris sang a rendition of the Cheeky Girls in a teenybopper voice, to the amusement of the arena. Maybe he could give them a lesson in singing as well as how to play their ‘song’ on the piano ;)

The final part of ENL was opened up to the whole crowd, especially “those who were here for S Club 7 but came on the wrong night, and those sat down the side who didn’t like Coldplay and were reading a book because they’d been dragged along by the person next to them.” Everyone got into the act and it made for a rousing finale.

Poor Me was the song that most people wouldn’t have recognised but it didn’t stop people enjoying it, especially the solo piano finish by Chris, while he lay his guitar on his lap.

The next two songs, Yellow and Trouble need no introduction, and Chris is now relying upon the other three to make the sounds as he dances around without guitar during yellow. Lighting was ‘all yellow’ and at least three people had fainted up to this point, and a couple had been ‘removed’ for crowd surfing and sitting on shoulders. Someone even had the balls to throw water forward which caught the whole front three rows including the cameraman and to be honest it did me good because it was getting quite stuffy!

Coldplay came back on following the encore to launch straight into Clocks, with green lasers filling up the whole arena, right up to the uppermost tier at the back. In My Place gave Chris free reign of the stage, ensuring no part of the crowd were left out as he got everyone to their feet.

The final song was my highlight of the whole night. Jonny, Will and Guy all left backstage, the lights to the whole arena came back on, but Chris made his way to the piano. I was expecting Life is for Living, but what we actually got was a solo performance of Amsterdam. The other guys slowly moved round backstage to join him after a couple of minutes to complete the song.

Coldplay as a group came to the front near the end to bow for the arena in a cheesy little thankyou for supporting the “lads from down south, except for Jonny” as Chris put it.. The full setlist is like this:

politik

god put a smile upon your face

spies

daylight

the scientist

one i love

rush of blood to the head

don't panic

everythings not lost

poor me

yellow

trouble

**encore**

clocks

in my place

amsterdam

busybeeburns · April 15, 2003