18-Jul-08: San Jose - Tickets, Preview, Meetups, Review/Photos [ORIGINAL DATE 7/24]

[majgirl]

My review

 

Ok here’s my review I know it’s a little late but I had no access to a computer last night, and then I slept in rather late, but better late than never right? I‘m going to preface this with saying I saw the band twice on there twisted logic tour, so this is not a first time concert experience for me. However this was my first experience with floor seats which will factor into this review. And a warning to you all it’s a long one, so I’m going to split it into two posts.

Ok quick mention of opening acts. First act: bad, second act: better but 0 stage presence, they could not have done more to try and kill the vibe lol. On to the show….

It opened as I’m sure everyone knows with life in Technicolor. Not my favorite opener of theirs but I understand the choice. The song started to play as the band made their way on stage behind a screen like see through type curtain. I didn’t care for the effect of this curtain remaining down through the whole song, but that’s a small nitpick. Not sure when the pre recorded bit stopped and the band kicked in as the transition was seamless, or it backing simply continued to play along with the band through the song.

Violet Hill was next and sounded amazing, I love this song so I was happy, and I’m going to take this moment to say that Chris’s voice was in fine form, a very big improvement from earlier in the year, he sounded fantastic through the whole show.

Clocks was next which brought instant crowd appreciation. Who doesn’t love the brilliant laser light show we all know is coming the minute that beautiful piano cord kicks in.

They followed it up with In My Place. The sing along aspect of this tune is just unbelievable, and if Jonny doest makes you love him during this song you have no soul! But to be honest it felt a little misplaced. A song of this caliber belongs a little further in the set, so hopefully a crowd has hit their stride. It caught me a little off guard coming so early and might have served the band better in the middle where the show began to lull a bit.

And yes the crowd was appalling. They lacked energy through most of the show, and refused to engage many times though the band seemed to be making an effort to get them to. That said, I do believe that Chris was a little off last night himself, and the crowd being that way definitely didn’t help. But I’ve seen this band in concert a few times and this was probably the worst vibe I ever got from the band. I felt really bad as usually if a crowd is good enough they can turn that around, but clearly that was not going to happen. Chris seemed far less chatty and happy than usual, and the rest of the band seems to take their cues from him. Don’t mistake me the band put on a great show, ever the professionals, but…. you just know when things aren’t coming together, and they just weren’t quite gelling last night, at least from my perspective.

Viva La Vida was next, the band performed it amazingly and this is one of the few new songs the crowd seemed to engage with. Overall every time the band played a song from the new album the mood dampened considerably, nobody sang along, and the energy would just die. I was at a bit of a loss for why that was the case. I don’t remember any change in room temperature during the last tour when X & Y songs were played, so for the audience to give the new material such a cold shoulder was a bit surprising to me. But that’s definitely what was happening with a few marked exceptions. It made me want to slap everyone in the crowd lol.

42, (one of my personal favorites from the new record) and Yes followed. Again the crowd did not seem impressed with either but I personally LOVED the extended ending to Yes, I really wish that would have made the album, it was just brilliant!

They broke it down with “a ballad” next lol, The Scientist. I loved Chris’s chatty opening here and this is just one of the most beautiful songs of all time.

Here the band took a little trip to the their left and set up shop for a two song set comprised of Chinese sleep chant (soo good though I need not mention the poor audience reception.) and then came God Put a Smile Upon Your Face…. or what the band was calling GPASUYF. I’m sorry but in this one instance I agreed with the crowd at large. I adore this song in its original form, its already quirky and fun and did not need the somewhat morbid feeling treatment it received from the band. And to top it off they cut it short. So that song gets a big thumbs down from me. I’m all for changing songs up to fit a live show but I think they might have killed that song and the audience gave up on it about 30 seconds in.

It was back to the main stage after that , with the first notes of Square One there was palpable elation. I was so happy to hear it I just got lost in this song, and when Speed of Sound followed it I was a very happy girl. And the audience was finally starting to buzz.

That died, sad to say with the opening of Strawberry Swing. Poor Guy was trying to get the crowd to clap along and get into it, but they absolutely were not going for it. The mood crashed which shocked me with this songs as its such an upper on the record. At this point I was beginning to panic, with a reception like this I was sure we would never get an encore, and the band would soon walk off the stage in disgust, they certainly seemed to be sinking under the lack of enthusiasm themselves and it was just not looking good… (see part 2)

[majgirl]

part 2

 

…..And then they broke out Yellow. For the first time the audience truly came alive! Kudos to the band for bringing it back in all its electric glory. People were up and singing like there was no tomorrow, and just like that the energy that had been so lacking seemed to hit this dismal crowd. People finally realized they were at a rock concert for God sake.

But for me the absolute highlight was Politik! I think I almost had a heart attack when the drums started pounding on this song and the rest of the audience couldn’t agree more. I was so sure they weren’t going to play it, and it was just beyond anything else that night the absolute best moment for me. Truly one of my favorite songs of all time and they did it full justice. None of the cutting down or rearranging annoyingly present in some of the other old material they played. It was loud and proud and really made you feel the band was just as happy to be playing it as you were to be hearing it.

The dove straight into Lost! after that, which was another one of the new songs the crowd actually embraced. It was phenomenal this song is better live than on the album which is saying something. Truly a gem. I especially enjoyed what I could only describe as Chris’s impression of being shot with a machine gun lol, that man can move. The crowd ate it up.

With the energy flowing once again the band made a bee line for the back of the venue to the elation of the those seated there, and played a beautiful rendition of The Hardest Part, this song has special meaning for me so I was overjoyed to hear it, and the acoustic setting suited it well. They followed it up with the “last song” only Chris soon let us know that of course it wasn’t really the last song, all we need do is scream really loud for an encore. Will was brilliant and the crowd showed their approval accordingly.

Now as I mentioned before I was expecting no encore so when we were graced with two it just proved to me we were dealing with one of the most gracious bands in the world. Fix You and Lovers in Japan were amazing. I have no appropriate words for the butterflies, their glowing effect worked the crowed into a frenzy of fans eager to grab a fistful at any cost. And their second return with Death and All His Friends made me appreciate the lyrics to this song for the first time. Very nicely done boys. I have to say I felt blessed to get the set list we did. I think it beats out the 2 L.A. shows for content so I was a very happy camper in that respect.

I will now close this horribly tediously boring review with some overall thoughts. First of all I believe the lack of a big projection screen through most of the concert was a mistake. Not only does it help set the mood for certain songs, but not being able to see the facial expressions of the band unless your in the first 15 rows was kind of a bummer, we missed Will!!! You cant see him at all without the screen shots, so in future I hope they bring it back. I cant even imagine what being in the balcony seats without one was like.

The “magic balls” turned out to be not so magical. I really feel bad about how much money it cost them after the effect was so less than stellar, they really came off like a glorified disco balls. And did not make a fitting substitute for the projection screen as the images were distorted and blurry at best.

I in no way understood the critiques of Martins dancing around too much. I thought he spent more time behind one instrument or another on this tour than the last one. Granted not the piano but he had his guitar strapped to him pretty consistently.

I do agree that at this point the band could benefit from doing a slightly longer show. It didn’t feel short, but with so much material out now, in order to do it justice it simply needs to be longer. Especially if their intent on playing nearly every song off the new album , which I understand is what their trying to promote but in their case they are not and never have been in my opinion a “singles” band which is going to make it harder for them. What I mean is that most songs if not all songs they’ve ever released are top notch quality leaving you feeling more let down when they play only their commercial hits than the average band would. A few times at the start of the concert it even felt like they were rushing through some of the older material to make it fit, not doing them proper justice. Having new material out doesn’t make the old material less deserving. And it might have helped the crowed adjust to the newer material it was clearly having problems excepting.

As an overall picture I would have to say the Twisted Logic Tour shows flowed better and felt more seamless and like a band really on top of its game, but to be fair this is the beginning of a tour so there is a lot of room for growth, and overall it was still a fantastic show. If only the rest of the audience could have figured that out sooner it would have been better. I’ll end with my compliments and apologies to the boys who made the best out of a less than enthusiastic crowd. I hope to catch them again next year if they are kind enough to come back. :D

[busybeeburns]

biggest. review. ever. thanks! :D

[Chavi]

AWESOME video, including the acoustic set shot from 10 feet away:

 

http://www.veoh.com/channels/nicksclips

 

<embed src="http://www.veoh.com/veohplayer.swf?permalinkId=v15091521hQg9m5ZC&id=anonymous&player=videodetailsembedded&affiliateId=&videoAutoPlay=0" allowFullScreen="true" width="540" height="438" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed><br/><a href="http://www.veoh.com/">Online Videos by Veoh.com</a>

 

Yellow - The Hardest Part - Death Will Never Conquer - Fix You - Lovers In Japan

 

(There might be a short ad preceeding the video)

 

 

When the lads run up the stairs for the acoustic set, you can hear me yelling "THEY'RE GONNA BE RIGHT IN FRONT OF US!!! LOOK LOOK LOOK!!!", it's rather embarassing! You can hear another guy yelling "OMFG!!!" and having a nervous breakdown.

 

It was mass chaos as fifty of us scrambled over the seats to get closer, with everyone standing on the chairs, angling for good views. Security came around and told everyone to stand down, so the camera is a bit shaky during those times.

 

At one point, Chris looks directly in my lens and holds his gaze for a few seconds... I thought he was going to tell me to stop filming. I guess he either thought twice about interrupting his talk, or else he was simply giving me a great moment.

 

The sound was quite loud in the arena, so the audio is a bit blown out during the stage numbers. The video is all right, though. The video is 23 minutes long, so it's best to allow the download bar to make it's way completely across the bottom of the screen before trying to view this, especially if you have a slow computer.

 

They were great last night, be sure to "study" Viva La Vida thoroughly before you go, it will make the experience far richer.

 

Cheers,

Nick

 

:stunned: niiiiiiiice vid ! thanks a lot :dance:

[Clocks30CM]

So while my computer's uploading my concert pics/fotages, here's a review:

 

I thought that this was a GREAT opportunity for the band to really 'step it up' from their last two shows in LA. The first half somewhat left me disappointed (same order like last time from Life in Technicolor to Strawberry Swing). But right after, Chris then goes on saying "I wish there was a way for us to be up in the back *wink*" (YES I SAW HIM WINK/GRIN, THAT LITTLE SNEAK!). I guess I, along with maybe the other few Coldplay fanatics, knew about the bits and surprises from LA, but when Chris spurted that line I was immediately suspicious. :confused: Before anything else was said, the first downbeat note of YELLOW was done and I went nuts!! It's been A LONG TIME since I heard the album/electric version of Yellow since the Twisted Logic tour! :D

 

But that doesn't end there....THE BOYS KICKED IT INTO THE HARD-HITTING NOTES OF POLITIK!! :shocked2: You guys probably wouldn't believe it, but I FUCKING WENT CRAZY HERE!! :laugh3: :dance::dance::dance: OMFG that had to be the best performance of Politik that I've ever seen since the Grammy's (....okay that's sort of an exaggeration, but it's been a while since they busted out that song!).

 

After the grandiose-rockin' song, Chris then goes off and says among the lines of "Okay I'm tired of this here!" and so the four of them went off the stage and up into the lower-level seats in the back. I was prrraaaaaaayying to dear heavens that they would play Don't Panic....but the first few words ended up being "The Hardest Part." DOOODE I was excited anyway; the acoustic version sounded much MUCH better because it was ACOUSTIC and that the song was played in a lower key (which sounded a bit darker, but fuller, in my opinion). :)

 

Oh, and LOL Will's guitar wasn't working for a minute before they started to play "THe Hardest Part", btw. :lol:

 

 

Honestly I think after "Yellow" was played, the crowd finally picked up the momentum of the concert. I'm sorry to say this, but THE LOS ANGELES CROWD WAS MUCH MORE WELCOMING AND EXCITING THAN HERE IN NORCAL! EVERYONE in the 128 section (lower-level section right NEXT to the end of the catwalk, where the boys play "Chinese Sleep Chant" and "GPASUYF") was sitting down!! .....Then again, I lucked out by buying my seat through general sale instead of the auctions....which is WEIRD... :thinking::D

 

Hey i was in section 128 and i was standing up with my sister clapping my hands and just rocking out to all the songs. But yeah the people in my section were weak.

[concertkid]

Merci beaucoup, Chavi!

(I couldn't figure out how to embed the video, it looks a lot better!)

 

Most of the video was shot from Section 128, I think we were a couple of rows behind you, Clocks30CM. There were two women standing most of the show in Row 9, I think, was that you? Nearly everyone else in our section sat down. It seemed like most people nearby weren't familiar with the new material, yet.

[Texasluvsjonny]

That video is awesome! I love Will's green shirt and when Chris looks directly at you, how did you not pass out? Do security come up with them because I don't think I could refrain from touching. :sneaky:

[Khalplay]

Thanks for the review majgirl, very interesting !

[heresjohnny]

did anyone have floor seats to this show

[concertkid]

That video is awesome! I love Will's green shirt and when Chris looks directly at you, how did you not pass out? Do security come up with them because I don't think I could refrain from touching. :sneaky:

 

Yeah, I got kind of scared when Chris started staring at me! I thought he was going to bawl me out for filming him so close, but I think he was just in his "performer" mode and threw me a bone without being too cheesy about it by winking or smiling.

 

On a side note, you'll see during "Yellow' in the upper left corner one of the colored globes descending over the audience, blocking our view of the stage for a few seconds. I like the globes, but not when they were lowered down right over our heads.

 

GREAT review, majgirl! I don't agree that the audience was that lame as you describe, it got pretty loud in there. I just think that most people were not familiar with the new album, yet, except for VLV. We didn't care, we rocked out to 42, Yes and Lost anyway, I wish they played two dates here!

[*Sarah*]

the video is so SO brilliant, thanks for sharing! :heart:

 

i can't fu... :censored: wait until september!!! :dance: :wacky:

[Jenjie]

the video is so SO brilliant, thanks for sharing! :heart:

 

i can't fu... :censored: wait until september!!! :dance: :wacky:

 

september? :angry: booooooooo! i have to wait til December :laugh3:

[*Sarah*]

oh okay, that's worse ;) but at the moment at least for me it feels like time's flying ;)

where are you gonna see them? it'd be really great if i could see them in london one day, but oh well, that's sort of complicated :rolleyes:

[Mimixxx]

That video is fantastic! Absolutely amazing. Thank you so much.

[A RUSH OF VIDA]

chris' voice sounds sooooooo much better in fix you

[Jenjie]

oh okay, that's worse ;) but at the moment at least for me it feels like time's flying ;)

where are you gonna see them? it'd be really great if i could see them in london one day, but oh well, that's sort of complicated :rolleyes:

 

I'll be seeing them in Manchester :) twice :D Somedays it doesn't seem so far away but, on the days where there are such great reviews & videos, it sometimes feels like its never gonna get here.

I think half the problem is I'd adjusted to not getting BBC tickets, and then they turned up on the doormat too late for me to arrange the time off work :cry:

[Cris_Santos]

the video is so SO brilliant, thanks for sharing!

 

i can't fu... wait until september!!!

 

 

september? :angry: booooooooo! i have to wait til December :laugh3:

 

December? :angry: big booooooooo! I have to wait til... til when? I don't know! If I'm lucky enough, 2009! I think I've won this :P :laugh3:

[Jenjie]

December? :angry: big booooooooo! I have to wait til... til when? I don't know! If I'm lucky enough, 2009! I think I've won this :P :laugh3:

 

think you may have me beat on that :laugh3: :kiss:

[Cris_Santos]

Oh noooooooooo!! When I tried to watch the video, look what I got: " Veoh is no longer available in BRAZIL." God damn it! Don't we deserve to watch fantastic videos too? :cry:

[concertkid]

Oh noooooooooo!! When I tried to watch the video, look what I got: " Veoh is no longer available in BRAZIL." God damn it! Don't we deserve to watch fantastic videos too? :cry:

 

 

Cris,

 

Veoh is not available in Brazil????

 

Damn, that's not cool.

 

Do you know about BitTorrent? If you want, I can upload the original .mpg clips to a torrent site so you can download it at your leisure.

 

Or, maybe you can suggest another video hosting site that allows 1.06 GB, 23 minute long videos, AND are viewable in Brazil? I will upload it there, too, let me know, please.

 

Cheers,

Nick

[Ultravioletlight25]

AWESOME video, including the acoustic set shot from 10 feet away:

 

 

When the lads run up the stairs for the acoustic set, you can hear me yelling "WE'RE RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM, YEAH!!! C'MON C'MON C'MON!!!", it's rather embarassing! You can hear another guy yelling "NO F'ING WAY!!!" and having a nervous breakdown.

 

It was mass chaos as fifty of us scrambled over the seats to get closer, with everyone standing on the chairs, angling for good views. Security came around and told everyone to stand down, so the camera is a bit shaky during those times.

 

At one point, Chris looks directly in my lens and holds his gaze for a few seconds... I thought he was going to tell me to stop filming. I guess he either thought twice about interrupting his talk, or else he was simply giving me a great moment.

 

The sound was quite loud in the arena, so the audio is a bit blown out during the stage numbers. The video is all right, though. The video is 23 minutes long, so it's best to allow the download bar to make it's way completely across the bottom of the screen before trying to view this, especially if you have a slow computer.

 

They were great last night, be sure to "study" Viva La Vida thoroughly before you go, it will make the experience far richer.

 

Cheers,

Nick

 

 

Nick you're video is AMAZING! Thank you so much for sharing!!!! Can I ask what did you use to record? I am going to see them next week and am trying to figure out whether I can sneak in with my camera :sneaky:

[Ultravioletlight25]

…..And then they broke out Yellow. For the first time the audience truly came alive! Kudos to the band for bringing it back in all its electric glory. People were up and singing like there was no tomorrow, and just like that the energy that had been so lacking seemed to hit this dismal crowd. People finally realized they were at a rock concert for God sake.

But for me the absolute highlight was Politik! I think I almost had a heart attack when the drums started pounding on this song and the rest of the audience couldn’t agree more. I was so sure they weren’t going to play it, and it was just beyond anything else that night the absolute best moment for me. Truly one of my favorite songs of all time and they did it full justice. None of the cutting down or rearranging annoyingly present in some of the other old material they played. It was loud and proud and really made you feel the band was just as happy to be playing it as you were to be hearing it.

The dove straight into Lost! after that, which was another one of the new songs the crowd actually embraced. It was phenomenal this song is better live than on the album which is saying something. Truly a gem. I especially enjoyed what I could only describe as Chris’s impression of being shot with a machine gun lol, that man can move. The crowd ate it up.

With the energy flowing once again the band made a bee line for the back of the venue to the elation of the those seated there, and played a beautiful rendition of The Hardest Part, this song has special meaning for me so I was overjoyed to hear it, and the acoustic setting suited it well. They followed it up with the “last song” only Chris soon let us know that of course it wasn’t really the last song, all we need do is scream really loud for an encore. Will was brilliant and the crowd showed their approval accordingly.

Now as I mentioned before I was expecting no encore so when we were graced with two it just proved to me we were dealing with one of the most gracious bands in the world. Fix You and Lovers in Japan were amazing. I have no appropriate words for the butterflies, their glowing effect worked the crowed into a frenzy of fans eager to grab a fistful at any cost. And their second return with Death and All His Friends made me appreciate the lyrics to this song for the first time. Very nicely done boys. I have to say I felt blessed to get the set list we did. I think it beats out the 2 L.A. shows for content so I was a very happy camper in that respect.

I will now close this horribly tediously boring review with some overall thoughts. First of all I believe the lack of a big projection screen through most of the concert was a mistake. Not only does it help set the mood for certain songs, but not being able to see the facial expressions of the band unless your in the first 15 rows was kind of a bummer, we missed Will!!! You cant see him at all without the screen shots, so in future I hope they bring it back. I cant even imagine what being in the balcony seats without one was like.

The “magic balls” turned out to be not so magical. I really feel bad about how much money it cost them after the effect was so less than stellar, they really came off like a glorified disco balls. And did not make a fitting substitute for the projection screen as the images were distorted and blurry at best.

I in no way understood the critiques of Martins dancing around too much. I thought he spent more time behind one instrument or another on this tour than the last one. Granted not the piano but he had his guitar strapped to him pretty consistently.

I do agree that at this point the band could benefit from doing a slightly longer show. It didn’t feel short, but with so much material out now, in order to do it justice it simply needs to be longer. Especially if their intent on playing nearly every song off the new album , which I understand is what their trying to promote but in their case they are not and never have been in my opinion a “singles” band which is going to make it harder for them. What I mean is that most songs if not all songs they’ve ever released are top notch quality leaving you feeling more let down when they play only their commercial hits than the average band would. A few times at the start of the concert it even felt like they were rushing through some of the older material to make it fit, not doing them proper justice. Having new material out doesn’t make the old material less deserving. And it might have helped the crowed adjust to the newer material it was clearly having problems excepting.

As an overall picture I would have to say the Twisted Logic Tour shows flowed better and felt more seamless and like a band really on top of its game, but to be fair this is the beginning of a tour so there is a lot of room for growth, and overall it was still a fantastic show. If only the rest of the audience could have figured that out sooner it would have been better. I’ll end with my compliments and apologies to the boys who made the best out of a less than enthusiastic crowd. I hope to catch them again next year if they are kind enough to come back. :D

 

Majgirl thank you so much for your review. It is definitely one of the best I have read. I definitely think that San Jose had the better setlist than the 2 previous shows. Politik and The Hardest Part are 2 of my favorite songs.

 

I am sorry to hear that the crowd though was pretty lame. Even in the video posted by Nick-- the crowd behind Chris was not even singing while he was doing "the hardest part" Maybe the sound is bad but the crowd also appears pretty quiet in the last line of Fix You. It's almost as if they were not going to sing that line until Chris waves at them. :\

 

I hate it when crowds are quiet -- i.e. sitting down and not even singing. It brings the energy way down and the band can definitely feel that. When the crowd is participating however the band puts in even more energy into the show. I saw Bon Jovi earlier this year in Chicago and the crowd was so loud that Bon Jovi came back after they were done and did an extra encore that they had not done in any other show during the tour. The crowd went wild!

 

I am going to see Coldplay in Chicago next week. I hope the crowd is loud. I know I will be dancing, screaming, and singing my heart out. :D

[Cold_Huntress]

Concertkid, your video is awesome! :D Thanks so much for sharing it! :D

[Cris_Santos]

Cris,

 

Veoh is not available in Brazil????

 

Damn, that's not cool.

 

Do you know about BitTorrent? If you want, I can upload the original .mpg clips to a torrent site so you can download it at your leisure.

 

Or, maybe you can suggest another video hosting site that allows 1.06 GB, 23 minute long videos, AND are viewable in Brazil? I will upload it there, too, let me know, please.

 

Cheers,

Nick

 

Aww thanks, you're so kind :smug2:

 

I believe Google video accept large files, as long as you use its Desktop Uploader --> https://upload.video.google.com/UploadInfo

 

But if you'd rather upload it as a torrent file, it's ok for me :D

 

After all those good comments I can't wait to see it :dance:

[concertkid]

Cris,

 

Excellent, I'll try uploading the video with the Google Uploader tonight when I get home from work. I'll post again once it's online.

 

Obrigado for your patience!

 

Nick