29-Nov-08 - Sheffield, Arena- Tickets, Meetups, Review/Photos - (ORIGINALLY 7 Dec 08)

[Texasluvsjonny]

^ Rachmaninoff

[chimpola]

We were on block 106, right at the end back when security taped us in! Odd, turned around and directly in front of me they had put up a makeshift stage! And i mean directly in front of us! We got to pat them all on the back as they came up onto the stage, I have some phone footage but cant upload at work.

 

At the end chris threw his harmonica into the block above us, it bounched and landed on the floor. my partner nat scurried under the tape and grabbed it! I told her to put it in her purse and be quiet as I didnt want anyone to mug her for it!.

 

So we had a great gig and we now have Chris's harmonica!!!!! Whoop! Shes been playing it all bloody weekend mind and she's proper dining out on the story!

[tisnowflake]

Erick Satie !

[Littlewhiteshadows]

We were on block 106, right at the end back when security taped us in! Odd, turned around and directly in front of me they had put up a makeshift stage! And i mean directly in front of us! We got to pat them all on the back as they came up onto the stage, I have some phone footage but cant upload at work.

 

At the end chris threw his harmonica into the block above us, it bounched and landed on the floor. my partner nat scurried under the tape and grabbed it! I told her to put it in her purse and be quiet as I didnt want anyone to mug her for it!.

 

So we had a great gig and we now have Chris's harmonica!!!!! Whoop! Shes been playing it all bloody weekend mind and she's proper dining out on the story!

 

Oh my God, you were next to my one of the people from my work, she told me that story!

[barney_tabasco]

^ Rachmaninoff

 

Which piece?

[barney_tabasco]

Erick Satie !

 

Which piece?

[Jenjie]

Coldplay kit flies into Donny

 

Published Date: 01 December 2008

Robin Hood Airport took centre stage as equipment belonging to one of the world's biggest bands touched down in the region ahead of a sell-out gig in Sheffield.

 

Coldplay, who begin their UK tour at Sheffield Arena on Saturday, have just finished the US leg of their world tour and have flown almost 37-tonnes of gear to South Yorkshire directly from Phoenix, Arizona.

 

The equipment, which included the band's guitars, drums and mixers, was brought to Doncaster on a Boeing 767 freighter courtesy of CargoJet, Canada's leading cargo airline.

 

Doncaster Sheffield Airport has one of only two airports with long haul runways in the north of England and the ability to handle such high profile cargo straight into the heart of the city region has been hailed by airport chiefs.

 

Paul Rodwell, cargo director at Peel Airports, said: "It's an impressive sight seeing the equipment of one of the world's biggest bands being quickly and effectively unloaded into five articulated lorries!

 

"But more so, it represents a significant coup for Robin Hood Airport and shows the capability we have to receive cargo of such size from a long haul destination.

 

"We are a well-established cargo airport and have the potential to grow our cargo infrastructure as well as developing the long haul capabilities, as outlined in our draft master plan, and hopefully the benefits of this can be felt across the region sooner rather than later.

 

"It is of obvious benefit to establishments like Sheffield Arena and will only help to attract more high-profile acts and events to Yorkshire."

 

http://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/free/Coldplay-kit-flies-into-Donny.4747770.jp

[busybeeburns]

A Question Of Sound #4: Confronting Those Coldplay-Shaped Demons

 

The date is 29 November. It’s a Saturday night and I’m clutching two tickets for Coldplay’s grand homecoming gig in my right hand. It’s a strange and not entirely comfortable sensation.

 

I’ve climbed the concrete steps to Sheffield’s Hallam FM Arena on just two occasions, and for good reason, too; its enormous stage generally plays host to revolving cast of nastiness – Cliff Richard is coming soon, along with a line-up of 80’s has-beens, High School Musical On Ice (I kid you not), and Girls Aloud. Actually, I wouldn’t mind seeing Girls Aloud, but there’s very little else to get excited about on the Coming Attractions list. As my pulse begins to race (the work of those steps, not a surge of adrenaline), I start questioning myself: what I’m hoping to get out of tonight? A snarky put-down masked as a live review? Probably. It would be fun to write, but would anyone derive any value from such an article? Is there anybody out there who hasn’t made their mind up about Coldplay yet? I doubt it.

 

I have a chequered history with Coldplay. Eight years ago, overcome by the euphoria of finishing my ‘A’ levels, I made a fateful decision that still haunts me to this day: I awarded Parachutes the coveted 10/10 rating. I have an array of excuses, youthful naivety and temporary insanity among them, but, if I’m brutally honest, I still consider Coldplay’s debut to be a reasonably worthy record (a 7 perhaps), and I can fully appreciate how it catapulted the band to international stardom. What Chris Martin and his relatively anonymous friends have commited to tape since has been, with a few notable exceptions, horribly dull, but in that respect the Coldplay story really isn’t much different to that of one of the band’s major influences, U2. The only difference is that U2 enjoyed a much more productive period of relevance; once it had expired, however, the fallout – faceless arena shows, political posturing, bland records accompanied by bold promises – was largely the same.

 

Given my longstanding indifference to Coldplay and the sheer volume of great, non-Coldplay related music that I own, it’s no surprise that, beyond the singles, I haven’t spent a great deal of time getting to know Viva La Vida. Just because I enjoy writing about music, it doesn’t mean I that I feel a need to listen to any particular release; the idea of a perceived importance based on commercial success rather irritates me, actually. In a similar fashion, I have also managed to successfully exclude The Killers, Kings of Leon and Snow Patrol from my life, rendering my personal world a rather happy little place. You should try it sometime.

 

But, just when I thought I knew where this feature was headed (because, let’s face it, I was practically writing it from my seat in row ZZZ), Coldplay arrived and – much to my surprise (oh, ok, my disgust, too) – didn’t completely bore me. And Chris Martin seemed... well, almost human. While a lot of the music did mesh into an inoffensive, pedestrian whole, there were actual standouts, too. Put simply, Coldplay managed to stay on the good side of middling long enough to force me to put my carefully sharpened knives away and actually listen to the music. And some of it wasn’t half bad.

 

I’ve always had a soft spot for The Scientist; tonight the band performed it from an elevated position in the second tier, right at the back in the arena; ok, so it was a lame stadium rock trick, but it couldn’t stifle a stripped-down, honest performance of one of the band’s signature tunes; bizarrely, the ending of the song incorporated a chorus from Take That’s Back For Good. Who was it that said Chris Martin was humourless automaton? Oh, that was me! Sorry, Chris, I partially retract that statement. In contrast, another apparent fan favourite, In My Place, sounded embarrassingly weak, providing a wholly inappropriate soundtrack to some comical rock star moves from Martin and guitarist Jonny Buckland; there’s a reason this track hasn’t been liscensed to the Guitar Hero franchise, after all.

 

As the evening progressed, I couldn’t help but feel that the real jewel in Coldplay’s live crown is not Chris Martin but – and stick with me on this – drummer Will Champion. Not only does Champion come across as the most likeable member of Coldplay, but his muscular drumming seemed to single-handedly carry many of the band’s songs, particularly the newer material. This was a surprise to me, as I’d barely noticed his contributions on record, and, when I saw the band at the much smaller Leadmill venue way back in 2000, I distinctly remember feeling that he and Berryman were limiting factors in the band’s live sound. Yet when the band relocated to an illuminated mini-stage to perform a techno version of Talk, which had Champion bashing away on electronic drum pads, the presence of his thunderous live kit was sorely missed. (I know this song started life as a Kraftwerk rip-off, but this laughable flirtation with synth-pop was truly nauseating and it smacked of a desperate attempt at injecting some variety into the set.)

 

When there’s little of substance going on in terms of guitar and bass, a strong rhythm track is essential, which explains Champion’s dominant role on the likes of Violet Hill and Speed of Sound. The more I thought about this, the more I realised that Coldplay’s stronger cuts are either acoustic/piano ballads or percussion-heavy rockers in which Messrs. Buckland and Berryman contribute little more than window dressing. Or, at most, a knocked off riff from Joe Satriani. Oh, sorry, that was just a coincidence. For all his posing during In My Place, there are precious few tracks – only Shiver spings to mind – on which Jonny Buckland is leading the way. For one of the world’s biggest rock bands, this strikes me as a sad state of affairs.

 

But I feel I must sign off on a positive note, because I did leave this show with the faintest hint of a smile on my face. The band members might look ridiculous in those military-inspired outfits (Adam Ant, anyone?) and the idea of four millionaires playing throwaway pop songs in front of Eugène Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People is bordering on the offensive, but, despite all of that, it’s still possible to enjoy an evening in the presence of Coldplay. Even if you’re wary of the band’s records, Chris Martin and his chums do know how to put on a show. It might be a clichèd, stadium-filling show, but isn’t that what we come to places like the Hallam FM Arena for?

 

http://www.noripcord.com

[busybeeburns]

Coldplay - Viva La Sheffield - 29/11/08

 

Coldplay - Viva La Sheffield - 29/11/08

 

Freezing fog was the order of the night in the heart of the city, as cars and coaches of fans carefully navigated into the car parks around Sheffield Arena, and to the respective ticket concourses. Inside, the 14,000 something audience, ages ranging between 7-70, quickly filled out the seats as black veils suspended from ceiling platforms were rolled down in front of the stage set up for this opening night.

 

While the house lights were still up, a piped feed of the classical Blue Danube eased any doubts I had earlier about echoey acoustics, then at 9:30pm sharp, Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland on lead guitar, Guy Berryman on bass and Will Champion on drums took to the stage. They launched with a short instrumental, Life In Techicolor, jamming behind the veils which rose for Violet Hill, revealing all to the audience who gave the band a respectable standing ovation and remained that way for the rest of the evening. Chris alternatively added "If you are at the first England concert, won't you let me know" as the closing line to rapturous applause.

 

Clocks consisted of lasers shooting various beams across the arena, before a set of globes featuring a montage of colours were lowered from the lighting platforms, setting the scene for Speed Of Sound. Next, 2 numbers from the new Viva La Vida album, firstly introducing Cemetries Of London as an apology for the change of date (originally should have taken place the following Sunday) and to blame Chris or his haircut for f'king up anyone's plans including The X Factor! An excellent 42 followed with a 70's style television set centre stage projecting live images onto the big screen backdrop.

 

Chris encouraged the audience to sing along to Fix You but wasn't really necessary as a choir of Yorkshire voices were already in song. Boy, they were good!

 

Settling down at the piano on one of the extended stage walkways, Chris joked that "he had a spot on his forehead the size of the Isle Of Wight" before, perhaps appropriately, singing the opening words of The Hardest Part, then suddenly announcing " that he didn't want to play this and let's play Trouble, very quickly changing the pace! Remaining at the piano, techno versions of God Put A Smile Upon My Face and Talk followed.

 

At this point, those high up in the tiers had to watch from 2 large screens either side of the ceiling above the floor or looking down with binoculars at the stage, as the show stewards began 'sealing off' the floor sections from entering the aisles. I started to wonder whether this was some sort of restraint as the crowd were mostly well behaved from where I was standing with the exception of someone reprehanded for filming or standing on their chair.

 

Politik featured another alternative lyric acknowledging the "14,000 people from Yorkshire watching us" sang by Chris and Will Champion performing an energetic drum routine in sequence to the strobe lighting effects. All evening, his drum work was a joy to watch.

 

We were in for a surprise when the quartet unexpectedly hurried past us along the aisle (explaining the sealed off floor audience) and onto a platform in the middle of the crowd at the back, playing acoustically and slowing the evening down with The Scientist, changing the closing chords to lyrics from Take That's Back For Good. Introduced as the great tradition of singing drummers, Will Champion had a chance to showcase his vocal talents with the upbeat Death Will Never Conquer, to an appreciative audience.

 

Returning to the stage, millions of flourescent paper butterflies rained down from the ceiling during a rocking Lovers In Japan, then another set of veils unveiled VIVA as the backdrop for an excellent rendition of Death and All His Friends as the final number. An anticipatory foot stamping ovation commenced for the encore, as Chris came back on under the spotlight and asked "Is there anything we forgot to play?" Chores of Yellow echoed amongst the Yorkshire choir one more time, as he and the band launched it as the song that first brought them to Sheffield, and will eventually kick them out of there!

 

Eagles Babe 18 @ http://www.rockphiles.com