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7-Dec-08 - Liverpool, Echo Arena - Meetups, Review/Photos (originally 10-Dec)


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1 in 4 at the Echo.

 

The capacity of the Liverpool Echo Arena is 8000 tonight. 2044 of them made the Health and Education For All pledge, in just under 3 hours, thanks to our incredible Oxfam campaigners. For many of them, it was their first time volunteering with Oxfam. That’s a pretty good first time campaigning, by any account.. 1 in 4 signed up. Wow.

 

Chris Martin is currently singing ‘The Hardest Part’. The volunteers effort tonight has certainly ensured that Liverpool is not the hardest part of this tour for me. I think it’s great when so many people join in. That’s like the whole floor area of the arena standing up at once, in unison, against poverty. All those people believing that governments should do more to provide people with their basic rights to good quality healthcare and education. Imagine if you just took away all the running taps, plasters, first aid workers, and hygienic cooking areas in this venue. The show probably wouldn’t happen. If nobody had access to an education, there might not even be anyone working here. But they are. Why couldn’t the same thing happen anywhere? Good quality and affordable healthcare and education are some of the things many countries’ prosperity is built on. It’s not a new idea. Oxfam believes it’s about time everyone had the same chance.

 

2044 people can make a lot of noise if they want to. When joined by all the tens of thousands of others, who have signed up with Oxfam on this ‘Viva’ Coldplay tour, in 2008, the noise is loud and clear. Change is possible. One person can make a big difference.

 

Just look at those 4 people on stage singing the last chorus of ‘Viva La Vida’. They wrote a song. Now people are singing it even when they have stopped. That’s quite a powerful thing. When people join together on a cause they can be even more powerful. That’s what governments need. They need to know that people care and want to help change the world.

 

Who knows.. All those people screaming for an encore in there could be the tipping point.

 

I can hear the volume has dipped inside. ‘Green Eyes’ is now being sung out in the arena. I still can’t quite get over 1 in 4. Incredible stuff. We only had 20 volunteers.. Imagine if we’d had 80!

 

http://www.oxfamblogs.org/coldplay/?p=127

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Roadie #42 - Blog #59

December 7, 2008 8:18 pm

#42 and the nasty flu

 

Don't get too close, readers. I'm full of cold. Being ill on tour (OK, I know, it's only the sniffles and a sore throat...) is a pretty rubbish experience. If I had a sensible job, I would have called in sick and spent the day under the duvet feeling sorry for myself. That's not really an option in my line of work, so instead, I've turned up to a cold and draughty arena and felt sorry for myself here. Really, I should get the juicer going in catering and load up on healthy vitamins. Maybe later. For now, tablets, vitamin water and self pity are the order of the day.

 

So what's been happening here? Well, we finished up in Birmingham. The third night's crowd are memorable particularly for a rather excellent bout of Mexican Wave-ing (if indeed such a term exists) before the show. Then, after two glorious days off, we arrived up in Glasgow.

 

The SECC in Glasgow is where we started the UK arena shows on the Rush Of Blood tour. It all seemed very huge and grown up back then. The show that we have today is immense in comparison and the band on stage are no longer finding their feet and learning their craft. They now seem very comfortable, confident and capable on an arena stage. Of course, the one thing that hasn't changed is the Glasgow crowd - ever reliable as some of the best voices on the planet. They're in fine voice this evening and not only belt out the biggies like Fix You and Viva, but they're singing melodies from within all the songs - not just the vocals, but the guitar parts too. Good work folks!

 

We get back to our rather splendid hotel, a grand old manor house, and find that there is a wedding party in. We're all sitting around the bar for a swifty when someone's acoustic guitar comes out and the voices are off again. Will and Jonny shyly decline an invitation to give them a song, but this doesn't dampen their enthusiasm one jot and they're giving it loads deep into the night. There's definitely something in the water up here....

 

Right, I'm going to find a flightcase to curl up on and I'll catch up with ya again in a couple of days. Meantime, I should leave you with a quick tale of Roadie glory. Bash is Will's drumtech. He's been with the band for a very long time now and is one of the most colourful characters on the road (which is saying something...). In Bash's younger (and more single) days, the back lounge of the bus was referred to as "Bash's office" for reasons we'll draw a veil over for now. So when this leg began and the 'core crew' found themselves on a "star bus", the choice for who got the insanely oversized bedroom at the back was obvious. Here's Bash enjoying his new home....

 

Bash.jpg

 

Roadie #42

 

http://www.coldplay.com/newsdetail.php?id=236

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WOW!!! That was awesome, excellent, incredible, amazing, great!!! I got some butterflies, whoop! Life In Technicolor ii was one of the best moments of my life. Lovers In Japan was one of the best moments of my life too. The whole show was one of the best moments of my life! My voice is wrecked and my hands are nearly bleeding from clapping so much, but I don't care :D I also saw Xavi Alonso (Liverpool player) and Robbie Fowler (ex-Liverpool, current Blackburn), so that was pretty darn cool.

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If my memory is correct...

 

Life In Technicolor

Violet Hill

Clocks

In My Place

Speed Of Sound

Yellow

Chinese Sleep Chant

42

Fix You

Strawberry Swing

 

God Put A Smile (Techno version)

Talk (Dance Version)

The Hardest Part (Chris on piano)

Postcards From Far Away (Chris on piano and some guitar magic from Jonny)

 

Viva La Vida

Lost

 

Green Eyes

Death Will Never Conquer

 

Viva La Vida (Dance remix)

 

Politik (plus Chris piano solo at the end)

Lovers In Japan

Death And All His Friends

 

The Scientist

Life In Technicolor ii

The Escapist

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Absolutely awesome! Just got back and Im still on a massive high, it was just incredible. Life in Technicolour ii was just brilliant live, and Fix You as always. The guys can come back to the Echo Arena anytime, preferably tomorrow :D

I've got a few videos I'll post up when I get into Uni tomorrow! Hope everyone else had a great time :)

x

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/kavita41/ My photos uploading verrrry slowly. Here's a couple:

 

3091236378_90c3e6a346.jpg

 

3091274406_f893b07605.jpg

 

Vids:

 

Hardest Part

[ame=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=cBTpNZp9Dw8]YouTube - Coldplay - The Hardest Part Live - Liverpool Echo Arena 7/12/08[/ame]

 

Life in Technicolor 2

[ame=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=idime6U7D3E]YouTube - Coldplay Life in Technicolor 2 ii Live - Liverpool Echo Arena 7/12/08[/ame]

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