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4-Mar-2009: Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, Australia - Tickets, Meetups, Reviews/Photos


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wasn’t going to the second Melbourne Coldplay concert expecting to worship at the altar. In fact it’s probably fair to say that at best I was hoping to get through the experience without getting too bored and restless and dampening the enthusiasm of my lovely companion. I can be noble like that.

 

See, I have a confession to make – I don’t own a Coldplay album. Obviously I’ve heard their big songs on the radio and I’ve liked them enough not to change the station. But for some reason my feelings have never gone beyond ‘respectful’ and ‘mildly entertained’. It’s like I knew I ‘should’ like them more but something was getting in the way. It was probably the fact that most of their albums came out in the last decade when I struggled to like any new music.

 

I say this, not because you should care less (both of you reading this) but in order to provide some context for the next statement.

 

What a bloody great concert!

 

Coldplay have pretty much mastered the arena show. They provide a visual feast that allows them to far exceed the inherent performance qualities of the songs. The attention to detail is astounding. They come on stage in costumes that look like Ragamuffin Pirates blended with Sgt Peppers, blended with Revolutionary Civil War Soldiers. The overall effect is like Dexys Midnight Runner’s at a formal dinner. And it works – we feel like there is a show being presented.

 

Their instruments, from Will Champions drums to Johnny Buckland’s guitars to Chris Martin’s keyboards and even microphone are all customised with slashes of colour. It’s a small thing but it makes a big statement about their intentions.

 

Their use of the big screens is the best I’ve seen – the higher resolution picture quality available these days is used to full effect so that the screens become a device of intimacy and not apology.

 

Then there’s the props – huge yellow balls bounce around the arena for Yellow, autumn leaves/butterfly shaped confetti drops en masse later in the show and they make use of two runways and three stages – one being located in the heart of the audience (about 5 metres from our seats as luck would have it – see Amy’s photo for proof!)

 

Give the Production Designer a good seat on the tour bus!

 

For a more casual acquaintance of their music like me the show started off with a run of hits that left me wondering what I would do with myself for the next hour. Clocks, In My Place and Yellow all featured in the first few songs. The latter found Chris Martin asking the audience to sing along in the (tongue in cheek) hope that they would release the version as a single and be “bigger than U2”. This reference to the recent war of words in the British press with Bono was genuinely funny and delivered with a big smile. Martin asked the journalists in the audience not to report that comment but fortunately I’m no longer a journalist, just another wanker with a website!

 

The audiences finest moment vocally though was in Fix You when their massed vocal sounded great – again proving the theory that audience sing-a-longs sound much better when there is a majority of female voices in the audience.

 

Chris Martin isn’t the greatest singer in rock music, but he works with what he’s got cleverly. He actually has some jazz stylings in his vocals that work really well, although one doubts he would have married a film star had he been a jazz singer. That’s a cross he seems able to bear.

 

He is a great performer though – he’s a frontman for a band, but he’s still very much a band member and team player. When the band adjourned to the “audience stage” for an acoustic set including Speed Of Sound and Green Eyes as well as Death Will Never Conquer sung by Will) they looks like they are playing on a tiny corner stage at a little London pub. Somehow 16000 Aussies managed to get in. And he’s not afraid to have a laugh at his own expense which surely endears him to Australian audiences.

 

Other highlights of the set included the title track of Viva La Vida and the encore song The Scientist which even I have to admit is a superbly crafted combination of words and music.

 

Coldplay’s performance certainly won me over in a big way. I still wont be playing their albums as frequently as I play my old World Party records (while wistfully wondering how big they would have been if Karl Wallinger had been handed the performance charisma bestowed on Chris Martin), but Coldplay have certainly leapt up my personal rankings many places.

 

They hardly need another fan but, like it or not, they have one!

 

http://www.heyheymymy.com.au/2009/03/05/coldplay-concert-review/

 

World Party??? Pffffffffft!!!!! Whle your at it get out your Lionel Ritchie collection. I'm not surprised that your expectations were surpassed.

 

Leaves me wondering though are you better to go into a concert like this fresh or having thrashed cd's and dvds as I have in the last fortnight? I guess Ill find out tonight at the final show. Jenjii too much time for coldplayingon your hands.

 

Have fun tonight everyone

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:O I was there last night too!! Not only was it the first time I'd seen Coldplay live, it was the first concert I'd ever been too... and it honestly blew me away!! I'm pretty sure I was annoying the people behind and beside me though because I kept screaming and standing up and yelling out all the lyrics :P

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:O I was there last night too!! Not only was it the first time I'd seen Coldplay live, it was the first concert I'd ever been too... and it honestly blew me away!! I'm pretty sure I was annoying the people behind and beside me though because I kept screaming and standing up and yelling out all the lyrics :P

 

Good on you! Me and my mate were standing up too and belting out EVERY lyric, and the people around us hardly knew half the songs!!!

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i have an extra ticket for the march 14 saturday concert at ACER ARENA, SYDNEY. i'm selling the ticket at cost price, $120. desperately need to sell!!! hope someone who needs a ticket views this.

 

the seat is in the silver reserved seating section 81, closer to the stage than other silver sections. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF INTERESTED Tickets to this show have been sold out for a while now!

 

call 043 252 6694

 

thanks!

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i have an extra ticket for the march 14 saturday concert at ACER ARENA, SYDNEY. i'm selling the ticket at cost price, $120. desperately need to sell!!! hope someone who needs a ticket views this.

 

the seat is in the silver reserved seating section 81, closer to the stage than other silver sections. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF INTERESTED Tickets to this show have been sold out for a while now!

 

call 043 252 6694

 

thanks!

 

 

Post this in the actual event date thread for the show it will be. Good luck!

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Hey does anyone remember which song it was that, when Chris was at the piano, he was acting like he couldn't bring himself to sing the last notes of the song? He was falling this way and that in his chair, rubbing his head, looking stressed and exhausted, and then all of a sudden he let out this huge, powerful note to end the song... only I can't for the life of me remember which song it was!! Anyone help??

 

Btw, I'm writing a recount of the night if anyone's interested :)

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Hey does anyone remember which song it was that, when Chris was at the piano, he was acting like he couldn't bring himself to sing the last notes of the song? He was falling this way and that in his chair, rubbing his head, looking stressed and exhausted, and then all of a sudden he let out this huge, powerful note to end the song... only I can't for the life of me remember which song it was!! Anyone help??

 

Btw, I'm writing a recount of the night if anyone's interested :)

Sounds like "42"!!

 

Video from March 3rd:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdfal7b_wac]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdfal7b_wac[/ame]

 

I love it when he does that... :wink3:

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