19-Jul-2009: Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, Irvine, CA - Tickets, Previews, Meetups, Reviews, Setlis

[LFDianne]

WOW! You are so lucky to be able to go on such an adventure =] How much were the plane tickets and you are gonna be in the pit for that performance? You should make a sign or something!!! It's gonna be so bittersweet.....great to be there but sad that it will be their last in a while! Be sure to keep us posted and post lots of pictures!

 

I was able to use frequent flier miles for my plane ticket, and I am going to stay Saturday night in Atlanta with a good friend. Then I fly to Tampa early Sunday morning. I am so excited, and that I got a pit ticket. The pit is really big, though, not like the pit at Verizon in Irvine, which was only like 160 people. I'm meeting some other coldplayers, there, too. I've thought about making a sign, I need to come up with something good.

[Jenjie]

The hardest part is sitting down and thinking of how to describe the concert in this post. I can say that its indescribable, beyond my expectations and the best concert i’ve been to. The lighting, the music, the crowd, everything were just the perfect combination.

 

They played a lot of the old music. Clocks, Yellow, In My Place, The Scientist and much more. And of course the new stuff, Viva La Vida and Violet Hill. When they played ‘Yellow’, they dropped yellow balloons on the crowd. The band even walked in the middle of the crowd and sang Billie Jean as a tribute to MJ. On our way out, they gave us this CD called ‘Left.Right.Left.Right.Left’ that has all their great music live.

 

Five hours of waiting in traffic to get there. On the way back, it was around half an hour of traffic because the state suddenly decided it wants to repave a two mile section of the I-5 freeway at 1 A.M on a sunday.

 

http://www.puddleofred.com/blog/?p=2692

[Jenjie]

Coldplay convert in the OC

 

Yes. I did mean to use that word, "Convert."

 

Prior to last night I'd been a fan of the band, just not a super freak for Coldplay.

 

But, that was prior to about 9:05 pm last night. Because, I am now.

 

Mind you, I'd been very excited to learn we had tickets for an A-list event like this. But, I have to admit, I really had no idea what I was in for going to a Coldplay concert.

 

The Coldplay concert last Sunday was massive in the true meaning of the word. It was multi-sensory experience, and larger than life and an event that clearly a great deal of thought and planning and expense had gone into.

 

I should have known things would be massive given just the size of the tickets. This event was so huge even the tickets were airplane-ticket sized.

 

Amadou & Mariam is a West African group opening for Coldplay and they so rocked the place. Their music was infectious and had us up and dancing in our seats well before sundown or before Coldplay's limos even arrived in Irvine. I would have been happy to hear them again -- I loved Talking Heads and it's clear to hear the influence of West African music has had on their music. Great stuff. Also, they had these two gorgeous women dancers who were, maybe, two of the best dancers I've ever seen. Serious dancing going on w/ the Amidou girls...Hot, hot, hot.

 

The seats were filling up. The sky was still light.

 

Pete and I invented a game called "spot the cougar couples." There seemed to have been a sale on young men at South Coast Plaza this weekend. Either that, or the moms in the OC are way cool. And, I think we know what's really going on, here.

 

Okay, back to Coldplay.

 

The evening was perfect. The air not too hot, not too cool. As the light faded from the sky things just got better and better.

 

Coldplay was spectacular. It got me on every level: Audibly, visually, spiritually -- you just had to move the entire night. We had amazing seats, but never sat once. We were up moving, dancing, watching and trying to soak up very morsel of the evening. Didn't want to miss one thing. I was carried away on a magic carpet of music and thought and looking at things in ways I hadn't expected to -- I adored it all.

 

Hard to pick a favorite moment from the lovely, flow of music and light and sound, but "Haiku" in particular, about blew my mind. I loved the entire production of that number. It was heavenly.

 

It started out with a back drop of clips from black and white movies running fast speed into a montage of interesting clips that increased speed and more and more included footage of some 1950's videos of cherry blossoms blooming and some history of haikus, I think, and then, without warning suddenly the once open, starry night sky was suddenly flooded and raining down tiny paper butterflies all over the audience.

 

Just like a snow storm fluttering down around our heads. At first the butterfly snow was in primary colors. Thousands of fragile paper butterflies everywhere. Everywhere. Like snow. I put my hand out, palm up and just opened my hand and a tiny blue butterfly softly landed in it. Then I put out my other hand and a little red paper butterfly landed in that one, too. As if someone had deliberately, gently placed them there. I was astonished.

 

Then, I peered up again into the night sky I saw, yet one more cloud of more paper butterflies falling like snow, again, and these were even more vibrant - these were fluttering down in neon colors. And after that there were more explosions of butterflies falling from the stars twinkling and shimmery rainbow colored butterflies. Tiny explosions of color softly falling around us. It was extraordinary. I felt like I was a child of two, again. My eyes welled up with emotion at the sheer beauty and epic scope of it all. I was overwhelmed by what Martin and Coldplay were giving back to us all of us. Call it corny, but it was very moving. With any other performer this kind of deliberate "giving back to the audience" would have seemed completely contrived or empty...But, not with them. We all felt the love and joy and it was pure and childlike and profound and, frankly, a whole lot of fun.

 

They were determined to connect with all of us, not just us fools in the pricey, front section, but way, way back. So, several songs were done surprisingly once from the middle of the second section and then even, way, way, way up high in the nosebleed section.

 

Coldplay was bending backwards to connect with everyone there that night and not have that predictable fourth wall up that most big rock groups have. It was a socialist performance, I guess. Good seats for everyone.

 

More memorable moments from Louise on the Left...

 

During "Fix You" the camera panned back into the audience and I noticed one black and white face seemed very familiar singing along with the lead singer: It was Paltrow. The look of love on her face was evident and moving and adorable, I have to admit.

 

At one point, Coldplay broke into an accoustic version of "Billy Jean." Which was unexpected and moving and carried not a hint of gratuitous explanation about why it was necessary. It was a graceful nod to Jackson's legacy.

 

http://louiselarsen.blogspot.com/2009/07/coldplay-convert-in-oc.html

[Jenjie]

My dad was dropping off my mom, my sister, and me to avoid the trouble of getting a parking space, so we left the house around 6 PM. The show was at "7:30" (I'll explain the quotation marks later.) My dad was so paranoid that we'd be late, so I had to reassure him that there's an opening act anyways. I didn't and still don't know who the opening act was. Anyway, getting to the exit was horrible.

 

In addition to the horrible exit traffic, it took about 15 minutes to get into the actual amphitheater area. To get there, we have to go across some trail. I think it was a way to seclude the amphitheater from the rest of Irvine. I'd go to Wild Rivers (a water park), and I'd always see billboards and signs saying "Irvine Verizon Wireless Amphitheater." In my head, I'm just wondering WHERE THE FUCK IS IT?!? When we reached the amphitheater area, there are tons of stands, some for food, advertising, and MERCHANDISE. I told myself that I'd buy one of the gorgeous shirts, but when I saw the price tag, I freaked out. FOURTY FUCKING DOLLARS?!?!? I saw the same ones on http://coldplay.com/ for twenty-five! My mom and I are planning to buy them online. I still wanted the tour program and the bag though.

 

Concert nights are strange. I'm almost never hungry and never tired until I reach home. I think I run on adrenaline. Also to be quite honest, most of the time before the concert, I wasn't excited at all. I was bored to death, especially since Idol was 2 days before.

Coldplay didn't start until 9 PM, which explained the amphitheater not being full until about 8:45. When they came out playing "Life in Technicolor", they came out with a bang.

 

That song's an instrumental, JSYK. Most of this is quite a blur, so I'll go through my tour program to guide me. HA. "Violet Hill" is an amazing song (one of my favorites on Viva la Vida), and it was well-sang, as per usual. During this time, I get my cell phone out to call Sarina, who really wanted a cellcast. "Clocks" and "In My Place" are also great songs, well-done performances, and mesmerizing lighting, but they just didn't stick out for me. When "Yellow" came on, I just freaked. There were yellow balls coming from the air, thrown up in the air like beach balls. It was great. I also could have sworn that I saw Gwyneth Paltrow in the audience; I saw her on the screen. Or maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me. I'll believe that I saw her. Sarina had also given up on cellcasting, so I hung up on her and enjoyed the rest of my night standing, singing, and screaming (They all start with "s"!). Too bad Sarina hung up at the wrong time since "Glass of Water" is one of her favorite Coldplay songs. SUCKA.

 

"Cemeteries of London" and "42" had only recently grown on me (I used to skip those 90% of the times I'd listen to them on my iPod, iTunes library, etc.). Now, I really enjoy those songs, especially "42." After those songs was a fan favorite, "Fix You". Not going to even lie, it's probably my favorite from X&Y. Gah <3. Unfortunately, less people were standing up as the band began playing "Strawberry Swing". I think it's because it's quite an unpopular song among a casual Coldplay fan. I know that it's the least played out of all the songs in Viva la Vida in my library, but it's still a great song.

After "Strawberry Swing", the band went up to a mini-stage set toward the back of the amphitheater to play more and interact with the fans farther in the back. I thought that was a great way to do so. They played "God Put A Smile Upon Your Face", "Talk", "The Hardest Part", and "Postcards from Far Away". The arrangement of "Talk" was different, so I had no idea what the song was at first. However, I noticed myself singing to it like it was second nature. Have you ever done that? Have you ever sang a song, knowing every single word but having no idea what the song was? It wasn't the first time I did that. I freaked out when they played "The Hardest Part" because not only did I love the, I knew that right after, it'd lead to "Postcards From Far Away". I played "Postcards" for National Guild for piano, and I totally rocked it. Obviously, I was not going to be better at Chris Martin when I played it, but I was proud. It was great hearing it live by the original composers themselves. After their stint on the mini-stage, they went back to the main stage, playing "Viva la Vida". That song was another fan favorite. The minute the drum came on, everyone (including my mother and sister) was on their feet. Many, including myself, were singing their hearts out. After "Viva", "Lost!" came on. I love that song so much, especially the piano only one ("Lost?").

Currently, I'm looking at the tour program, and I'm a bit irritated that they didn't play "Speed of Sound". Maybe because too many people would think that it sounded like "Clocks". However, there was a better replacement. As the band went to the other mini-stage set up, Chris had asked us to do a cell-phone wave.

 

Right after this cell phone wave, Coldplay covered "Billie Jean". I was freaking out. It was such a big deal that it was probably the only thing I tweeted during the entire show.

 

After "Billie Jean", they played "Green Eyes" <3. It was awesome live. They ran back down to the main stage and sang one of my favorite songs, "Politik". The lights were just so enchanting, going with every single beat of the piano.

 

Arguably one of my top three performances of the night was "Lovers in Japan". Not only was it well sang, but it was beautifully lit and there were paper butterflies coming from the air!

 

BEAUTIFUL. Their "last" song was "Death and All His Friends", which is ironically the last song on the Viva CD. Love, love, love it! They bowed at the end, and everyone was cheering their asses off. I knew it wasn't the end though. I just felt it. They left the stage, and everyone sang the "oh oh OHHHH oh oh" part in "Viva la Vida" to bring them back. And so they did. Chris began with the piano in "The Scientist" and then soon, Jonny, Will, and Guy came out as well. At this point, I was singing my heart out and (almost) crying, as this was one of my favorite songs of all-time. It was sang with such emotion. *Swoons.* After "The Scientist", they played their official last song, "Life in Technicolor ii". It's a continuation of "Life in Technicolor" with lyrics.

 

AFTERTHOUGHTS

AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING! I had never been to a Coldplay concert before, and this sealed the deal. Whenever they're coming back to anywhere in LA or Orange County, I'm going to see them. In YouTube videos and during the concert, I noticed that Chris Martin, the lead singer (and pianist), humps the piano. Kris Allen does that too. I actually find that really hot. LOL. It just shows that he's really passionate when he plays, and I wish I could bring that passion into my own piano-playing. Minus the humping :). I got the Leftrightleftrightleft CD on their website the day it came out, and as another souvenir, I got the physical copy at the venue exit. I wanted to get one for my friend, but the people passing them out wouldn't let me :(. Oh well.

 

http://whoaaatraceyy.livejournal.com/35089.html

[Jenjie]

There are certain parenting milestones that make all the sleepless nights, whining, chaos and mess worth it. We had one of our very best ones yet on Sunday night.

 

We took our oldest son to see Coldplay in concert at the Verizon Amphitheatre in Irvine. He’s a huge Coldplay fan, knows all their songs but is only 10 and I wasn’t sure if it would be entertaining enough for him for the whole evening and I didn’t want to hear ‘I’m bored’ in the middle of a concert I really wanted to enjoy. I asked if he’d like to go and he bounced up and down with excitement. I’d say that was a yes!

 

He looked a bit bored during the warm up acts. It was a bit dull, no bright lights, no energy amongst the crowd, no songs we knew, so I could see him thinking there was nothing special about a concert.

 

Then Coldplay walked onto the stage. The noise, lights, the crowd going wild, he was memorized. He knew every single song they played so was singing his heart out and dancing, pretending he was playing the drums and waving his British flag. People around us were smiling at his excitement and enthusiasm.

 

Coldplay are such a fantastic band live. I feel like I’m watching regular guys who, if I met them, would just chat to me. There’s no airs and graces, they just happen to be amazing and passionate about what they do.

 

One of the first songs they sang was ‘Yellow’ and they released huge yellow balls into the audience. They were released behind us so we didn’t see them coming, all of a sudden, they just came flying over our heads and we caught them and threw them across the crowd.

 

Coldplay also move around the audience to sing their songs. They moved up to a tiny stage just 10 rows in front of us for a few songs, so we could really see the band members. Later on in the concert, they moved up to the lawn at the Verizon Amphitheatre, the crowd went wild. They thought they’d only see little figures down on the stage in the distance and all of a sudden, the band is there, right in front of them. Then you know they’re just regular guys who probably used to go to concerts and sit right at the back.

 

For ‘Lovers in Japan’ they release thousands upon thousands of paper butterflies, firing them up into the air so that they flutter down on everyone. It’s magical. My son gathered some up and those, along with his concert ticket and a free CD the band handed out to everyone, is going in his keepsake box.

 

He loved every single second and will probably be a Coldplay fan for life and a concertgoer. And I’m so glad I was able to have that experience with him, even though it means he’s growing up.

 

http://califlorna.com/coldplay-10-year-son-430

[iUSED2RULEtheWORLD]

Okay so I know it's been about 2 weeks after the concert...I didn't have my camera just my phone, but my friend was nice enough to send me the ones she took. Here they are

http://picasaweb.google.com/sendittokc/ColdplayConcertIrvine071909JennaSPics#

So this night I volunteered with Oxfam which was amazing, we got lawn seats, but we managed to get to the front and next to the c-stage (I believe thats what it is called) so we were right in front of them!:dance:

[forcin]

grreat pics cassandra:)

 

Now I *really* can't wait for Aug. 9 and the PIT .

 

i'm just now seeing this! congrats again, dianne:nice: and have fun on Sunday!:)

[Yellow Strawberry]

Did anyone get to go to the Private Show from 98.7? :)

[kuti3xoxo]

I wish! :(

[LFDianne]

Did anyone get to go to the Private Show from 98.7? :)

 

Someone on the board went, there was a separate thread on the main forum. Turned out to be 5 song acoustic set, with a few pre-selected questions. I'll look for the thread.

[LFDianne]

Here's the thread for the 98.7 Stripped concert.

http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?t=59547