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[9-Dec-2011] Coldplay @ O2 Arena, London, UK

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Tonsu

Tonsu

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Back from the gig before twelve (due to an exceptional and extremely friendly and amenable taxi service :D)

 

Warning, long, mostly negative, review incoming:

 

It wasn't a great gig imo. I gave it C+ to my travelling buddy (but to be fair he seemed surprised I'd rated it so low).

 

A really strange setlist tonight...

 

After such mouth-watering festival appearances that I've been watching since early summer I was expecting one of the better gigs I've seen from the boys, but it just didn't seem to come together in the way it usually does (16 or 17 gigs for me now back to 2003).

 

They hit many of the high notes (at times) but often it seemed Coldplay-by-numbers :(

 

We were about a quarter of the way back from the stage (level with the end of the ramp).

 

The start was incredible, the bracelets were amazing. They had the crowd rocking from the first song, and I think Hurts Like Heaven is probably one of the most spine-tingling songs live that I've ever seen, by any band. Stunning.

 

From Lost to Violet Hill it felt on the floor like they increasingly lost the crowd :( Lost is probably my own feeling, more likely it was the song after (MM). The balloons were much enjoyed but it took away from the music. For me those balloons are the YELLOW balloons, and anything else seems wrong. Still it was fun - one of the weakest tracks from VLV for me, but after hearing some of the MX songs tonight unfortunately the feeling I came away with is "one of the worst songs from VLV is better than the songs they think are strongest from MX".

 

After that MM - crowd didn't care much.

 

In My Place - great as always, confetti here is very wrong for me - the song doesn't need it and it doesn't 'fit'.

 

What If - brave of them to play it., I'll say that! It ends like A Day in the Life, and so one of their more Beatle-y efforts. But no thanks. Square One, White Shadows, a number of others - yes please. The crowd were limp here.

 

Violet Hill - personal fave, would have been absolutely gutted if they'd dropped it, but only half-stirred the crowd I thought.

 

GPaS - Back on track at last!!

 

Scientist - they'd just stirred us from our slumber with a real belter, but back into slow-down mode. Lovely performance as always :)

 

Then onto the three-song set at the end of the ramp (think it must have been the protrusion seen at Manchester as they also sold tickets behind the stage).

 

Up In Flames - played as just on the record. Many around us shaking their heads by this point :\

 

Don't Panic - amazing to hear this again after five years, but another lowish-key song, so for me it didn't sit right in the set. Great performance though. Chris stopped it to get a huge cheer for Jonny and Will singing together, which they of course got and all loved. Probably the moment of the gig for me :D

 

UAtW - So very glad to hear this instead of Daylight :dance: Nice performance, but the end of a very strange 'end of ramp' set (it wasn't acoustic) after the previous 'downtime'.

 

Things picked up a lot after that :sunny:

 

Overall a strange gig with standout moments but an incoherent setlist that often left the crowd cold. Most of the middle was completely imbalanced and left people scratching their heads.

 

I'm probably being harsh after having seen them play some the best gigs ever at the festivals this summer, and this is no way matched those. The bracelets were incredible, but the London crowd is a tough one to please, and with the odd set and a lack of any noticeable extra effort from the band there's little special to take from the gig from me.

 

I cannot believe they dropped songs like 42, Strawberry Swing and Lovers in Japan for average stuff like Up in Flames, What If (??!) and the (very empty sounding live imho, though I like the studio version) Major Minus.

 

I'm sure they'll introduce more MX songs (and better live ones) like DLIBYH and PoC (if Rihanna's available) and...can't think of any more :(

 

At least if they re-balance the setlist it'll be better :)

 

The feeling I came away with tonight is that, at the time, I loved VLV but thought they would go on to be even stronger. Tonight I feel like VLV will forever be their highlight and they can't top it, because even the weakest song from Viva (Lost) was better than most of the songs they played from MX - and they have given up playing most of their best VLV songs :cry:

 

It was a great experience tonight, with fantastic company, met one or two really nice people, and it was of course amazing to see so many songs again (Politik, the new version of GPaS). I realise I should just feel lucky at all that I got a ticket! But at the same time, for the first time ever, I don't feel that bothered about seeing Coldplay again...

 

Sorry for the mostly (very?) negative review, but left very confused tonight that a band this great (all-time great imho - I'm talking the Beatles, Pink Floyd etc) can play just one show in London this year that seemed rather limp...

 

^^ I wonder whether Pete has done what he threatened to do when he posted that he had a bag of rotten fruit and veg in case they played "What If" tonight!

 

The fruit and veg is home with me my friend because they did after all play UAtW :) Luckily, as an ex-greengrocer's assistant (albeit twenty years ago) I reckon I can turn a profit tomorrow :P Hope you're well Nancy :flutterby:

 

Oh lordy! I'd have been a big mess of snot and tears on the floor by now if I'd been there.

My Mum had Clocks as her ringtone, we played Fix You at her funeral, and after a year of severe illness, I heard ETIAW on BBC at Glasto and it made me cry, mostly with relief that the worst of my treatment was over. :stunned:;)

 

Thanks so much for posting this, it helps get it all into perspective :) I used to listen to x&y with my mum when she was sick. One night we listened to it all night long on repeat (so, six or seven times!) and just talked and talked. It's the closest I think we ever were :) Very best wishes to you, and so glad your treatment is over and you are feeling better :sunny:

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Lawliet89

Lawliet89

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Back from the gig before twelve (due to an exceptional and extremely friendly and amenable taxi service :D)

 

Warning, long, mostly negative, review incoming:

<snip>

Kinda agree with the middle parts that were relatively quiet and "uncared for". I thought it was just me being unfamiliar with those songs but apparently Londoners are quite a tough bunch to please =P

 

I thought most of their MX songs were great. Maybe it's because it's my first Coldplay gig, that's why I felt it was awesome. I watched the Glastonbury one on BBC and I thought that was awesome too.

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Tonsu

Tonsu

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Kinda agree with the middle parts that were relatively quiet and "uncared for". I thought it was just me being unfamiliar with those songs but apparently Londoners are quite a tough bunch to please =P

 

I thought most of their MX songs were great. Maybe it's because it's my first Coldplay gig, that's why I felt it was awesome. I watched the Glastonbury one on BBC and I thought that was awesome too.

 

I think you're completely right - if it was my first Coldplay gig I would have given it 9/10 and said it was amazing. Having seen them so many times though over the last 9 years I thought it was relatively poor. Not in terms of performance, but in effort and (particularly) setlist (the effort doesn't matter so much if the set is great - they can play these songs in their sleep - and probably do!! :P)

 

The London crowd is hard. But being on the floor and mixing a lot with people, actually very many people were foreign and quite a few didn't even speak English! (No problem but it means I think many fans come to London from around the world so maybe they should try to make these shows special ones). If they played more than one gig in London in a single year it would also help! Standing tickets were going for ~£200 on the ticket sites because they only played one gig :( When people pay that much, they expect something special :/

 

So glad you had a great time, they are amazing aren't they? :) :sunny:

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boots

boots

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Such an awesome show!!!! Queued for like 7 and a half hours, but it was totally worth it!! I got an ok video of "Don't Panic" so I'll try uploading that here soon. And I got a bunch of pics and I'll figure out a way to upload those as well.

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Comicforce

Comicforce

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I'm home too and would have to agree to an extent with Tonsu.. didn't help that THE ENTIRE section I was in (Upper tier) did not get up on their feet until Viva.. I was up and dancing, but nobody else was.. I did feel a bit billy no mates up until then.

 

But it REALLY got going from Viva onwards, shame that was nearly the end !

 

But a great gig for all that. I think I was probably spoiled with being SO up close and personal at the Little Noises.. to be SO far back and with so many sitting people for me meant it was a bit lacking something? My son however LOVED it.. he was amazed.. and overawed by the entire thing. As his first concert, It was great.

 

I loved Don't Panic.. although UIF was a bit too low key for me.. shame they didn't do Viva earlier, if only to get my section off it's behinds!

 

Glowbands were AWESOME.. but they only glowed for some songs, not all.. But I still loved it.. LOL..

 

But all in all a great night.. when's the next one again?! LOL..

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a1999f

a1999f

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Posted

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuSCH-xCQRI&feature=share]COLDPLAY 'DON'T PANIC' @ 02 ARENA, LONDON 09.12.11 - YouTube[/ame] COLDPLAY 'DON'T PANIC' @ 02 ARENA, LONDON 09.12.11

 

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEc3ACrcS7Y&feature=share]COLDPLAY 'REHAB' AMY WINEHOUSE INTRO 'FIX YOU' @ 02 ARENA, LONDON 09.12.11 - YouTube[/ame] COLDPLAY 'REHAB' AMY WINEHOUSE INTRO 'FIX YOU' @ 02 ARENA, LONDON 09.12.11

 

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx-68VUMrSc&feature=share]COLDPLAY 'VIVA LA VIDA' @ 02 ARENA, LONDON 09.12.11 - YouTube[/ame] COLDPLAY 'VIVA LA VIDA' @ 02 ARENA, LONDON 09.12.11

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Tonsu

Tonsu

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I'm home too and would have to agree to an extent with Tonsu.. didn't help that THE ENTIRE section I was in (Upper tier) did not get up on their feet until Viva.. I was up and dancing, but nobody else was.. I did feel a bit billy no mates up until then.

 

But it REALLY got going from Viva onwards, shame that was nearly the end !

 

But a great gig for all that. I think I was probably spoiled with being SO up close and personal at the Little Noises.. to be SO far back and with so many sitting people for me meant it was a bit lacking something? My son however LOVED it.. he was amazed.. and overawed by the entire thing. As his first concert, It was great.

 

I loved Don't Panic.. although UIF was a bit too low key for me.. shame they didn't do Viva earlier, if only to get my section off it's behinds!

 

Glowbands were AWESOME.. but they only glowed for some songs, not all.. But I still loved it.. LOL..

 

But all in all a great night.. when's the next one again?! LOL..

 

Yes indeed, Viva got it going, like you say near the end though...once they pulled it back from the late-early to late-middle section it erupted but by then we all knew the gig was almost over. The whole setlist for me was 'WTF?'

 

Still, a pretty great night though as always. One of the best bands of a generation putting on a great show (even if it wasn't spot on). I should quit complaining and get to bed - nieces and a nephew who are coming early tomorrow morning and will demand all my energy :P

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FixYou*

FixYou*

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LOL ! Were you in the upper tier? Jonny's side of the stage? I am sure more than one person called friends during the show, so it probably wasn't..

 

No, it was me who called Ceren :)

 

 

COLDPLAY 'DON'T PANIC' @ 02 ARENA, LONDON 09.12.11 - YouTube[/url] COLDPLAY 'DON'T PANIC' @ 02 ARENA, LONDON 09.12.11

^Thanks for the videos.

 

jnnyx.jpg

:lol:

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Jason-DeBord

Jason-DeBord

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Awesome show!!! :) I'm trying to get some pics and video up on my site... but hotel wifi is dragging... video won't be up until morning... funny thing - there's like 20,000 people in the arena, 1 out of 5 shooting video, and they single me out and tell me to stop... :lol: So all I got on video was combo of the 'Hurts Like Heaven' and 'Yellow' opening, and the closing with ETIAW (I figured at the end, worst case, they'd throw me out on the last song LOL). Took tons of pics - was with Oz and we were pretty close to the stage. I'll be seated at Bercy so hope to get 'What If' and 'Don't Panic' on video there...

 

Jason

 

P.S. The light up wristbands are totally different from the Madrid ones...

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