Article: Vancity First For Coldplay

VANCITY FIRST FOR COLDPLAY

With Coldplay returning to Rogers Arena for sold-out shows Friday, April 20 and Saturday, April 21, I did a bit of Googling and found my review of the band's very first concert in North America, at the Commodore Ballroom on Feb. 8, 2001.

At the time, the band's debut album, Parachutes, really struck a chord with me, so I went to the venue with great enthusiasm.

"Icy weather and a rare Vancouver snowstorm greeted Coldplay's arrival Thursday for the Brit buzz band's first-ever gig on North American soil," I wrote in my review, for the canoe.ca website.

"But inside the hallowed Commodore Ballroom, the climate was almost balmy, as the overheated crowd squeezed into the seriously sold-out venue."

With just one album to its credit, Coldplay wasn't about to play a set of Springsteen-ish proportions - no, just a dozen songs were played. And the ol' ballroom's sprung dance floor didn't get much of a workout, either, but it was a fantastic night. "Spies" opened the set, followed by "Trouble" and the stadium-sized riff of "Shiver," which singer Chris Martin dedicated to "Celine Dion, Alanis Morissette and all the sexy Canadian women out there."

For "Yellow," the stage was bathed in, yes, yellow.

After the three-song encore on Granville Street (including the brand new "In My Place," a hit one year later on the band's A Rush of Blood to the Head album), Coldplay turned its attention to the drive to Seattle and the other cities on its short, 10-date tour.

And so it began on this continent for one of the biggest bands in the world.

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