[2-Jul-2014] Royal Albert Hall, London, UK

[wisna]

Anyone flying from Stansted this afternoon? Wanna meet up for coffee? I'll be there from around 3 to 5.

[ARoBttH14]

We were also the luckiest people in the entire place, if anyone saw the 2 six foot teenagers going fucking mental right in front of the band (one in a white GS top and the other in black), we really were NOT supposed to be there! We entered the RAH early and were pretty much the first 2 in, we sat down in our circle seats and (being my first Coldplay concert) I started to hyperventilate a little. A red haired scottish guy (who I shall only refer to as Jesus) came and sat next to us. We knew he was important as he had one of those little ID cards round his neck. At first, I thought me and my friend were in shit for some reason. THEN. He told us that the band had bought pretty much the entire front row and were giving the tickets out to PROPER fans. He must have noticed how hyper I was getting. Then he asked us to tell us why he should give us these tickets. So I went on a huge tangent about how I had learnt A LOAD of their songs by ear on piano and my album collection was nearly a foot high now. (My friend isn't that much of a fan, even right now I'm trying to bully him into taking the 5 mile trek to the Bakery with me, so he just let me talk really). Anyways, Jesus replied "fair enough, I'll give you these tickets on one condition: you have a fucking awesome time." I was almost crying as we sprinted all the way down to the arena. I'll post a full review later on, but if any one here knows a member of the Coldplay crew who is scottish and has a ginger beard PM ME HIS NAME! I need to write him a full letter on how awesome he is!

[AlecSp]

We were also the luckiest people in the entire place ... the band had bought pretty much the entire front row and were giving the tickets out to PROPER fans ... "fair enough, I'll give you these tickets on one condition: you have a fucking awesome time."

 

Now then, that is a band who knows the right thing to do... What an experience!!!

[viva-la-coldplay]

Back home after a wonderful day in London and all I can say is WOW, that gig!!! I still can't quite believe that it happened! Don't think I've come down off Cloud 9 yet to be honest. The venue was as magnificent as I knew it was going to be, I loved the setlist (I know people are a bit grouchy that it was the same as the 1st, but I don't care!) and the atmosphere was magical - as Chris said, what an audience. Coldplay just know how to make a girl deliriously happy :D Jonny singing must've been my favourite thing in the whole world (plus the kiss! The KISS!!!) and then when Chris and Will came up to the stage for Viva, and Chris was about 50cm away from me... and I think I touched his arm!!!! :dead: I went into complete shock and adrenaline rush then, I was properly shaking! The best night ever, thank you so much Coldplay :heart:

[jmncold]

It was a magical concert indeed !

I was in Paris for the last one at the "Casino de Paris" and it was short, now I am completed happy ! The place is stunning, it left me with an impression of a small concert in a big room !

The atmosphere and the audience was very very cool, first time I saw them in their home country it's nice.

 

Take several pictures: https://flic.kr/s/aHsjZr2oiv

[AlecSp]

It was a magical concert indeed !

Take several pictures: https://flic.kr/s/aHsjZr2oiv

 

Gorgeous photos!

 

I also just found the ones on coldplay.com :D

[viva-la-coldplay]

I've just discovered I'm in one of the band's photos :D I'm rather creepily reaching out to Chris when he was up on the main stage... no surprise there then :laugh3:

[nev72]

We were also the luckiest people in the entire place, if anyone saw the 2 six foot teenagers going fucking mental right in front of the band (one in a white GS top and the other in black), we really were NOT supposed to be there! We entered the RAH early and were pretty much the first 2 in, we sat down in our circle seats and (being my first Coldplay concert) I started to hyperventilate a little. A red haired scottish guy (who I shall only refer to as Jesus) came and sat next to us. We knew he was important as he had one of those little ID cards round his neck. At first, I thought me and my friend were in shit for some reason. THEN. He told us that the band had bought pretty much the entire front row and were giving the tickets out to PROPER fans. He must have noticed how hyper I was getting. Then he asked us to tell us why he should give us these tickets. So I went on a huge tangent about how I had learnt A LOAD of their songs by ear on piano and my album collection was nearly a foot high now. (My friend isn't that much of a fan, even right now I'm trying to bully him into taking the 5 mile trek to the Bakery with me, so he just let me talk really). Anyways, Jesus replied "fair enough, I'll give you these tickets on one condition: you have a fucking awesome time." I was almost crying as we sprinted all the way down to the arena. I'll post a full review later on, but if any one here knows a member of the Coldplay crew who is scottish and has a ginger beard PM ME HIS NAME! I need to write him a full letter on how awesome he is!

 

Wow! That's incredible! I think you were in my block (originally) (I was the one in the red polo, front row, seat next to the door.) I bet you enjoyed that! (I mistimed my journey to the toilet actually, the Scottish guy had been and gone by time I got back to my seat. I highly doubt I would have been upgraded anyway since I was rather calm considering I was about to see Coldplay)

 

The gig was still fucking awesome from the gods though! I'll post a full review later of my thoughts.

[gramck24]

Amazing gig and a brilliant night.

 

My spec...

 

 

 

 

 

Roll on the next tour!!! :)

[grids]

Nice photos everyone! It was nice to see a couple of Coldplayers coming from different countries yesterday. Hopefully, I will get to meet more of Coldplayers in the future! :)

[ARoBttH14]

Wow! That's incredible! I think you were in my block (originally) (I was the one in the red polo, front row, seat next to the door.) I bet you enjoyed that! (I mistimed my journey to the toilet actually, the Scottish guy had been and gone by time I got back to my seat. I highly doubt I would have been upgraded anyway since I was rather calm considering I was about to see Coldplay)

 

The gig was still fucking awesome from the gods though! I'll post a full review later of my thoughts.

 

Yeah I think I saw you!

Btw, now I remember, he was an Irishman :lol: Got mixed up in my excitement

[Batman]

HELLO GUYS I'M WRITING MY REVIEW RIGHT NOAUW HOLY SHITE

[Christa42]

Can't wait Thalia!

[Coeurli]

WAIT WHAT YOU WERE THERE TOO THALIA???!!!! ODFLGHFJGHKHDGFJD OMG :awesome::awesome::awesome:

[Coeurli]

Thank you everyone for your pics and reviews by the way! You bunch of lucky people :D

[Batman]

WAIT WHAT YOU WERE THERE TOO THALIA???!!!! ODFLGHFJGHKHDGFJD OMG :awesome::awesome::awesome:

 

YES

 

 

It was literally a last minute decision and FUCKEN WORTH IT

[grids]

It was nice meeting you last night, Batman :D

[Batman]

It was nice meeting you last night, Batman :D

 

it was nice seeing you as well! :cheesy: It's so sweet to see the real people behind the usernames :wacky:

[grids]

it was nice seeing you as well! :cheesy: It's so sweet to see the real people behind the usernames :wacky:

 

I know! Wouldnt have thought to meet people in person from the forum, which I think it's amazing :)

[ARoBttH14]

Thalia, were you wearing a batman hood and cape?

[grids]

I liked it when Jonny was singing Dont Panic three times last night! :lol:

[Christa42]

*Drums fingers while waiting for more review and pic porn* :wacko::wacky:

[grids]

*Drums fingers while waiting for more review and pic porn* :wacko::wacky:

 

Will be uploading soon. Takes time to select the best photos to be put on :)

[cheeetaz]

I've just started uploading my videos. Gonna take a while with my slow internet connection. Expect them late tonight or early tomorrow.

[nev72]

It's review time! 1,900 words, 1,000 of which are moaning about the ticketing process. You can see I love a good moan (though the gig didn't give me any reason to!)

 

Coldplay @ Royal Albert Hall- 02/07/14.

 

On the 17th April 2014, I was sat on the metro in Tokyo, Japan (not bad for some :P ) when I went on Twitter (yes, they have WIFI on their metro, fancy!) and to my delight, I spotted the announcement of the Ghost Stories promotional tour, which included a date at the world famous Royal Albert Hall in London. I was returning back to my hotel after a long day of being a tourist with my feet killing me (life is tough you know!) but that certainly put a smile upon my face. This gig was ultra-convenient as I was due to be at an open day for a university in London the very next day, I simply had to get a ticket.

 

50 days later, it was the date with destiny; ticket release date. In the week building up to it, I had difficulty sleeping. It was a nerve wracking experience. If I were to get tickets, it would be my 1st ever Coldplay gig, at the Royal Albert Hall, what a place to do it! Seeing my favourite band in one of the most beautiful buildings in the world in my favourite city in the world. It would certainly be something crossed off my bucket list!

 

I went downstairs, I had 2 laptops (one on G&T, one on See Tickets) and my phone (G&T) on the go. I joined the queue on all of them at 9:20 AM, and I didn’t even get a look in until around 10:30, by which time, the gig was “sold out”, yet I got the choice to pull tickets. I tried in vain in the last minute ticket scramble, missing out on circle and stall tickets (“Could not Allocate” error) by not being quick enough. I was gutted, and angry with Gigs and Tours, I had been in the queue way before the on sale time, yet I couldn’t get a ticket for the gig of my dreams. BUT WAIT, Coldplay tweeted there was going to be a 2nd gig! I had a 2nd chance, though my planned trip to school to go to a revision class would have to be sacrificed to give me a chance.

 

In the hours that followed the morning debacle, I learnt that G&T do not operate a conventional queue system; the opportunity to book tickets would go to a random person that refreshed when a spot opened. (Fair? No.) It was useless to wait for the 20 second timer to run down. I also decided to ditch my phone for this attempt. Of course, this sale was a disaster. G&T displayed an error for a good 10 minutes after tickets went on sale, and See Ticket’s page for tickets was taken down. However, I had visited the See Tickets page before it was taken down so I had the link. I tried it, and I was put into the dreaded queue. I refreshed like crazy, and I got through after about 5 minutes. Tickets were available everywhere, and given the problems with the sale, I thought I’d take advantage by bagging an Arena seat. I clicked “Get These Tickets”, thinking that I had achieved my goal, with the best seats in the house as well. HOWEVER, See Tickets was not having any of it. It crashed, and then kicked me straight back into the queue. I was devastated, and absolutely furious. In spite of my fury, I kept trying, but then, the dreaded “Sold Out” tweet came. Given my close call earlier in the day, I knew that hope wasn’t lost, if anything, I had more of a chance. I got through to the ticketing page a couple of minutes after the “Sold Out” notice, yet everything bar one (Sold Out) was “Tickets Not Available”. I knew tickets might come, so I kept on refreshing. However, I was due to leave at 5:10pm for a game with my 5-a-side football team. Tickets still weren’t appearing. My Dad arrived, ready to give me a lift to the game. BUT THEN, with what probably would have been my last refresh before giving up, most categories magically became available! I tried to grab a stalls ticket, but I got the “Could not Allocate” message that had plagued me earlier in the day (actually, I think Coldplayers Linus and Cheeetaz beat me to those tickets :P ). I thought I had blown it. I frantically tried to get a Circle ticket, AND EUREKA, I WAS INTO THE PAYMENT PAGE. I rapidly filled out the page (luckily, I had filled in my card details and address prior to the sale) and clicked Confirm. It proceeded to the Bank’s security check. I prayed nothing went wrong at this stage. And then came the page I had been dreaming of all day, the confirmation page. I was in such a frenzy to fill in the payment details that I hadn’t even looked at my seats. Block V, Row 1, Seat 149. Not bad! I celebrated as if Cardiff City had won the Champions League (of course, that will never happen) but my celebrations were held short. I was 5 minutes late for leaving, and my Dad was looking a bit impatient. For those wondering, my team lost that game 9-1, a very low scoring game for a 40 minute 5-a-side game. But I could not care one iota. I had Coldplay tickets! It was one of the most stressful days of my life (this was the 1st time I had ever gone for tickets that were certain to sell out extremely quickly after being put on sale) but it was worth it!

 

I should just say, the ticketing process was farcical. There was always going to be people disappointed, but that was just ridiculous. I was extremely lucky in the end, but G&T could not organise a piss up in a brewery properly, never mind an in demand ticket sale.

 

So, 26 days until the gig. I could not wait!

 

The week building up to the gig dragged, though there were 3 significant events that happened that week:

1. My ticket arrived on June 27th

2. I chose what was very close to being the worst time to get flu (Monday 30th. Still don’t feel 100% now).

3. The July 1st gig. I decided to listen in and it made me even more excited for the gig. However, what was slightly worrying was that Chris’ voice seemed to be running out of steam towards the end.

4:30AM, 2nd July 2014. That is the moment that my alarm was set for to head off to London for the gig. I needed to be at an openday in the city, hence the early start. I set off at 5:10AM and I arrived in Shepherd’s Bush at 9:15AM after getting stuck in the rush hour traffic. I won’t bore you with the details of the open day. I then spent the afternoon in Hyde Park. I swear I could hear Arcade Fire sound checking for their gig there (which takes place on July 3rd).

 

At around 5:10PM, I wondered over towards the Albert Hall. I did a few laps around the place as I had plenty of time to burn. I then sat down at the statue at the rear of the hall where 2 touts were operating (and several people wanting tickets). One of the touts tried to buy my ticket off me (he dished out some money, looked like £100/£120, which was kind of insulting. There was absolutely no chance that I would sell my ticket, especially for that price.) On the other end of the scale, I was sat with some fans who didn’t have a ticket. Luckily, one of the guards told them not to buy from a tout, instead to look on the G&T website. I don’t know whether or not they got a ticket because I decided to head in search of a merchandise stand (as a result, I got let into the hall at 6pm), but I hope they did.

 

I headed up to the merchandise stand on the circle. I brought a Ghost Stories mug, the Lithograph and the button set. I opted against the t-shirt, it was way too expensive given that I had paid £95 just for the ticket. I then headed to the bar for a drink before looking at the photographs on the wall. I then sat outside my door, waiting to be let in to the auditorium.

 

At 18:35 (5 MINUTES LATE!!!!), the doors swung open, I headed straight to my seat, took a few photographs and then I kicked back and relaxed, though I had to get up every 2 minutes to let someone through. Word of advice, never get an aisle seat if you can help it!

 

AlunaGeorge came on at 20:00. I wasn’t expecting anything good from her. I was disappointed when she was confirmed as the support. I listened to a song of hers on Youtube, didn’t like it so my expectation were low. I was right to set them low, she wasn’t very good. She looked like a stripper who had got stuck in her own clothes for half the time (for goodness sake, either take your jacket off or leave it on, it’s not hard!) Saying that, I forgot that she featured on Disclosure’s White Noise, which was the only pleasant surprise in an otherwise poor set.

 

So, the headline act. Coldplay finally hit the stage. I’m not going to go through the whole set, only a few highlights:

 

• Always in my Head was a nice way to open the gig.

• Charlie Brown was absolutely brilliant. It was by far my favourite song of MX and it sounds even better live.

• Paradise was also great.

• Clocks, What a song that is, the piano riff is just gorgeous.

• The Singalong for The Scientist was breath-taking.

• Don’t Panic is one of my favourite Coldplay songs, great to witness Johnny singing it 3 times!

• Ink/True Love were superb. I sang every word of them both 

• It doesn’t get any better than Viva ringing around the Royal Albert Hall

• ETIAW and ASFOS were absolutely mental. 2 epic live tracks. Also, I swear Chris pointed straight at me during ASFOS :D (Might have been Fix You actually)

• Fix You was a fitting way to end not only the show, but the tour too.

I was slightly disappointed that the setlist was exactly the same on both nights, no real surprises in there. I was hoping to hear Green Eyes, Yellow and Ghost Story (only realistic ones included) but I’ll just have to wait until next time.

 

People commented on the loudness of the speakers. I think they were at a perfect level. Saying that, I was right at the back (well, the top of the back if you get what I mean).

 

A personal highlight was walking back through the tunnel to South Kensington Tube Station. As soon as I walked in, I heard the Viva Chant echoing around. Gave me Goosebumps (not that the concert itself didn’t!)

 

Overall, it was one hell of a gig! I can’t wait to see Coldplay again, hopefully it will be soon (wonder if they’ll do another U1R show this year?). Anyway, see you all next time Coldplay hit the road!

 

Photos