[2016-06-24] Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam, Netherlands

[Haruka]

Jonny and Chris looked at me in the eyes for a few times tough ! :awesome:

 

making eye-contact with ur fav artists, that's the best feeling ever on a concert :loveshower:

[Gideon_Mx]

The videos aprubtly stop in the middle.

I don't understand, what's exactly the problem?

 

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[Nie]

Crappy quality picture, but THAT WAS MY AMSTERDAM SIGN!!!

 

I couldn't believe that Chris wanted to have it, and that he thanked me for my "sign that was a sign" to play it.....

I cried the whole song, what an amazing and special moment...

 

[ATTACH=full]4894[/ATTACH]

 

I have a picture of the big screen where you can see your sign. :)

[ATTACH=full]4900[/ATTACH]

 

For me this is like 3 pictures in 1 : the piano, close up of Chris and the confetti.

Kind of special.

[guy42]

I don't understand, what's exactly the problem?

This might be just me, but in the first video, it stops moving at 0:21 although the sound continues. Just thought I'd let you know in case you didn't notice :)

[Guest diogo_sg]

I have a picture of the big screen where you can see your sign. :)

[ATTACH=full]4900[/ATTACH]

 

For me this is like 3 pictures in 1 : the piano, close up of Chris and the confetti.

Kind of special.

:dazzled:

[Nie]

Here is a link to my pictures:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/141950336@N08/0Ys7i0

 

I really had problems with the light and the distance and after a while I gave up concentrating so much on my camera. So the quality is not that great but hey, I wasn't there for the photography. ;)

 

Same problem with videos. But here are some:

 

Coldplay ~ Amsterdam Arena ~ 24/06/2016 ~ Xyloband in action during Paradise

 

 

Coldplay ~ Amsterdam Arena ~ 24/06/2016 ~ Paradise Remix

 

 

Coldplay ~ Amsterdam Arena ~ 24/06/2016 ~ Amsterdam

 

 

Coldplay ~ Amsterdam Arena ~ 24/06/2016 ~ Adventure Of A Lifetime

 

 

Coldplay ~ Amsterdam Arena ~ 24/06/2016 ~ Up&Up

[flockofbirds222]

I have a picture of the big screen where you can see your sign. :)

[ATTACH=full]4900[/ATTACH]

 

For me this is like 3 pictures in 1 : the piano, close up of Chris and the confetti.

Kind of special.

Wow this is really beautiful!

[Haruka]

Here is a link to my pictures:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/141950336@N08/0Ys7i0

 

I really had problems with the light and the distance and after a while I gave up concentrating so much on my camera. So the quality is not that great but hey, I wasn't there for the photography. ;)

 

even so, u got some nice shots in there.... great job :wacko:

[Gideon_Mx]

This might be just me, but in the first video, it stops moving at 0:21 although the sound continues. Just thought I'd let you know in case you didn't notice :)

O, that's ok, however, thanks for letting me know.

[Bauk]

I have a picture of the big screen where you can see your sign. :)

[ATTACH=full]4900[/ATTACH]

 

For me this is like 3 pictures in 1 : the piano, close up of Chris and the confetti.

Kind of special.

 

Aaah, that's amazing, thank you! :D

[Nie]

Your sign is in my video of Amsterdam as well. [emoji4]

[alisbe]

Look at this!!!!!!

[Bauk]

Yes amazing!!

[schnautzi]

First time not in front of main stage in my "Coldplay-career", but this time I chose to go C-stage. We didn't get as much energy from the main and B-stage performances, but C-stage was not bad at all. Unfortunately for you I didn't record it all the way (wanted to enjoy it without camera as well ;-)) So enjoy my little video!

 

[Captain Crieff]

Holy shit, what a show this was. If anyone's interested, I've written a long ass review type of thing, ft. some pictures. (disclaimer: contains Brexit opinions~)

 

 

 

 

Woo-fucking-hoo!

 

I woke up after a way too short sleep, but then who decides to go to a concert only a couple of hours before it starts? Yes, me. (see other thread) I queued up with Tash, whom I hope some of you remember as the mod who used to keep this place up-to-date Coldplay-wise, Stefan, who used to post on here as well, and a Turkish girl I know from Twitter. We went to the stadium at around 8 am and we were 4th, 5th and 6th in line; the first guy arrived at 7 am.

 

Queueueueueing

 

The actual queue wasn't even set up yet, so the first hour or so we waited in front of the turnstiles. They moved us when they had set up half of the actual queue, and not our half but the early entry half. Then about half an hour later they were finally done setting up the queue and thus the wait really commenced.

 

The next seven hours I ate a whole pack of these sweet bread rolls with chocolate (I actually solely lived on sweet bread that day), we chatted, complained about the wind, got Global Citizened (aka got a fancy tattoo), got wet (thank fuck for ponchos), got a sore arse (thank fuck for inflatable pillows), and watched the rich bitches (early entry ticket holders) arrive. Most of them really looked like snobs I must say. No surprises there, each of them had coughed up almost 200 Euros for a ticket and to do that you must be either a snob or really fucking insane :p. The queues were divided into two sections: two regular queue sections and two early entry ones. At first they were only using one early entry section but unfortunately they eventually started filling the other one too. Filling isn't quite the right word though, they never got actually full. The funny thing is that early entry section 1 got in like 5 minutes before early entry section 2. So then you pay more than the double of the regular ticket price to get in before everyone else and you get screwed by the organisation. Delighting to see. Because really, those people. One of them even binned his VIP present in front of us queuing peasants. We were baffled. As always, Tash reacted about two seconds faster than I did and walked over to the bin to take it out again. She's still got it. The VIP bag wasn't complete anymore; the love buttons and the keychain weren't there but this artwork thing was still in it, and of course the bag itself, which looks very cool.

 

There is a lot early queuers have to tolerate. For example, people will look at you as if you're animals in a zoo, waiting to be fed. A significant number of people actually took photos of the queuing people. Fair enough, because there is also a bit where queuing people actually start behaving like animals. It's when, about 30 minutes before the doors open, one person stands up, and everyone else follows. And then you will also be treated as animals, more specifically a flock of sheep. Once the rich bitches were in, they moved us to the first halves of the queues. To do that, two security people held a long ribbon in front of our chests (or in my case, indeed my neck (I'm short)), urged us to walk slowly, they defined the pace. Of course people do start pushing a bit, so the security guys and with them the ribbon, came to a halt. If it had been the people behind me that had been pushing, I would nearly have been suffocated by a ribbon. Thanks Coldplay. The flock walked on and everyone reached the front of the queue unharmed, I think. Because the front half of the queue section was a bit smaller, I wasn't at the front anymore but second in line, which is not a problem per se, but we had of course arrived at the stressy and pushy bit 10 minutes before they let you in. And I was in a queue that consisted of mostly Dutch people, or indeed giants. And the sun had come out. Queuing is all fun and games, until that part. At the end of those damned 10 minutes, a security guy climbed onto the barrier and addressed the flock. He told us they were going to check our bags and urged us not to start pushing like a herd of cows.

 

The little barrier gates opened, the Hunger Games began. The sprint up the stairs. I sprinted past people, among whom security people yelling at us: "No running! Miss, no running! You're the first one!" and my favourite: "No running, no running, it's not necessary!" I actually yelled back "YES IT IS". A couple of seconds later we were all at the B-stage barrier. Yes. We did it. I needed a couple of actual minutes to catch my breath though, fucking stairs. When we were breathing like normal human beings again, we noticed some of the rich bitches were literally three metres from us, and what's even funnier is that they were standing right in front of a camera, so they were going to have their view blocked the whole show. Again, delighting to see.

 

Alessia Cara

 

I had never heard of her, but had been told she's only 19 years old and has a good voice. That was true, she has a very strong voice indeed. But I wasn't really into her songs. This one girl really was, though. She was absolutely loving Alessia's performance, amazing. She sang every word back, screamed her lungs out and all that jazz. She was so into it, it looked as if she had bought a ticket just to see the support act. The roadies, security people and we looked at her with an amused face. It made us all smile. One of Coldplay's roadies even gave her two drumsticks out of the blue. Two of Will Champion's drumsticks, that is, and when Coldplay were on, she wasn't even freaking out anymore.

 

Lianne La Havas

 

This one I did enjoy. I only knew one of her songs and the cover, but I didn't get bored. She has a very strong voice too. I was thinking: good luck topping these vocal performances, Mr. Martin. The whole thing got awkward when she asked us to sing along, though. It didn't work. At all. Of course it didn't, she's the support act. You can ask the crowd to clap along and a good number of people will do so, but singing? That doesn't work. Anyway, other than that small fiasco she was really good.

 

Coldplay

 

Time for the real deal. The seated people did a couple of Mexican waves and during the last one, the intro song and then the intro videos started playing and then boom, A Head Full Of Dreams. People jumping, singing along. Politically and economically speaking, it had been a very sad and worrying day, with the Brexit result emerging in the morning. On a day like that, Coldplay's happy energy songs are like huge relief, exactly what you need. Chris immediately made it very clear the band were of course not happy with this result and he politely distanced himself and the rest of the band from the Leave voters.

 

Yellow, big sing along. Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall, confetti. The confetti canon was right in our faces, but I had actually expected the confetti to fly over us. Nope, not quite. We all got covered in colourful birds. Roadies, security people and crowd. I tried to catch as many birds as possible and put them in my pocket. The Scientist, huge sing along - 10/10. Then BIRDS! The people at the barrier just kept singing, unlike the people at the back on night one. Paradise feels like an intro to the Remix. I bloody love how they play that remix live.

 

Then it was B-stage time. I'm going to be honest, during Always In My head I couldn't take my eyes off Guy. Then during Everglow I noticed there was something on Chris' piano, a piece of cardboard or so. After the Muhammad Ali tribute video, Chris didn't go back to the main stage. Then he said the words "Now, tonight we're gonna do something special" and that's where my heart skipped about three beats. We were getting a rarity. Then Chris mentioned "a song called Amsterdam" and held up the piece of cardboard, which was a sign saying "Amsterdam" and I screamed. Very loudly. And then the first full rendition of Amsterdam, one of my favourite Coldplay songs, in about a decade happened, right in front of my eyes. So Unreal.

 

 

I didn't want that song to end but unfortunately and logically it did and I had Clocks to recover from what had just happened. I can't fully enjoy the song anymore because I know Chris doesn't sing it live and that's a shame but oh well. I like them lasers though.

 

I think it was During Hymn For the Weekend someone a few metres from me got crazy-eyed by Chris. He also lay down on the B-stage and rolled onto his back. It reminded me of a cat. Anyway, just a detail.

 

Let's talk about Adventure Of A Lifetime, one of my favourite moments of the show, and especially on that scary day. Balloons! An entire stadium crouching and then jumping back up again! And most of all: aggressively uttering a series of extremely cheerful WOOHOOs. That's right. I think this song sums up what Coldplay is about: being together and having a good time, ignoring all the shit that happens in the world for a bit. Woo-fucking-hoo, bitches.

 

 

The band headed to the C-stage which meant I couldn't see them anymore because the majority of Dutch people are giants and I'm a tiny Belgian gnome. So I didn't exactly see them play Don't Panic and See You Soon (I could see the screen of course, I'm not that tiny) but I was so happy to hear them, especially See You Soon. Until they played it for the first time on this tour, I thought Chris had forgotten how to play it and wasn't going to bother learning it again, but I was wrong. Amsterdam, Don't Panic and See You Soon on one set list, not bad (understatement alert). The acoustic In My Place was there too, also not bad (would have preferred Trouble though).

 

Now that I'm writing this I realise it's probably weird to hear a song entitled "Amazing day" on that 24 June 2016, but as it happened I didn't even think of that, because in and around that stadium it had indeed been an amazing day.

 

A Sky Full Of Stars meant another load of confetti, so I opened my confetti bag and held it in front of me to catch some of those fancy glittery stars. That worked, with the help of a roadie who threw in a couple of handfuls. Stars weren't the only thing I caught though; a roadie randomly tossed his set list into my bag full of stars. I always seem to get set lists in the most unexpected ways. Minutes after they were handed out, or while I'm in the midst of catching confetti. Thanks, Mr. Roadie!

 

 

After Up & Up it was time to leave the sticky stadium (why does everyone always spill 5 litres of beer on the floor?) and to worm ourselves through a ridiculous number of smokers outside the stadium. Near the exit there was a box with recycled Xylobands that had been left unattended so I um, helped myself (sorry Jason, I really wanted a purple one). On my way to the hostel I started to feel my sore legs and feet again. Yep, it was over.

 

For me, this show was a lot better than the one the night before. That's partly due to the set list, partly to the atmosphere. If you've stood at the back one time, you know why you queue up at 8 am to get to the front. It's just so much better. And of course I would choose Amsterdam over Princess Of China every time. There you go, the Leave camp winning the referendum has one, exactly one positive consequence: it made Coldplay play Amsterdam.

 

Musically speaking, this wasn't my best concert. In terms of show however, it certainly was. Fireworks, pyros, confetti, lasers, more confetti, balloons, more fireworks, and of course Xylobands. It just had everything. Also, Coldplay's happy energy vibe is something no band can top, and I'm fairly convinced that going to a concert dominated by that happy energy vibe is the best thing you can do on a day like this one, when the news has been dominated by a very divided country that just did something incredibly stupid.

 

 

 

[Jay R]

I am happy I went to this show. It was hard to get tickets, but eventually I managed to buy two. It was my first show and it was one big spectacle full of magic, fireworks and music. I will never forget this experience.

Allthough I had the second to last row in the second ring, all the way on the side, I had a beautiful view. Maybe I will buy standing tickets next time (I hope they come back).

[Odvan]

OMG!!!1111

 

Just came back from my mini Europe vacation (Brussels-Amsterdam-Paris).

 

The show was great, from technical point better than VLV tour (I missed MX), on the other side first gig is always special. And I stayed almost at the back of the GA (some good 10 metres to the left from C-stage). Also annoying thing that it was bright day - they should choose next year some other summer months, perhaps august, when sunset would be much earlier.

 

I bet with my friend we would probably hear Amsterdam live after reading 23th gig setlist. And this is it. The most epic moment of the concert. C-stage with "Don't Panic" was the most emotional moment, cause this is first Coldplay song I heard and love them since.

 

All in all it was brilliant. I even liked booo reaction on England in opening video. I hope BREXIT would unite the rest countries in EU even more and they would not close doors for other poor suffering neighbours like Ukraine. Ok, lets finish with bs politic.

 

I hope next year tour would continue and I will be there!

[Odvan]

I had Clocks to recover from what had just happened. I can't fully enjoy the song anymore because I know Chris doesn't sing it live and that's a shame but oh well.

Wuuut? Did I miss something?

 

Musically speaking, this wasn't my best concert.

Yes, but I can't remember any stadium gig with great sound, perhaps U2 360 but I may had been lucky with spot. Anyway people told us way before that sound at AA not very good.

 

The one thing I forgot to mention, how Chris opened music sheets for Amsterdam (you could notice it from the screenshot above and how Chris glanced at them from time to time on youtube video).

[Captain Crieff]

Wuuut? Did I miss something?

https://coldplaying.com/forum/index.php?threads/this-is-interesting.106667/

[Odvan]

< That was the final straw for a lot of people over here who were already sick of the government screwing over poor people. Sorry to go off on a tangent. Just thought it would be helpful for people who want to know the reasons why 17m people voted leave :)

I got the impression that immigration was the main point for leaving. And I can't see how BREXIT would improve economic, if anything it would be worse because EU preferential market would be closed.

 

If you don't like government the same people voted - that's another story and has nothing to do with leaving. Not to mention what vibe Britain send in this difficult time to the EU and other world. I would say it's a bit naive and selfish look.

[Bauk]

Has anybody found a recording (audio) of this concert? I would love to have it!

(Pity for me that the 23rd was recorded by 3FM in stead of the 24th with 'my' Amsterdam moment ;) )