My intro video experience (Toronto)

[BiggerStronger]

I wanted to write about this so people have an idea of what the experience is like! I was so honoured to do the intro video for the first show in Toronto, and receive a tour of the b-stage from Ben before the show. Here's how it happened.

 

It's been my absolute dream to do the intro video on this tour so I wanted to try my best to be chosen for this show. I work about 2 minutes away from the Rogers Centre and got off at about 12:30. Then I decked out into my Chris Martin outfit and headed for the Rogers Centre. It was HOT - so hot I didn't think I would be able to wait for so long in the heat. I went by the tour buses/trucks but there were no other fans waiting there, so I decided to walk around the stadium a couple times. There were a few fans but most of them were just there to buy merch early - not many were there to actually wait for the show. On my second or third round I got talking to a couple fans from Newfoundland who said they liked my outfit. When all of a sudden - I saw Ben.

 

At first I wasn't sure if it was him as I could only see from behind. He was looking for fans but found no one, and was walking back to the tour buses. I tried to catch up with him and yelled "hey Ben!" but he didn't hear and crossed the road. He went behind the fence and got on his golf cart to go backstage, when I crossed the road and suddenly made eye contact with him. He did a double-take and I started to walk away so it didn't look like I was trying to get his attention (I was). Then out of the corner of my eye, I see him u-turn the golf cart and get off.

 

It was at this point that I knew my dream was about to come true.

 

He comes and shakes my hand. He's a very tall man and also smells very good. The conversation went something like this:

 

Ben: Hey man, what's your name where are you from?

 

Me: I'm Rhys and I'm from Toronto!

 

Ben: Big Coldplay fan?

 

Me: Yeah, tonight is my fourth time seeing them and tomorrow my fifth.

 

Ben: .....do you know about the intro video?

 

Me: Oh my god yes I would be so honoured.

 

He then tells me to meet him in an hour by the tour buses. He said to me that he didn't see many fans around the stadium, and wanted to see if he could find anyone in an hour. So then he leaves me to go backstage and I'm sitting there like omg this is happening. About a half hour later I walked over to the aquarium to use the toilet, and on the way back I see Ben chilling by a gate. He comes and walks with me back to the tour buses and we just have a normal conversation like we're friends. We talked about where we're from and what his role is in the band etc. You know just casually walking around with someone that works for my favourite band. Then when we get back to the buses we see someone else waiting who was a big fan and Ben enlisted him for the video as well (his name was Jeremy really nice guy). He gives us both backstage wristbands and all of a sudden we're on a golf cart heading underneath the Rogers Centre.

 

We zoom past all the backstage rooms until we're in the actual empty stadium. All the roadies are sitting down watching the solar eclipse being broadcast on the jumbotron, us and Ben casually chat to them which was so weird, they didn’t welcome us or anything but instead they were just treating us like normal people that they knew. Ben then says to us, “would you like to come on the b-stage?”

 

He unlocks the barrier and I walk up the stairs to the b-stage. Ben shows us the markings where the piano and equipment go, and then takes pics of us standing on the runway. This moment was just too unreal for me and I couldn’t believe it was happening. He showed us a few secret parts of the setup - did you know that the floor on the runway has springs underneath that help Chris jump?

 

We then hop back on the golf cart and head for the friends and family room. When Ben walked us into the room he said, “The Friends and Family room, because we’re all friends and family”

 

:blush:

 

We go in and see the backdrop already set up, and Ben and another roadie work out the lighting. Then Ben showed us two previous intro videos on his laptop as an example (Cleveland and New York, well done). Then we had to come up with what we had to say for the video. This was the really awkward part. We had to come up with two Coldplay puns to use and we ended up using “we’re here under a sky full of stars” and “under the sun and it’s eclipse” (from SJLT, as it was the day of the solar eclipse). We filmed the video in four takes and Ben was super patient with us which was great. Then we filmed the “sending love” video to the next city which at the time was Houston, but that show was cancelled after. Our video was still used at the Miami show with my voice changed to sound like I was saying “sending love to Miami”. :laughing: Ben looked over the video there although we didn’t get to see it until the actual show.

 

Then we returned in the golf cart to where we started, shook hands with Ben and got pictures with him. As he left I told him it was a dream come true and he smiled.

 

It was indeed a dream come true and likely the best experience of my life. When the video played in the concert everyone around me was cheering and screaming "that's him!" I even had people that I hadn't talked to in years message me saying they noticed me in the video! This band honestly makes dreams come true and for that I'm so grateful.

[BuckinParadise]

Ben is just so nice !! I did Intro Video for Frankfurt in Leipzig [emoji4].it was kinda unreal . First Time he came to us was in Vienna but we have been from Germany and it should be local fans. Nur then he came back to us in Germany !!! We also took pics with him [emoji4]. Congrats !

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Coldplaying mobile app

[dieselbenz]

That's so cool, thanks for sharing! I think I actually saw you when I was walking around the stadium when I first got there, I just remember recognizing a guy in a Chris outfit in the video and being like, wow, great for him! I only walked around a bit and then left for a while because I felt really sick (I was fine later). I think I would have crumbled when they asked to make up puns, that's so much pressure on the spot, I feel like I'd end up looking like I'd never listened to a Coldplay song because I'd be so ... :eek:. But how cool you got to walk on the stage and everything, what a memory.

[BiggerStronger]

That's so cool, thanks for sharing! I think I actually saw you when I was walking around the stadium when I first got there, I just remember recognizing a guy in a Chris outfit in the video and being like, wow, great for him! I only walked around a bit and then left for a while because I felt really sick (I was fine later). I think I would have crumbled when they asked to make up puns, that's so much pressure on the spot, I feel like I'd end up looking like I'd never listened to a Coldplay song because I'd be so ... :eek:. But how cool you got to walk on the stage and everything, what a memory.

Oh awesome! Yeah Ben helped us out a bit with the puns and gave a couple examples, they're pretty simple.