[2022-03-18] Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica

[I ran away]

On 3/20/2022 at 6:10 PM, ToniMoreno said:

 

I agree with some of the opinions I've seen here and on Twitter. The fact that Coloratura has been left out is simply unacceptable. It's by far the best song on the album and it's just the only one they don't perform. I am quite worried about the setlist. It's something that has already been discussed a lot in the forum, but I don't think it's necessary to stop commenting on it. It is very sad to see that they have basically repeated the AHFOD tour, only changing the songs from one album to another.

It is sad that they have left out EL, which has many songs with great potential and that most of them have not been able to see live. Arabesque or Trouble in Town would have been great alongside POTP (as would Violet Hill). Champion of the World would also have fit very well, and since they have put in the Bani Adam melody they had the intro done.

I don't understand why they don't look for a better distribution of the songs that everyone can like. I understand that there are people who have never seen Coldplay or who only know 3-4 songs and who want to like the concert, but it is not necessary to include all the hits, because in the end you run out of space for the rest, and a band (especially if it aspires to last over time) is much more than a couple of hits on the radio or youtube.

 

A setlist of 26 songs goes a long way, they could easily have done something like this:

-The new full album (removing the short interludes are less than 10 songs)

-8 or 9 hits (Yellow, Fix You, Viva la Vida... the ones we all know). Since they have more and they know them by heart, they can easily change them from show to show.

-8 or 7 "old" songs (songs by XY, EL, GS, VIVA... the kind of songs that fans who have been listening to for a while like)

 

With a distribution like this (more or less) you can offer a concert in which everyone leaves happy and not something that is 100% predictable and where lifelong fans have to go to pray and console ourselves with some "oddity" like an In My Place sung by Will... please, after so many years listening to the band, supporting them, buying their records, promoting them with friends, going to concerts... etc. we deserve more than a few crumbs on the setlist. ...

 

It's my honest opinion as a fan, I hope I don't offend anyone. I say this with great affection towards the band, but sometimes they let me down.

 

P.D: It seems from the videos that they use a lot of pre-recorded content in the songs, right?

I wholeheartedly agree with you. What aggravates fans is not the fact that they play all the big hits (this has been misrepresented in the past, most recently on Twitter) - they obviously have to play the hits since they get the general public going and they are famous due to them, and at every concert there are people who have never heard these songs live before and want them. So they definitely should play the hits.

But the annoying part is that the rest of the songs are always the same few choices from the same few albums. From AROBTTH for example it's always GPASUYF, since ten years this hasn't changed. From X&Y it's always - nothing. From VLVODAAHF it's always - nothing. From MX it's always UATW and so on. While I understand that some songs get a crowd going more than others, there are valid alternatives for each of these with the same energy level and that have proven to have worked in live settings. In the example of AROBTTH, why not replace GPASUYF with Politik or Daylight every now and then? You cannot tell me these songs do not work live. In the case of X&Y, do you really think songs like Square One, Talk, White Shadows or Low would not get the crowd raging? Or for Viva: Violet Hill, Cemeteries of London, 42? Footage of older tours suggests otherwise.

But sadly they have found a comfort zone and here they have chosen to stay since the last ten years, and here they probably will stay til kingdom come. And any attempt at playing something else like the EL songs they seem to shut down after one try because the crowd didn't dance as much to it as to HFTW...as if that's the only measure of quality.

 

P.S: And don't even get me started on dropping Coloratura. To drop the deepest and most musically accomplished song off the current album in favor off a more danceable and butt-shakeable setlist is just an insult to the core fandom of this band.

[lennyrott1]

Setlists from both nights are interesting, I have to give Coldplay credit for mixing things up and taking some risks. Here are some general thoughts I had. I'm just thinking about whether I want to fork over hundreds of bucks to see them on this tour after seeing them on the AHFOD tour in 2016. Right now, if I had the option of going to the same setlist of Night 2 of this show, I'd probably sit it out.

Spoiler

• As usual, Coldplay sounds best (to me) when doing their alt-rock pop style. I loved the faster percussion on Charlie Brown, Humankind as expected sounds awesome, and Paradise, Yellow totally bop. POTP also gives the show a nice loud rock moment between mellower songs. Higher Power with the xylobands is an excellent opener. 
• Its a HUGE treat that they performed Sparks, Everyday Life, Orphans and GPASUYF on night one. Those are songs I'd love to see and it's great to see some more alt-Coldplay showing up on the setlist. However, it's super crappy they are not playing them on night two... We already say HFTW ad nauseum on the AHFOD tour. 
• WHY WOULD YOU CUT OUT COLORATURA WHATS GOING ON???
• The Light Club.... okay well I like the idea of putting all of your "EDM" songs in one set and the band doing the goofy DJ helmets is actually kind cool. But also, musically I found this section to be kinda lame. Infinity Sign just isn't a good song imo, and SJLT is meh -- did they cut out the solo? The Midnight remix also just sounds like something you'd hear downtown done by some amateur dj at a half-crowded club. 
• The quieter tracks -- Ehhh.... I just don't like LSG but it's cool Bani Adam was performed after. Sparks is great, and I love the c-stage set overall. 
• The Puppet -- Okay. Biutyful sounds great live I think and I honestly don't have an issue with the puppet, though yes, it's a very odd choice. I wonder if they are doing this for a music video maybe? It's honestly shocking Biutyful, one of the LEAST streamed songs from MOTS, is the closer. Also... it's weird that the puppet sings Human Heart, because they could of just had a cool video of We Are King... Seems weird to make them disappear behind a puppet.

At this point, I'd porably be hesitant to see a show. Night one really appeals to me because of Orphans, Everyday Life and Coloratura, but night two would have let me down because I already saw 90% of those songs during the last tour. 

 

[VCF]

I'm tired of this band.

[ColdplayingMama]

37 minutes ago, VCF said:

I'm tired of this band.

I am literally heartbroken that I (or anyone else) won't get to see Coloratura live. I hope they change their minds by the time I see them in Chicago.  What a shame.😢

[Jaes]

I'm literally crying because of this thing about Coloratura. It was one of the biggest reasons for me to wait for the concert. I can't believe this. 😭

[Christo670]

On 3/21/2022 at 6:36 AM, Divutian said:

i honestly think humankind would be a great stadium closer to the likes of ETIAW, maybe even more than coloratura. They just need to change the closer, and remove the muppets/helmets and then it would be perfect.

agreed on this.
If they could just change the closer to 

Sunrise
Biutyful
Fix You
Humankind

it would be so good. finishing the show with a bang.

[Divutian]

guys dont worry they listened! they played a shortened version of coloratura. and phil is also gonna talk to the band about playing X&Y songs

[alexix7]

If they dont want to play Coloratura, they should at least put Up&Up as closer then....

[thomasPh]

 

On 3/21/2022 at 8:54 PM, I ran away said:

I wholeheartedly agree with you. What aggravates fans is not the fact that they play all the big hits (this has been misrepresented in the past, most recently on Twitter) - they obviously have to play the hits since they get the general public going and they are famous due to them, and at every concert there are people who have never heard these songs live before and want them. So they definitely should play the hits.

But the annoying part is that the rest of the songs are always the same few choices from the same few albums. From AROBTTH for example it's always GPASUYF, since ten years this hasn't changed. From X&Y it's always - nothing. From VLVODAAHF it's always - nothing. From MX it's always UATW and so on. While I understand that some songs get a crowd going more than others, there are valid alternatives for each of these with the same energy level and that have proven to have worked in live settings. In the example of AROBTTH, why not replace GPASUYF with Politik or Daylight every now and then? You cannot tell me these songs do not work live. In the case of X&Y, do you really think songs like Square One, Talk, White Shadows or Low would not get the crowd raging? Or for Viva: Violet Hill, Cemeteries of London, 42? Footage of older tours suggests otherwise.

But sadly they have found a comfort zone and here they have chosen to stay since the last ten years, and here they probably will stay til kingdom come. And any attempt at playing something else like the EL songs they seem to shut down after one try because the crowd didn't dance as much to it as to HFTW...as if that's the only measure of quality.

 

P.S: And don't even get me started on dropping Coloratura. To drop the deepest and most musically accomplished song off the current album in favor off a more danceable and butt-shakeable setlist is just an insult to the core fandom of this band.

Hi there,

 

I totaly agree with you. With this first setlist I was a bit surprised compared to the famous "10 years of immobility" of the band, I said to myself "oh they finally decided to get out of their comfort zone" then the second show arrived...

I don't understand why they ignore their legendary background, I don't understand how insignificant things like Midnight stay in the setlist. I know that for the production the set cannot change too much, but frankly this new setlist is just bad.

I may be shocked to say this but for me, the Coldplay magic is on the end. Since Chris Martin is in LA, they no longer operate as a band but as a company where everyone works in their corner, where Chris Martin rehearses his world tour alone in Malibu and where the guys compose songs via facetime and 50 producers.

This tour is the symbol :  the totally WTF final with the puppet, these alien masks, these ridiculous dances in playback, the very close to AHFODT show... Now, the music is no the reason of the tour, it is only a means. So if the public doesn't dance on Coloratura, it goes in the trash. I remember during the X&Y tour the magical backwards outro of The Scientist :

On the MOTS tour, there's no charm between all these dance songs.

Chris Martin doesn't really seem to care anymore about people who listen to his music long term, he thinks more about those who listen to Coldplay on the radio sometime. I would never demand that the band play such and such a song but honestly, I feel like I'm not the target anymore.

I know, Chris will said "We have nothing to prove now". Sur man, but i think you underestimate your past .

To end on a positive note: I'm still happy to see that they enjoy to be reunited and working together on this tour. I'm sure they like what they do.

PS : I love the band but I don't understand them now. That said, I thank them for giving us EL in 2019.

Edited March 23, 2022 by thomasPh