Barcelona fan reviews (part 2): Audience disappointing at Estadi Olimpic?

More fan reviews of Coldplay's concert at the Estadi Olimpic in Barcelona that didn't make the review article yesterday morning, have been posted at the Coldplay Live forum. Here are some more of the reviews this time focussing on the crowd, and a couple of comments from Coldplayers who didn't attend the show, but were able to give a neutral view based on what had been said before...

Hey what's going on with all those complaints?? The show was really awwwwesome!!! they were fantastic all of them, even Chris was brilliant with his delicate voice as we all know, and there was the same energy in the stage as always, no problems and no mistakes, and it seems that they were happy to play in Barcelona again, and of course, Chris has a better catalan and spanish than last year! But for me, the only disappointing thing of the night was... the crowd. I'm not going to say the sound problems, because it's a normal thing to happen in big stadiums, you just have to understand it and that's all.

But it's NOT normal that when a powerful song is playing, people just stand motionless with the cameras up and in silence... oh C'MON they were recording the show with professional cameras!! It's just a stupid thing to do with your own little cheap camera!! The crowd was much more euphoric in Palau Sant Jordi last year than yesterday, and it was quite sad... Coldplay chose Barcelona for this tour, and on top of that they choose this show to record it!! and people didn't give what the four guys needed... they didn't deserve it.. was very shameless...

And they noticed it, there were moments that they were trying to get some participation from the crowd, as the mobile wave... and it was very hard. I guess Coldplay expected much more from Barcelona crowd, as always, but this time it was just awful. In my sector there were lots of noises, people shouting and chatting on the stairs as if they were in a bar, drinking all the time and waiting for the beer-man for more and more drinks, doing everything except paying attention to the show that we had all paid. Only a few people seemed to enjoy the most songs of the night. And about the CDs, it's hardly surprising that so much people couldn't get one if the responsibles for the delivery were so far from the exit doors, throwing lots of cd's like boomerangs, and many people just didn't know where was the place to get them.. very poor organization. But except all that, the show and the guys were really amaaazing, and the lights and the fireworks were so extraordinary, the night was so worth it!!! and at least didn't rain, just some little drops!! And I hope the bad reviews won't make them change their opinion about Barcelona, we'll be waiting their comeback!! [thanks Daylight Shadows]

About the crowd, it's true that there were people talking and not very involved with the show. But this is the kind of things that happen when you become a band of huge success: there are the fans that know every song and sing them, but also the kind of people that know them for one or two songs (Viva la vida, Yellow) and the rest of the concert remain passive or worse, chatting. Here in Barcelona this has become more obvious with the FC Barcelona thing: at the stadium they played Viva la Vida before every match. It has become a anthem for the succesful season of the team, and recognised everywhere. Result: a lot of people at the concert wearing the Barça t-shirt and they maybe only knew this song. Even at the TV3 news this afternoon, the jornalist that made the report of the show said that some people were disappointed because there was no mention to FC Barcelona and the band didn't wear the Barça T-shirts. VENGA YA!!! COME ON! I must admit that I thought they'd do some mention to it, but I was happy that they didn't. In this country it seems that football has to be the center of everything. The mobile wave in the end worked very well, I think. At the beginning it was a problem because Chris said "starting from the left"... but the left of what? He must have said "starting from the left of the stage". But after 2-3 attemps it was pretty good. About the reviews. I've read some newspapers and all of them are very positive, only with the drawback of the sound at the beginning. [thanks ellis]

Ok, I was there, I went from Madrid, a long way by car... and I expected the same good show I saw last year in Madrid. It... just wasn't. The sound wasn't good, that's true (I was in the area where the problems appeared) but I didn't complain because it wasn't their fault, they just did their best. Even Chris apologised for the sound problems at the end of the concert... "it's a pity" is all I can say over and over. The point is that because of that, Chris and the guys wasn't in a good mood, and we all missed that. I think the company that prepared the concert to film it for the DVD maybe underestimated the power of the loudspeakers and lights... it was just a pity. I think the band couldn't do much better, but the organization definitely could have been better (for example, when they gave the LRLRL CD, there was just a bunch of guys with a lot of CDs... and loads of people around them. Of course, there were people with 5 CDs and people with none). I enjoyed the concert, but the people (as the band) just wasn't exited... it is a shame that due to some sound problems, the atmosphere wasn't as good as it could have been. It just wasn't one of their best shows... but they will do it better in the next, I'm sure of that. And of course, I'll be there. P.S: I really enjoyed their "Glass of water" and "Life in technicolors II", they were new for me in live, and I missed "Trouble"!! [thanks raulelsueko]

We are talking about crisis. That the figures seem catastrophic. But, look where, last night a quartet of relatively normal guys came to the Stadium "Estadi Lluís Companys", bring together a heterogeneous audience consisting of more than one class / generation and section (Pep Guardiola, the coach of FC Barcelona, is not lost in the concert). An audience different from the conventional audience at concerts by Rolling Stones, U2 or Bruce Springsteen; it is said an audience quite a lot more epicurean x). About 20 minutes behind schedule some muscular Coldplay broke the anxious silence of the audience. They entered the stage at full speed with a Life in Technicolor which suffered from some unfortunate, unexpected sound problems. Let's get to the point. When reaching the third song we have already reached full speed with a convincing and overwhelming version of Clocks. In the continuation we came closer to ecstasy with In my place, with singer Chris Martin racing several times for a catwalk/ramp amongst the audience (and saying a sentence "qué tal amigos?" meaning something like "what's up, my friends?" - bridging the gap between singer and the audience). His way of delivering his performance (delivery) is sincere, his timely/punctual deferences to the public (" ("muchísimas gracias desde el corazón" meaning "Thank you very much from the heart") are appreciated, but his hard-working attempts to convert some conventional scores into pieces of rap, waltz do not stop colliding. In Cemeteries of London he again makes reference to his empathy for Barcelona, and so throughout the night. The truth is that this group has a double merit, because beyond the extreme correction of its pop-rock (simple correction, never ecstatic) the group has been able to convert it into tremendous ballads-hymns of smashing loyalty, and, moreover, to ensure that those simple melodies are eventually becoming powerful themes...

That happened yesterday with Fix You that, since it was composed, until today it has suffered a transmutation almost unbelievable: Tremendous rhytmic punch, fair vocal harmonies (this is a strong point in the house, moreover) and, when the sound problems permit it, an acoustics that did not disappear. All that justified that the stadium "Estadi Lluís Companys" recorded one of the largest events (stadium was packed) that one could recall, with those 63,500 people. When in the middle of the evening, a medley was invented (contrived) in the middle of the pit with God Put A Smile Upon Your Face and some other songs, the people - being jaded - shouted "cannot be heard" and Chris Martin said: "I am very happy to be here". Then there was an a-congojante? version of Michael Jackson's Billie Jean, acoustic guitar exposed to? hair and voice naked. A sensible tribute. At the end, and there is not the same doubt about that, all went well, one of those big concerts to close the summer season, effective, exciting and sensational, with much confetti, but with unpolluted dignity. And so I will end this review: "Hasta la proxima" meaning Until next (time or concert). [thanks nancyk58 / lavanguardia.es]

oh, gosh..it really seems like one of the main speakers was out of order...that's rubbish..dont' think if they stopped playing people would be happy either plus you have to look at the curfew etc. Personally I don't think they recorded it for a DVD anyways...as normally you record shows for release where you have two nights just in case on of the nights somethings go wrong...which they did! Guess they won't be in a happy bunny mood today....wonders what R42 will write about it. In Munich last week he sounded absolutley fine to me but I also just hope that a. the two days off will give him some rest and b. that it all holds up til 19th and c. that he hasn't done anything stupid which will hold him up from touring in the future. I think they totally appreciated honest opinion from their audience however things can always go wrong which shouldn't go wrong if the main speakers fail a bigger speaker won't make a different when it won't work. I know its easy said cause it is always a shame for the people who are there but things even if done 100times before can go wrong! and I am pretty sure there is nobody more pissed of then them about it. (guess Chris had a big trantrum last night....) [thanks worldtrav]

I remember the Oracle said they would let us know when they were recording a DVD, and even tough they were recording the show it didn't mean it would end up as a DVD. I went to see The Killers in Verona, and they recorded the whole gig (I had the damn crane for the camera blocking the view most of the times), but we already knew they were recording the two shows at Royal Albert Hall as well for the DVD, so Verona is going to be part of the bonuses. It's too risky to record a DVD when you only have one date, and what happened yesterday just showed this. U2 had problems in Milan on the first night 4 years ago, so they had to use most of the recording of the second night, and still they were not happy with the outcome and only published a short DVD to go with U218. But more than this I'm worried for Chris' voice, I really hope these two free days before Paris will do him good. He didn't seem to have too many problems in Udine as well, but most of the times I could hear our voices over his, so I cannot really judge. He said he had a sore throat..but then again I couldn't see him having any problems in Charlotte as well and then they cancelled Tampa, so I'm not really the one you can trust on this matter. [thanks iriden]

More new pictures of Coldplay at Estadi Olimpic, Barcelona, Spain (4th September 2009):