Portland fan review (part one): Meeting Coldplay backstage

An excellent review of Coldplay's concert at the Clark County Amphitheater, Portland, OR, and a meet and greet backstage (10th July 2009) has emerged online at the Coldplay Live forum, courtesy of chengui (more to come later!):

Long story short – I won a t-shirt design competition and me and a friend won seat ON THE STAGE to the Coldplay show last night. I’ll write more later – but figured I’d post this first half this morning.

After I won the tickets I asked the woman at the station if she thought there was any chance we would actually meet the band (so I could be prepared) and she said no. She said the station did not receive ANY meet/greet passes so our prize was just to sit on the stage (still freakin’ awesome – no complaints on my end). She then told me that a woman from Capitol records (who sponsored the contest) would be contacting me the day of the show with specifics of how I got to my seat etc.

Fast Forward – DAY OF THE SHOW - In the morning I went and picked up my T-shirt from the radio station and my tickets. Apparently how they do it is they give me real seats (like 3rd row seats too) just to get me in the venue so I can connect with the Capitol rep (as far as I know these seats remained empty since I was not in them). Around 5, I got a call from the capitol rep. She was SUPER nice and said the Capitol people loved my design and that she had been informed (by the powers that be) that I WOULD be able to get to meet the band even though it wasn’t part of the radio promotion and we’d get a picture with them! Wow. She said that she would meet me inside the venue at 7:15. I’d never been to the venue but knew it is supposed to be in Washington (only 20 minutes north of Portland). However, because of the traffic I figured we should leave with plenty of time to spare so we left at 5:45. How silly I was to think it would take me less than an hour and a half to go 15 miles. Traffic WOULD NOT let up! I started out thinking we had plenty of time, but as the traffic refused to let up I started getting more and more nervous. The Capitol rep called me as I was in the car and told me that the meet/greet was scheduled for 7:15 and told me where to meet inside the venue. Now I started to kinda freak out. With a half hour to spare we got off the exit to the venue (of course CRAZY concert traffic to deal with now) It was the worst feeling being stuck in traffic just to find a parking spot and knowing that we could miss our opportunity to meet the band. We got a parking spot and got out of the car around 7:05. We ran through the parking lot, had our tickets scanned and RAN to the meeting spot inside the venue. We made it….with a few minutes to spare (OMG).

The two reps from Capitol came and met us and two other winners from another radio station. We got the passes and went through the backstage doors into an area behind the venue (outside still though). The Capitol people were super friendly and one of the guys was chatting with me about weird experiences he’d had with bands/fans. Apparently he found us to be pretty down to earth/normal. The said they were taking us to an area to wait for the band. We walked past these big security guys into this back lot area that had a ping pong table set up. The Capitol people said we would just hang out there until the band had a few minutes to come say hi. As one of the reps was telling our group this, Guy walked right past me and went over to the back corner of the area where he began to talk to Chris (who magically appeared from around a corner). I think as soon as they realized fans were there the ducked around the corner out of sight (although I think I we may have been the only two to see them – the other winners were older…not sure how big of fans they were). The security guards then asked us all to come wait on the other side of the fence. The tour manager came and said hi, and a few other people from the Coldplay “group”. Everyone was super nice and seemed to really like my t-shirt.

We waited for quite a while out there and people kept coming over and apologizing for the delay (like I really cared). Finally the band manager said we were ready and we went BACK around the fence to the ping pong table area. Apparently the other contest winners had won some huge framed plaque thing that would be signed by the band, so this was brought out and set on the ping pong table while there was a discussion if they should ask the band to sign the glass with a silver or black Sharpie. We all kinda stood together – however the Capitol people got pulled aside by someone (not sure who) and they came and told us that apparently the other two winners are the only ones that actually would get a photo with the band (as it was actually part of their official promotion). Crazy how this stuff works, you know? Obviously that was kind of a bummer – but still …meeting the band was unexpected and completely extra at this point so I had no reason to complain.

A few minutes later the boys walked in. They came and shook all our hands and introduced themselves – kinda like a wedding reception line. Will was first, super friendly and nice, Guy next, who commented that he really liked my shirt, then Jonny who gave the biggest smile and Chris last, who said hello, introduced himself, shook our hands and smiled (but I got the feeling they do this ALL THE TIME – and he was kind of preoccupied) Chris said it was such a beautiful night and I said they really lucked out. Then they were brought them over to the plaque to sign (Will stayed and chatted for a minute). While they were signing, their manager and a few of their “people” were asking me about the T-shirt design – then they pointed it out to the boys – Will and Guy said it was cool. When they were done, we stood off to the side and they posed for a picture with the other two winners. After that was done, Chris looked over and us and said, “What about these guys? – let’s get one with them” – so they came over and took a photo with us AFTERALL! Crazy how this stuff is orchestrated – whatever the band is in the mood for it seems like – I got the impression that you don’t ever approach them about it, you just hope they are in a good mood. After the photo, they all shook our hands and I wished them luck for the show. They left.

The Capitol people said it was so awesome that they took a photo with us (and that it was Chris’ idea) – I guess that’s pretty abnormal...

More to follow...

New pictures of Coldplay at Clark County Amphitheater, Portland, OR (10th July 2009):