[Blog Review] Coldplay @ Globe Theatre, Stockholm, Sweden (first night)

Last night Mia and I, and her old swimming friends Ida and Anna went to Globen Arena (incidentally, we live right next door), and saw Coldplay. I'm a casual Coldplay fan at best, and generally don't even listen to them unless someone else puts them on. Sometimes I think it's a bit gay to be a Coldplay fan, no? Last night was not gay.

Ida and Anna came over around 6pm, and since we only had a two minute walk to the Globen (which, resembles and enormous white golf ball), we had some dinner first. I prepared the finest curry I've ever eaten, and redeemed myself for my lackluster effort at Mia's friend's house the week before with Ryan. They girls supplied some wine. The three of them chatted in incomprehensible Swedish while I lounged on the couch looking at photos from New Zealand and wishing I could go back there, like now.

The one and half glasses of red wine I drank merely put me in somber, sleepy mood, and I spent the first half hour of the opening act (who happened to be the drummer from the Strokes - pretty sweet), yawning my brains out. As usual, there was about a 45 minutes delay between sets, and Coldplay finally came out around 9:30. Someone, Ryan maybe, or maybe Nate told me that they put on a good show - it didn't disappoint.

Chris Martin must be on speed or something, because he didn't sit still for the entire concert and was full of boundless energy. Even playing his piano he was jerking and gyrating around. The band truly looked like they were having an immense amount of fun. The songs were played with enormous energy, second only to Dave Matthews and his namesake Band in my opinion. In hindsight, it was probably the best 'stadium' concert I've ever been to. Well, maybe a close second to U2, my first concert in Philly with Nate and Dane. But anyway, it was surprisingly awesome.

And the audience was insane! They sang along to every song with remarkable clarity. During the brief intermission before the first encore, they were chanting and stomping and the whole place felt like it would cave in. Quite impressive.

At one point, the whole band ran off the stage and sprinted across the floor towards the back of the arena and proceeded to climb up the stairs to the lower level of seats, just under where we were seated. According to Martin, "We can't fly all the way to Sweden and not come visit the back!" They played two songs from right in the audience, and both included a harmonica.