There may have been no Coldplay action at the Ford Amphitheater in Tampa on Sunday, but that didn't stop Coldplayers from making a day of it in the Florida sunshine. In true Coldplay-shaped puppet style, Helena, Dianne, Kelly and Denise treated us to some sights of their travels, and a peek inside the empty Ford Amphitheater, where Coldplay may yet play their final US show, on a date to be announced. The also visited St. Petersburg Pier where the video for 'The Hardest Part' was filmed. Here's the story and pictures, as well as some other recent comments:
We drowned our sorrows in chips and salsa and 2 for 1 margaritas at Chilis. And we all had a nice weekend away with friends, old and new, right? And um, we got to go somewhere we might not have even gone to. And uh, a change of climate is always good? Ok ok, nothing will quite make up for missing the boys - and I was looking forward to Elbow, too. Two shows with KDL and Amadou and Mariam was enough - while they were fine, a change would have been nice. We tried to enjoy ourselves. We went to the venue and sweet talked the parking/security guard into letting us go in the venue to take pics and we wanted to see the inside layout . The stage was empty and the chairs may have been set up for the next show. The pit was set up with folding chairs. It was good size but not huge like at Home Depot Center in Los Angeles. Then we went to Chilis for margaritas and boo hoo'd at 9:00. And it was a beautiful night here, too. No rain today or tonight, but it is freaking hot today...
Did you talk to that nice livenation guy at the parking booth? He felt really bad for people who hadn't heard, and told us about the sadness, shock and tears. I would not have wanted his job, especially when we saw the party Hummer drive up. MK is fun, but yeah, hot and exhausting. That's cool you got to see Jackson Browne, too. Are you one of us Coldplay fans of "advanced age?" So I just noticed I got a tweet from some news guy in St. Pete wanting to know if I wanted to be interviewed on camera regarding the postponement - oh well, too late now. [thanks Ifdianne]
Dianne called they are all going to the movies.... They stopped by the venue and took a pic of the flashing billboard "COLDPLAY POSTPONED" they said people were showing up and as they were leaving one of those Party Hummers were pulling in.... How could people not know? I mean ya bought tickets thru LiveNation and they sent an email to all ticket holders yesterday morning saying it was not happening. They won't come back for 1 show, wouldn't be in their best interests, but if a Latin American tour gets added to the bill after Wembley, they could possibly stop off here in Tampa before or after The latin Tour. DIANNE!!!! BEST COLDPLAY LIVE PUPPETS EVER!!!!!!!!!!! They need to post those from Roadie #42 on his next update, that was cool, appreciate all the pics and of the venue, I think I might have spotted my VIP area, Hopefully this contest group of peeps won't forget me. I'll make sure to keep bugging them. The site is taking so long to update a re-schedule cause I am betting they are putting together a Latin Tour and setting dates and stuff and then we will be added. I guess this is Jonny's girl tweeting.. Jonny's fiance has twitter and she says this: "Sad to end our trip so abruptly, but it is lovely to be home! Keeping jet lag at bay with afternoon tea at Ottolenghi... no one can resist those cakes!" [thanks MartinFan]
I was there, too, as I didn't "get the message" about the postponement until I arrived at the Tampa venue about 2:00-ish on Sunday afternoon. Totally bummed. But I am encouraged that we haven't received notice of a cancellation yet. That means that they are indeed trying to figure out a way to get this show rescheduled, somehow. I'm not counting on it, though. The logistics seem incredibly difficult. I drove back up from Florida yesterday (was staying right on the edge of WDW property in Lake Buena Vista for Saturday and Sunday nights). Jackson Browne was incredible in St. Augustine on Friday night, the Magic Kingdom was exhausting (and EXTREMELY hot and humid) on Saturday, then Sunday was, well, a pretty big let down. But I'm holding out hope.... [thanks cmooreNC]
I'm still in Tampa, wish I were in NY already, at least I would have shopping to do, plane is in 1 hour and 30 minutes. Ok my next mission will be leaving a "get well soon" messagge to Chris when I get to London on Thursday. @Dianne: have a safe second flight back home, I really enjoyed myself yesterday..oh and we saw a racoon on the way to our car after we said goodbye, first time I see one with my eyes, didn't know they live in florida as well. [thanks iriden]
I'm amazed that they let you in. You ladies must have really turned on the charm! Did you happen to notice what the "orchestra" section seats look like at the back of the floor? Are they elevated from front to back? I would probably go for those seats if they are still available when they announce the new date, assuming it will not be this coming week. Live Nation isn't showing the Tampa concert at all now. I haven't checked, but I think tickets could probably be bought pretty cheaply in the resale market but I'm worried about buying tix there. If the show is canceled, the refunds would go to the original ticket holders. I'm waiting to find out about the reschedule date along with everyone else because I definitely want to go! We'd make out like bandits if they reschedule during the winter when Florida is a haven for the winter-weary. It would also give enough time to get the best priced airfare. So far, they have said "postponement" not "cancelation" so there is every reason to expect a new date. The resellers don't list the tix either, probably because one has to know the date first, and that is currently unknown. [thanks starfish42]
hey again guys...sorry if another thread was started on this...but now that Tampa has passed...what about those free concert cd's we were supposed to get! argh! i downloaded mine when it came out of course..but i was hoping to be the one of the lucky 20 that got the autographed version! maybe for the tampa crowd they can autograph more copies! oh well....we can all dream can't we? [thanks gatorsamiam]
It was up the day the show was canceled. Mel and I were laughing because the band's web site said "canceled for medical reasons" and we both giggled and said Teh Coldplays got teh herpes! Well I am finally home. My gate changed 3 fricking times in a 10 minute span and I ran all over the Orlando airport. The place was packed with all the bloody Ratland visitors. They over booked and offered vouchers if you took the 8:30pm flight and I thought about it, but at this point with the way things have gone, I was sure that 8:30 flight would get canceled or something and I would end up sleeping at the airport, so I said fuck that and got on the flight. This wasn't my first experience with shows being moved/canceled. The show for Houston was canceled during the X&Y tour due to Hurricane Rita. Last year I spent three days in Phoenix because the band had moved their date after I had paid for a flight, hotel and car....all of which were nonrefundable. That show was moved because their tour just wasn't ready yet. WTF! I wasn't very happy about that kind of reason at all! When I met Jonny and Guy in Chicago, I had told Jonny, actually I think I kinda bitched at him, about me having to suffer in Arizona for 3 days without them. He was so cute, he apologized and wrote "Sorry you had to go to Arizona" on my AROBTTH CD. And now, here it was again. Oh well, what can you do. If someone is sick, they are sick. So Mel and I are driving to her house and we start talking about all the people that are coming to Florida for the show and how many of them, are en route and totally unaware of what they will soon find out. We call Lori and deliver the bad news. Lori says she has a nonrefundable ticket and she checked with the airline and to change her flight to another date is almost as expensive as a new ticket so what the hell, she will just go ahead and fly in and join our pity party. We send Kelly a text to tell her about it but she is also in the air and doesn't find out until it's too late. Unfortunately, she's flying into Tampa and will be stuck there on her own. Turned out to be OK because she ended up hooking up with some other people that arrived there to the bad news. [read full blog article] [thanks TheAngie]
Hi Dianne, I want to THANK YOU so much for sharing these WONDERFUL PIX with us. I'm so glad that you did have some fun even though the show was postponed. And I am pleased to see that you are smiling and very positive in spite of the disappointment. Not only the great pix, but particularly the TEXTS made me laugh a lot - I love your creativity and your humour. Now I wonder if it was possible for you, without too much trouble, to transfer the texts and the pictures - of you and the 3 other girls "on dolphin cruise" as well as the picture of you in front of the Amphitheatre and/or of the empty venue - to banners or t-shirts to be shown at the rescheduled concert so that the band will actually see / read them. I read the review of the concert on 7 August including about Iriden's (Denise, right?) and friend's (Helena, right?) banners with the text "Coldplay's missionaries in foreign fields" - Chris and Guy read the banner text at the show on 7 August 2009 and bowed and laughed, respectively. I am sure that they will be impressed and probably laughing having seen these pictures and read the wonderful texts. [thanks nancyk58]
You can read more comments and contribute to the latest Tampa discussion at the Coldplay Live forum here onwards. Thanks to all those who have added to the thread so far.
Greetings from Tampa: Wish Coldplay and you were here. The Coldplay-shaped fans on tour. (9th August 2009):
The Coldplay-shaped fans took a dolphin cruise. Helena from Italy, Dianne from Orange County,CA, Kelly from Chicago, and Denise from Italy
The Hardest Part video location - St. Petersburg Pier
The Coldplay-shaped fans sneak up to Ford Amphitheatre to see what could have been.
The Coldplay-shaped fans would have been in the pit, minus the folding chairs.
Pictures by Ifdianne @ Coldplaying
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