Coldplay's final bow on the Ghost Stories tour
After a very successful opening night at the Royal Albert Hall on Tuesday, Coldplay would repeat the feat once more, for the last time on the short and intimate Ghost Stories tour. Tuesday's show was astonishing, while Wednesday was set to be even better, with many fans from Coldplaying attending the show! I (Sparky/Marc) was one of them, heading to my first show since taking over Coldplaying from April . Myself, like many other fans, couldn't get tickets during the initial rush but with luck and generosity from other fans, the majority of Coldplaying could attend the historical Royal Albert Hall show! A few Coldplayers, such as Wisna/Zuzana, who I met outside RAH (Royal Albert Hall) on the first night along with Mayurshikotra, were staying in London for many nights before the shows. My stay was two nights, with sleep being very brief this morning as I replay the memories during my journey home (in my head and on the phone!) that made Coldplay at the Albert Hall one of the best nights ever!
The first memories of hearing Coldplay at RAH were shared with thousands of you on Twitter, listening to the brilliant Absolute radio stream with Céline/Coeurli and I updating the Twitter feed as the breathtaking setlist, which saw the return of some golden oldies took shape. The reaction was a joy to see after the gig with reviews on the forums and Twitter straight away from delighted fans. The following morning, the great summer weather in London continued as a group of us on the forums : Myself, Grids/Afi, Linus, Zuzana/wisna and Mayur(shikotra) met up opposite RAH, buzzing in pure excitement for the day ahead, perhaps even more for Linus and I since we didn't see the show on the previous night. We started the Coldplaying day with a trip around Hyde Park, near the Princess Diana memorial fountain. After lunchtime, we left to roam the streets of Camden and heard through the grapevine that Chris Martin was close by, at about 3pm, enjoying the London sunshine too! We met more Coldplayers on the way such as Thalia/Batman and Jelena/Danceteacher and by 6pm, we met for the planned Facebook meet at the statue opposite the Royal Albert Hall, where around 15 of us turned up, ready for the show of our lives. Met many more friendly faces including Ian/ColdplayAtlas, the hugely popular Twitter page for Coldplay updates and video projects. As we all went in one by one or two by two, we met at door 6, where the merchandise was sold, for a few drinks before the show and meeting more great fans and discussing Coldplaying.com. It was close to showtime at that moment and we had missed the support act, AlunaGeorge who was getting mixed reviews. Me and Zuzana were sitting in the stalls, on row L which was actually a great view, pretty close and overlooking Guy with a clear view of Chris' mic. There the odd empty seats as there were the previous nights and I was advised to look out for a Scottish fan with a ginger beard if I needed an empty seat closer but the view was clear so we stayed put but I read on the forums of AROBTTH14 getting arena seats, through this gentleman who had a backstage pass. It would great to know who this is as AROBTTH14 wants to say thanks. The generosity seen during the whole tour has been heartwarming, it really has, it really proves we have the best fans in the whole world!
Everyone was shortly seated as the clock struck 9 o clock and Brian Eno's, An Ending built up the anticipation further and a good Coldplayer friend, Vince told me an exert of the same track was actually used in the build up to shows for the A Rush of Blood to The Head tour, interesting! Coldplay entered to soaring cheers, for their presumed final show of the emotional Ghost Stories era. Always in My Head was the usual opener with laser harps in the middle of the 360 stage. The crowd of Coldplayers were on top voice the whole night, singing along to every lyric. Charlie Brown soon followed after Chris Martin, who acknowledges everyone with "I see you there" and then emphasizing "we're in it together, its just you and its just us", "nothing could be better!" and it was true, the army of Coldplayers in RAH went wild to the crowd pleaser from Mylo Xyloto. The boys belted out hits such as Paradise, with a giant sing along at the end and the thunderous Clocks, where Will Champion shows his extraordinary drumming skills. There was a second night for The Scientist, which returned to the setlist on Tuesday for the first show at RAH. Phone wavers galore for another epic sing along. Chris also joked during the crowd interaction, telling the audience they will "play some new songs, some old ones and some One Direction songs"!
Coldplay continued to rock with God Put A Smile Upon Your Face performed. The roof being blown off the place during the climax, which then turned into a more somber tone, with Til Kingdom Come, which featured Guy Berryman on the harmonica. The best part of the show in my opinion was the following song, Don't Panic, to which Jonny Buckland sang three times, yes, 3!!!. Chris, who admitted this himself, may never be able to get Jonny to do such a thing today and being the last intimate show for a while, it seems the perfect opportunity to spur on his band mate and best friend. The reaction from the Coldplay fans in the Albert Hall was insane, the whole place was rocking! During Tuesday's show, Jonny sang twice, before being called a 'hero' and a 'legend' by Chris. Now, there isn't any words to describe the wonderful man! Everything's Not Lost continued the show with another moving Coldplayer sing along, followed by Ink, as the stars on the decorated trees around the theater started, quite fittingly, to shine! The emotional True Love prompted bursts of colour from the mini discs all along the roof of the hall and captured the intimacy of Ghost Stories and the venue itself. It wasn't possible to fit Will's drum and bell on the main 360 stage for Viva La Vida, so Chris and Will moved towards the choir end of the Theater, who had been viewing the back of Chris for the majority of the gig and were treated to close proximity performance with ecstatic fans reaching their hands out for Chris, dancing and moving next to them. The laser harps were back for the ambient Midnight, featuring Guy and Chris playing the wonderful instrument and the eccentric moves by Chris, fitting to the 'trippy' theme of the Midnight video. In contrast to Midnight, the crowd mover Every Teardrop is a Waterfall, sounded as great as it did during the Mylo Xyloto tour, prompting many Coldplayers to go crazy and that, I did. One of the three white spotlights was practically shining in my face while I was jumping like I've never jumped before, automatically bringing back fond memories of the last stadium tour! Everyone was given a chance to cool off (just as tad!) as there was a short break before the encore.The band came back to rapturous applause's to play Oceans, a track which although I always liked, has grown on me even more with these shows, it really is so magnificent and atmospheric live and Chris is on top note the whole time. Another big stand out of the night, the current single, A Sky Full of Stars sent the whole theater wild once more, with every fan bouncing up and down and star shaped confetti raining down on the crowd towards the later part of the song. The official Coldplay page posted the following Vine which sums up exactly how it was for us...The Royal Albert Hall is literally bouncing for A Sky Full Of Stars! A https://t.co/j8bjEyA1Rb
— Coldplay (@coldplay) July 2, 2014
^ Image thanks to 42-coldplay on Tumblr
Many Coldplayers gathered at the end, by the exits to exchange experiences. Mayur managed to get a copy of the setlist from the stage which you can above and it was a repeat of Tuesday's setlist. A number of us stayed in London for a few hours after, coming across Star confetti on the ground and other fans who just had the time of their lives! A lot of us parted ways, until the next time which we all hope would be for any Christmas gigs or at least, for the next tour, looking likely to be towards the end of next year, to relive the most amazing experience together once again. There was also a group of fans I met near the venue between 1-2am who were very kind, talking about Coldplaying with me and expressing their thanks for taking over the site, I am very grateful to have met you guys, along with everyone else on the way. It's been a real pleasure everyone, the enthusiasm everyone has is such a great joy, here's to the next tour and the even greater memories it may bring!
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