Coldplay at the Royal Albert Hall - Two extraordinary shows

So we went to the RAH around 7:30 (because Switzerland played at the Worldcup) and we got our tickets and made it inside of RAH. Wow, what a beautiful building, it is probably the most beautiful venue in the world

 

Then the Support act started, no idea who that was :-S after my girlfriend said she has to go to the restroom and this changed everything. We walked down and this guy with a lot of tickets was there and looked at me and said: Hey I know you, you are one of this crazy fans right? I was like yes I'am and he said: So you should sit in the front row!? I was shaking and he gave me front row tickets, yes I almost cried there and gave him a big hug. So we went down and we sat down and I was so excited and then it started. WOW... they where so close and there was nobody pushing etc. It was so amazing!

 

Coldplay @ Royal Albert Hall- 02/07/14.

 

 

On the 17th April 2014, I was sat on the metro in Tokyo, Japan (not bad for some ) when I went on Twitter (yes, they have WIFI on their metro, fancy!) and to my delight, I spotted the announcement of the Ghost Stories promotional tour, which included a date at the world famous Royal Albert Hall in London. I was returning back to my hotel after a long day of being a tourist with my feet killing me (life is tough you know!) but that certainly put a smile upon my face. This gig was ultra-convenient as I was due to be at an open day for a university in London the very next day, I simply had to get a ticket.

 

50 days later, it was the date with destiny; ticket release date. In the week building up to it, I had difficulty sleeping. It was a nerve wracking experience. If I were to get tickets, it would be my 1st ever Coldplay gig, at the Royal Albert Hall, what a place to do it! Seeing my favourite band in one of the most beautiful buildings in the world in my favourite city in the world. It would certainly be something crossed off my bucket list!

 

I went downstairs, I had 2 laptops (one on G&T, one on See Tickets) and my phone (G&T) on the go. I joined the queue on all of them at 9:20 AM, and I didn’t even get a look in until around 10:30, by which time, the gig was “sold out”, yet I got the choice to pull tickets. I tried in vain in the last minute ticket scramble, missing out on circle and stall tickets (“Could not Allocate” error) by not being quick enough. I was gutted, and angry with Gigs and Tours, I had been in the queue way before the on sale time, yet I couldn’t get a ticket for the gig of my dreams. BUT WAIT, Coldplay tweeted there was going to be a 2nd gig! I had a 2nd chance, though my planned trip to school to go to a revision class would have to be sacrificed to give me a chance.

 

In the hours that followed the morning debacle, I learnt that G&T do not operate a conventional queue system; the opportunity to book tickets would go to a random person that refreshed when a spot opened. (Fair? No.) It was useless to wait for the 20 second timer to run down. I also decided to ditch my phone for this attempt. Of course, this sale was a disaster. G&T displayed an error for a good 10 minutes after tickets went on sale, and See Ticket’s page for tickets was taken down. However, I had visited the See Tickets page before it was taken down so I had the link. I tried it, and I was put into the dreaded queue. I refreshed like crazy, and I got through after about 5 minutes. Tickets were available everywhere, and given the problems with the sale, I thought I’d take advantage by bagging an Arena seat. I clicked “Get These Tickets”, thinking that I had achieved my goal, with the best seats in the house as well. HOWEVER, See Tickets was not having any of it. It crashed, and then kicked me straight back into the queue. I was devastated, and absolutely furious. In spite of my fury, I kept trying, but then, the dreaded “Sold Out” tweet came. Given my close call earlier in the day, I knew that hope wasn’t lost, if anything, I had more of a chance. I got through to the ticketing page a couple of minutes after the “Sold Out” notice, yet everything bar one (Sold Out) was “Tickets Not Available”. I knew tickets might come, so I kept on refreshing. However, I was due to leave at 5:10pm for a game with my 5-a-side football team. Tickets still weren’t appearing. My Dad arrived, ready to give me a lift to the game. BUT THEN, with what probably would have been my last refresh before giving up, most categories magically became available! I tried to grab a stalls ticket, but I got the “Could not Allocate” message that had plagued me earlier in the day (actually, I think Coldplayers Linus and Cheeetaz beat me to those tickets ). I thought I had blown it. I frantically tried to get a Circle ticket, AND EUREKA, I WAS INTO THE PAYMENT PAGE. I rapidly filled out the page (luckily, I had filled in my card details and address prior to the sale) and clicked Confirm. It proceeded to the Bank’s security check. I prayed nothing went wrong at this stage. And then came the page I had been dreaming of all day, the confirmation page. I was in such a frenzy to fill in the payment details that I hadn’t even looked at my seats. Block V, Row 1, Seat 149. Not bad! I celebrated as if Cardiff City had won the Champions League (of course, that will never happen) but my celebrations were held short. I was 5 minutes late for leaving, and my Dad was looking a bit impatient. For those wondering, my team lost that game 9-1, a very low scoring game for a 40 minute 5-a-side game. But I could not care one iota. I had Coldplay tickets! It was one of the most stressful days of my life (this was the 1st time I had ever gone for tickets that were certain to sell out extremely quickly after being put on sale) but it was worth it!

 

I should just say, the ticketing process was farcical. There was always going to be people disappointed, but that was just ridiculous. I was extremely lucky in the end, but G&T could not organise a piss up in a brewery properly, never mind an in demand ticket sale.

 

So, 26 days until the gig. I could not wait!

 

The week building up to the gig dragged, though there were 3 significant events that happened that week:

1. My ticket arrived on June 27th

2. I chose what was very close to being the worst time to get flu (Monday 30th. Still don’t feel 100% now).

3. The July 1st gig. I decided to listen in and it made me even more excited for the gig. However, what was slightly worrying was that Chris’ voice seemed to be running out of steam towards the end.

4:30AM, 2nd July 2014. That is the moment that my alarm was set for to head off to London for the gig. I needed to be at an openday in the city, hence the early start. I set off at 5:10AM and I arrived in Shepherd’s Bush at 9:15AM after getting stuck in the rush hour traffic. I won’t bore you with the details of the open day. I then spent the afternoon in Hyde Park. I swear I could hear Arcade Fire sound checking for their gig there (which takes place on July 3rd).

 

At around 5:10PM, I wondered over towards the Albert Hall. I did a few laps around the place as I had plenty of time to burn. I then sat down at the statue at the rear of the hall where 2 touts were operating (and several people wanting tickets). One of the touts tried to buy my ticket off me (he dished out some money, looked like £100/£120, which was kind of insulting. There was absolutely no chance that I would sell my ticket, especially for that price.) On the other end of the scale, I was sat with some fans who didn’t have a ticket. Luckily, one of the guards told them not to buy from a tout, instead to look on the G&T website. I don’t know whether or not they got a ticket because I decided to head in search of a merchandise stand (as a result, I got let into the hall at 6pm), but I hope they did.

 

I headed up to the merchandise stand on the circle. I brought a Ghost Stories mug, the Lithograph and the button set. I opted against the t-shirt, it was way too expensive given that I had paid £95 just for the ticket. I then headed to the bar for a drink before looking at the photographs on the wall. I then sat outside my door, waiting to be let in to the auditorium.

 

At 18:35 (5 MINUTES LATE!!!!), the doors swung open, I headed straight to my seat, took a few photographs and then I kicked back and relaxed, though I had to get up every 2 minutes to let someone through. Word of advice, never get an aisle seat if you can help it!

 

AlunaGeorge came on at 20:00. I wasn’t expecting anything good from her. I was disappointed when she was confirmed as the support. I listened to a song of hers on Youtube, didn’t like it so my expectation were low. I was right to set them low, she wasn’t very good. She looked like a stripper who had got stuck in her own clothes for half the time (for goodness sake, either take your jacket off or leave it on, it’s not hard!) Saying that, I forgot that she featured on Disclosure’s White Noise, which was the only pleasant surprise in an otherwise poor set.

 

So, the headline act. Coldplay finally hit the stage. I’m not going to go through the whole set, only a few highlights:

 

• Always in my Head was a nice way to open the gig.

• Charlie Brown was absolutely brilliant. It was by far my favourite song of MX and it sounds even better live.

• Paradise was also great.

• Clocks, What a song that is, the piano riff is just gorgeous.

• The Singalong for The Scientist was breath-taking.

• Don’t Panic is one of my favourite Coldplay songs, great to witness Johnny singing it 3 times!

• Ink/True Love were superb. I sang every word of them both 

• It doesn’t get any better than Viva ringing around the Royal Albert Hall

• ETIAW and ASFOS were absolutely mental. 2 epic live tracks. Also, I swear Chris pointed straight at me during ASFOS (Might have been Fix You actually)

• Fix You was a fitting way to end not only the show, but the tour too.

I was slightly disappointed that the setlist was exactly the same on both nights, no real surprises in there. I was hoping to hear Green Eyes, Yellow and Ghost Story (only realistic ones included) but I’ll just have to wait until next time.

 

People commented on the loudness of the speakers. I think they were at a perfect level. Saying that, I was right at the back (well, the top of the back if you get what I mean).

 

A personal highlight was walking back through the tunnel to South Kensington Tube Station. As soon as I walked in, I heard the Viva Chant echoing around. Gave me Goosebumps (not that the concert itself didn’t!)

 

Overall, it was one hell of a gig! I can’t wait to see Coldplay again, hopefully it will be soon (wonder if they’ll do another U1R show this year?). Anyway, see you all next time Coldplay hit the road!

 

I'm sorry for any weird grammatical structurs/mistakes/total absence of fotos because Jelena has all the cool ones/ because I can't be arsed right now

 

I'm looking down at myself this moment realizing that my legs and feet are all swollen up twize of their usual size uhh

I guess that proves I've been walking around London quite a bit *cough*

So, last thursday I got lucky and bought two stall seat tickets for Danceteacher aka Jelena because she really wanted to attend one of the RAH concerts. I managed to get two for the 2th and told her she can probably sell the ticket to some of you guys because I didn't want to go. She was like "DAFUQ WHY ARENT U COMIN" and I told her that I'm out of cash and it's gonna be really expensive if I'm gonna book a flight that is starting in 4 days lol. She grumpily agreed and we didn't talk for the rest of the day. Then at exactly midnight she called me again and told me "So uhhh, I still have that ticket you bought me, because the person I wanted to give the ticket got one herself..."

Me: "I see..."

Her: "Yeah"

Me: "..."

Her: "...*cough*

Me: ".. GODDAMMIT JELENA"

Her: " I'm just saYINNN "

Me: "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS UGH!"

So she was trying to convince me to come with her, I was anxious about the whole thing because I barely had any time to plan the whole trip, and traveling by my own (yeah I'm a loser). Well, in the end I booked my flights, slept in Jelenas hotel room incognito on an air matress and went with her to the 2th concert

We finally met at tuesday 7pm after a chaotic journey through half london and 3 hours late and then went to see London's iconic buildings and spots for the rest of the evening.

 

The next day was a totally new difinition of epic though. It was crazy, mindblowing, unbelievable, but Jelena and I found the most fitting word to define the whole day:

absurd.

On wednesday morning we went to see Violet Hill and Abby Road and took some silly pics of myself Mind you, I was wearing my silly batman the whole time AHAHAH

After that AT 11am we met up with a huuuge group of Coldplayers (Row, Anita, Hannah, Raphaele, Imke, Priscilla, I'm sorry if I'm forgetting anyone I have only slept like 7 hours the past three days and my eyes are burning) at the Odeon cinema. Imke brought beautifully metal necklaces in the shape of the wings of the Ghost stories album and we all wore them immediately, making us look a little bit like some weird sect

 

Oh man you were all sooo lovely We sat down at a nearby restaurant to eat and then went on to make silly photos of our group HA. After that we split up and Jelena, Raphaele and I went to see the bakery. I felt my hear trate picking up so I really tried to contain my inner fangirl but DAMN it was hard! When I saw the the little church-door of the beehive I kinda lost it and kept on rambling until Jelena told me to calm the fudge down because I was being annoying. So we went down the street until we saw the bench in front of the bakery and now it was REALLY hard not to fangirl all over the place Jelena took some pictures of me standing in front of the bakery like a total dork and then we sat down on the bench. There was already a girl sitting on there, and when she saw us she smiled at said "Coldplay fans, eh?" And we all grinned and nodded and talked about Coldplay in general and the things Coldplay fans usually talk about

 

Then a post van pulled up right in front of the beehive, some man went out, walked over to the doors, and the next moment he was carrying a package that he got from the beehive back to his car.

And THEN something weird happened. So we sat there squished together on this bench when suddenly a grey car raced past us, honking right in front of us so we all jumped, then the person driving waved in a greeting manner at the post man who waved back, and then the car took a sharp right turn and disappered into a nearby street. The whole thing was over in 3 seconds. But I cought a short glimpse into the car and saw the back of the drivers head. And I think it was Phil Because his haircut has this recognisable shape and I'm certain it was him!

I told my Coldplaying friends that and they all thought that this indeed might have been Phil, AHHH

 

After another 20 minutes we finally left the place because we wanted to refresh ourselves back at the hotel to get ready for the concert. After a quick shower we went back to the RAH and right in front of the memorial where alll of the Coldplaying people were sitting. Holy crap that group was HUGE. I've took some pictures of ourselves, although I'm not sure everyone of you wants to be displayed on here so I won't post any pics yet!

 

We continued sitting/chatting/eating/drinking when I decided to finally move my butt inside the RAH because I was feeling anxious and unrelaxed and REALLY excited about the inside of this awesome building. We walked around inside and it looks really astonishing in there! You can google for yourself, my cam pictures turned out to be rather crappy because there were a lot of people around bumping into me the whole time while taking pics

Then we got to our seats that were really nice, as I said, we'd got tix for the stall seats and we were facing the front of the stage Then I discovered that Frank and Ellen were chatting right down THERE NEXT TO THE STAGE and I was like "wha-HAT hold on I'm totally gonna sneak down there, too LOL" so I casually strolled back through the entrance of the stall seats area, outside of the inner corridors, down to the toilets and then up again and oops I just totally found myself right next to the stage as well Frank told me I could try sneaking in there when Coldplay were starting and maybe the security people wouldn't notice me, but we had our doubts because they kept staring at me the whole time (I've taken off my batman hoodie at that time though heuhehu). So yeah, Anita told me that maybe after the encore I got sneak down there. I tried my luck both times with Jelena, right at the start of the gig and at the encore and both times it didn't work and they caught us, argh! And at the second time the security people got REALLY angry haha oops We just ran back to our seats and hid in the darkness and contiued enjoying the show from our seats. But at least we tried!

Now to the awesome things that happened during the concert!

- I haven't had time yet to read the thread, but the setlist was amazing (they played Don't Panic and Jonny had to sing the refrain THREE TIMES because Chris wanted him to And everytime Jonny was singing the whole place went NUTS) everything's not lost and the scientist

- Chris kissing Jonny on the cheek (I think, they were too far away to see any details) after he fought his way through singing Dont Panic

-Chris holding a very heartwrenching speech about a friend of his that got some kind of disease, but I couldn't really understand what it was because I was surrounded by drunk people shoving their beer into my face and yelling useless stuff Apparently the person Chris talked about was very sick and Chris was dedicating Fix you to his friend (he was called James, Jamie? I couldnt really understand. but OMG THE FEELS)

- Chris saying absolutely hilarious stuff about Guy/Jonny/Will (I already know it was posted somewhere here in this thread, like Guy beeing 55 years old and such things! )

-Chris kissing the stage at the end of the gig

- Will playing the Viva drums up in the row in front of the people with Chris being all over him.

- Chris BEING ALL OVER EVERYONE I MEAN RLY:

1) he hugged Guy, he hugged Jonny so excessively that Jonny's playing arm/hand went off the strings and the playing stopped for a tiny moment.

2)As I said Chris being all over Will and in his face so that Will as having trouble hitting the drums without hitting Chris, he had to move his arms in very funny circular motion to avoid Chris HAHAH

3)Chris hugging some lucky male fan during ASFOS And I mean like full-body-contact-hugging-with-both-arms-for-3-seconds I was watching the fan after he got hugged and I think his brain had a melt-down Can't blame you dude though HAHA

4) Running around during viva and giving handshakes/highfives to people

 

That's the most awesome things I can think about right now The atmosphere was amazing and the crowd was yelling their lungs out, and the band surely felt that, judging from the look on their faces.

This gig was totally worth all the stress and physical hurt my body went through

 

And now I have to take care of some blisters/bruises/sleep deprivation/sore spots LOL

 

/Batman out