Sony studios review: Coldplay perform full Ghost Stories set in secret show (21 March)

Just got back from the show and figured I might as well dust off this account. As far as the songs, I'm horrible at giving decent descriptions (especially for songs I've only heard once), so I'll give extremely scattered impressions and you guys can feel free to ask more about any specifics.

 

 

Nothing about the songs we've already heard has changed.

still feels a bit truncated to me, and I was hoping that for some reason they didn't play the whole thing at the iTunes festival, but apparently that's the full song. Still love it though.

 

stayed the same. Sounds great live.

 

was one of the songs that really stood out to me. Classic Coldplay, very upbeat. Chris was on acoustic guitar for this one.

 

I honestly don't remember that much about, other than it being slower than Ink.

 

... I was not a fan of Midnight when it came out. That said, it's probably one of their best songs live. Something I think they added (at least I don't remember it from iTunes) is that Chris also plays the laser harp for this one.

 

is still probably my least favorite off the album, but it's been smoothed out considerably since their iTunes performance. Still no fixing those lyrics though

 

is another calmer one. Will uses his drum kit to make some sort of ship's horn sound for 3 or 4 notes that builds the base for the melody. The atmosphere definitely live's up to the song's name

 

is the other stand out for me. It starts pretty low key. Chris was muttering/whispering something unintelligible toward the beginning. Pretty sure it's part of the song, but I couldn't understand a word. Then it builds a little and stays mid-road for a bit before absolutely exploding (think the chorus of DLIBYH). This is also where the star confetti came in. Massive energy in the crowd for this one.

 

Lastly,

closes out the album nicely. It follows the characteristics of some of the other GS tracks in that it doesn't build to that massive conclusion that Coldplay is fond of, but it's still very impactful. Chris on piano; Will plays a bit of electric guitar on this one (I don't remember him touching his drums for this song at all).

 

Again, feel free to ask me any questions and I'll do my best to answer. The other super awesome thing was the way the set/stage was laid out and decorated. I don't want to spoil anything for those who get to go tomorrow, but let's just say there are no bad seats in the house, and even though there are close to 1000 people in the room, it feels way smaller...

 

Oh, and regarding the wristbands, they were handed out after the tickets were scanned. Nothing special about them.

 

Not sure what's already been covered/gleaned from twitter, but setlist was as follows:

 

1. Paradise

2. Clocks

 

-5 min break-

 

Ghost Stories cover to cover

 

-5 min break-

 

Viva La Vida

Fix You

Paradise again (Chris mentioned them needing to film it again, so it sounds like they'll be releasing more than just Ghost Stories on film).

 

get there early. We had a priority ticket from 1iota, which said the garage opens at 5:30. 1iota are a bunch of liars. We pulled through the gates at 5:29 and there were already over 100 people in the priority line. Not a big deal as the show held close to 1,000 and we still managed to be about 4 feet from the stage, but it kinda sucked since we had been killing time in that area since about 3:00. I'm not sure how early they starting letting people in, but if you get there early I would suggest trying to park before 5:30.