I ran away

Wow. That's really mean of them. Do they know how many fans bought several copies of their Sunday edition just to have the Coldplay content in print ? LOL My camera recorded in mp4 so I'm not sure how to get extract the pure audio from that but I'll look into it ! :)

Good luck to all of you ! They had better not make the shows so tiny this time!

Thanks !! Yes, enjoyed it was a dream come true. I just posted a long review in the Museum thread if you are interested !

The concert The main hall was nice and cosy, the toilets were clean, there were two merch stands with all of the profit going to ClientEarth. I personally liked the atmosphere, I can't tell if there were uninterested people in the back, the front row seemed very into it. I certainly was, even though I am more of a quiet person filming and all I moved quite a lot :D Before the concert began a roadie handed me a folded setlist after @SpinningPlates asked for me :D I didn't open it until afterwards of course. The concert was AMAZING. Not gonna lie, when I saw them enter in suits and vests in that old building I thought the Viva Era is rising right from its grave before my very eyes ! From the ominous sounds of Sunrise which was used as their entrance music to the last chords of Everyday Life, such an energy in the room. The band were in high spirits. I stood in front of Jonny and made eye contact with him several times :D Once I waved and he smiled back, then I Held up a sign that read "Play I Ran Away Live", and he pulled the most hilarious face ! :D It's all a blur now, but Moments that stood out for me were Trouble in Town (atmospheric ! Jonny !), Lovers in Japan(LOVE this song and was surprised to hear it live because I had not watched the Jordan thing), Sparks (sounded just in the old days !), Champion of the World, Arabesque (what a banger !!), Guns (Chris sounded SO FUCKING ANGRY on the vocals, much more than on the studio version), VLV (no matter how often they play it, I will never NOT love this song), Everyday Life as the closer. During that last song I waved to Will and he waved back. And then at the end when people were cheering and Jonny laid down his guitar and was about to join the others for the group hug, I shouted "Jonny!" and held up my 2nd sign which said "Jonny can I have your plectrum !" and to my amazement he saw it and quickly read it and then reached into his right trouser pocket and bent over the stage and directly handed it to me !!!!!!!!!!!!! I was SO OVER THE MOON, I think I jumped up and down ! What an ending to an amazing concert !!! As I made my way out I saw Jacob Collier (didn't recognize him then, I just thought his face looked familiar and looked it up later LOL) and I spotted a box full of the new magnetic LoVe buttons that were handed out at the beginning sitting in a corner near the way out..and I can say I wasn't the only fan to grab a handful ! (Stay tuned- some of them are gonna fly all over the world very soon, I am planning something…) In the end... The next day I got up quite late :D and @Nie and I met up at the Bakery around noon. Some Italian fans were also there, and I got lucky again - the band weren't in but an Italian-speaking roadie connected with the Italian fans and handed out signed Goodies ! Nie got one of the actual drumskins that Will drew the Belgian flag on during the AHFOD Tour, and I got a regular drumskin signed in Gold by all four of them !! That was really the icing on the cake of this trip. Now I'm home and can't believe this has actually happened. Life can be Incredible and amazing and beautiful at times. I'm so sorry for everyone who could not get in. I believe people have the right to be disappointed and/or annoyed and it has nothing to do with entitlement. It was VERY unfortunate of the band to play such a tiny venue as their ONLY announced public concert in the western hemisphere for this era - chaos and disappointment were premeditated and I cannot believe their management did not see this coming. Imho if they had chosen a venue that holds, say, 3000 people, it would have been intimate as well but most of the fandom would not have been heartbroken. But at any rate I'm so grateful I could make it in against all odds through incredible luck. Several days later still so flashed and elated by this experience. Thank you so much for everyone who was part of these four crazy days in November, I shall cherish these memories forever !! London, on my first ever visit you made all of my dreams come true ! :heart: P.S.: Oh, and I managed to do the flight home without any anxiety medication ! So the whole experience had a therapeutic effect too !!

The day of the concert Finally, Monday arrived. The previous evening I had written a paper sign that said "Looking for 1 Coldplay ticket". I woke up early that day, got breakfast, got into the Tube and arrived at the Natural History Museum at around 10.30 am, I believe. I went in very briefly and asked if there was already a queue forming (they must have thought me crazy, but hey, I was used to stadium queues :D). The museum staff said there wasn't and that they will close first at 6 pm and reopen for the concert. One of the ladies there was very nice, I told her my situation and asked if it would be okay to stand or sit somewhere around the entrance and hold up my sign and she kindly pointed me towards the benches, and said she can tell I'm a big fan and she hopes I'll get a ticket. I sat down on one of the benches and held up my sign. Hundreds of visitors passed by, a lot of them looked at the sign :D Some threw me strange glances, some others stopped and wished me good luck or asked where Coldplay is performing. I met up with @DJK from Norway at the bench and found out he had been here even much, much earlier than me on that day ! We talked a bit, he then went back to check out the museum and I met another fan who I'm not sure is on here called Suzana who had come from Slovakia. We held up the sign in turns and attracted the attention of a few other Coldplay fans without tickets who had flown in all the way from countries like Brazil, Argentina and the Middle East :O An American fan who would later get a ticket somehow (we don't know how or where) stayed with us for a while, and eventually @HannahMarie joined us after she could get off from work. I kept checking my phone because I was posting a lot on Twitter etc looking for tickets. It was around that time that I got a DM from the lovely and wonderful and amazing @Captain Crieff who I feel now owns one of my kidneys on Twitter, saying she thinks someone is selling a ticket on Coldplaying. I immediately followed that up and she gave me the number of the person, @SpinningPlates. Talked to him and he had a spare ticket because his accompanying person couldn't make it due to a very unfortunate incident, and he was willing to part with it at face value !!!!! Not gonna lie, I somehow could not believe it at first. Then again he did sound genuine. He had to come down from Nottingham so we arranged for a meeting at 3 pm. I was both incredibly happy and wary at the same time cause I just couldn't believe my luck !! But since that call I felt more relaxed. Part of me really wanted to believe that I have a ticket !!! There was a merry-go-round and an ice rink on the museum premises were we stood, and I said I'd love to go on it and DJK joined me and we bought tickets and ACTUALLY went on that merry-go-round while the others took pictures :D :D :D That was so much fun. Two grown-ups without kids on a merry-go-round... After a while we got sent off the premises by a security guard who did not approve of our signs about looking for Coldplay tickets...we regrouped just outside the entrance. DJK kindly gave out Love Buttons and I gave out Oatmeal Raisin Cookies :D We were joined by more fans from the UK (Haz) and Italy (Fabio, who eventually made it in at the last minute and went on the meet the band at Maida Vale two days later, and Stefania). We took turns to grab food and coffee. Sometimes it was raining a little bit, but fortunately most of the time it wasn't and London also wasn't too cold these days. Later in the afternoon we were joined by @BuckinParadise from Germany, @Coeurli and Claire (Gluten Tag) from France. It was so nice to meet Coeurli from Coldplaying for the first time in real life ! It was generally awesome to meet all those people. Several times we spotted roadies go in by the main entrance. One of them being Miller aka R42, who briefly looked up and smiled when I said "Mr Miller hello !" but then rushed off. I completely understand the roadies rushing past us, by the way. They have a job to do and they know they can't help any of the disappointed fans out there with tickets. This is totally random, but one of the Italian fans apparently ran into Brian May from Queen when she popped out to get some food :D Around 3 pm my ticket hero @SpinningPlates came and he was for real and he said I needn't pay before we go inside together, so I knew it was all genuine and I was SO HAPPPPPPPYYYYYY !!!! My new friends were happy for me as well, but it was tough because none of them had gotten a ticket and I knew exactly how they must feel, and there was nothing I could do for them but to keep checking if anyone would sell a ticket (nobody did). And I did feel very guilty about having such seemingly undeserved luck, and not even being from the UK. Still, I was incredibly delighted and relieved of course ! About an hour or an hour and a half before the museum closed, we went inside and checked out the venue with the big whale skeleton hung on the ceiling of the main hall. There I saw Coldplayben and some others from Twitter who had tickets, and some others who didn't. My heart skipped a beat when I suddenly saw an old friend from the AHFOD Tour there, @Nie. We hadn't been talking for months and I was under the false impression she didn't want to have anything to do with me anymore. I think she was shocked to see me too :D I felt so awkward I think I just mumbled a few sentences and went away. I went off and helped Haz locate where the roadies are sitting, because she wanted to give a message to the band (MattMcGinn took it). From afar I spotted Matt, Hoppy, Bash, and some other familiar roadies from the AHFOD Tour. At ten to six the museum closed to the public and we had to leave. (In case you wanna know: yes, I eventually worked up enough courage to go and talk to @Nie :D) There was zero information on where the queue and entrance would be. I hung out with the others a bit but finally we heard it was the main gate (which turned out to be incorrect and the queue was later moved). Stood in that queue for about 3,5 hours. My fellow Coldplay ticket-searchers from this morning kept searching until the very end, but to no avail. At some point a taxi stopped next to the crowd and Phil got out !!!! He took a few pics with fans, then addressed the crowd, saying he is very sorry and hates seeing people disappointed, but this is the most impossible concert to get into and not all of his family got in. He then left inside. We waited some more, I got into a bit of trouble with that tough security lady because my ticket holder was not there and I could thus not prove I have a ticket and she wanted to send me away from the queue ! Fortunately I could call up @SpinningPlates and he came and showed them the tickets and ID and I could stay :D Near the time of entrance, they apparently told everyone with no tickets to queue on the other side of the gate for any last minute chances. Some of my friends were stuck that queue. It was heartbreaking to see their faces and have to wave goodbye to them as I went throught the gates. When we went inside, I got barrier on Jonny's side. The instruments were so close. I was SO ELATED to have made it in and see the band songs off their new album this close !! Thank you so much @Captain Crieff and @SpinningPlates, without you I wouldn't have been anywhere !!! To be continued...

Hi everyone, here is Part 1 of my detailed report/review ! Going to write the second part very soon ! 4 DAYS IN NOVEMBER The announcement So, it was a regular everyday life Monday in the south-west of Germany and I was at work when all of a sudden Coldplay dropped the concert announcement. Not gonna lie, I was completely thrown off and could not focus on work anymore for the remainder of the day. I had been listening to the leak of the album since the moment it came out and loved so many songs on it that I had determined I absolutely need to see Coldplay live this era. Unfortunately it was as I feared, they announced performances one by one rather than doing a complete overview of planned performances this era so for the moment London was all there was (they hadn't even announced their public Jordan gig at this point !). I struggled with myself that entire day because I knew it would be a financial disaster and almost impossible to stem (at this point, I had only received one salary from my new half-time job o_O) and all very risky because it was very unlikely to get tickets to such a tiny performance. Add to that the clinical depression and anxiety that I have, and the daunting prospects of having to fly in there (I badly wanted to take the Eurostar but that would have been hundreds of EUR more, and thus out of the question) and going through the ticket stress, probably with a negative outcome. Nonetheless, late at night that Monday I decided in favour of it all and booked flight and hotel. When I looked at the map I recognized so many places as parts of Coldplay's history or when they performed or even stuff from Agatha Christie Novels, I reckoned in the worst case I had come for Coldplay but stayed for London ! The ticket sale (aka the horror) What followed then was the most stressful week of the year as I had to balance work, the trip preparations and anxiety. There was so much Coldplay content this week with the album release and all that I also couldn't keep up with. Somehow I got through and Saturday, the day of my flight arrived. Unfortunately that was also the day of the ticket sale. I could only try on one device (phone) cause I was on the way to the airport then, and I was stuck in that horrible queue for hours or so until it definitely said sold out. Never even got to the point where I could enter my code ! Big fail on part of Gigs and Tours to not even check for the code before they put you in a queue. At first I went into it with a relaxed attitude, because I was like, yeah, even if I don't get anything here some people's plus ones will fail to make it and they will sell them, maybe for a bit more than face value but I'm sure there will be tickets. Then I go on Twitter and I see literally NO ONE from the fandom except for one person was abole to get tickets !!! At that point I realized there probably will hardly be anyone selling it and got freaked out and depressed. I counteracted the flight anxiety through medication (worked better than I would have thought), landed in London Stansted, hopped on the bus to the city and that was when depression really kicked in. Not gonna lie, I had some passively suicidal thoughts while in the bus, one of which I regrettably shared on this thread but I was so distraught at that moment and couldn't think clearly. Depression really sucks, I tell you. I'd never have gotten so distraught over a Coldplay ticket if my mind wasn't already set up like that. Anyway, when I arrived in London that late afternoon though I managed to turn my mood around and enjoy London for the amazing city it is and relax about the ticket situation. London The first evening I took my feet to Oxford street (by chance, I was on this random bus haha) and even though most shops were already closed I was amazed at the huge and ornate Christmas Lights. No kidding, I never understood the song properly until I was in that street !! Things got even better the next day, Sunday, when I first explored the area around Baker Street (found a rock fan shop that sold Coldplay merch there) and then met up with the lovely @HannahMarie from Coldplaying at Covent Garden ! She was so nice and showed me around the Covent Garden, Thames, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and Buckin(g)ham Palace areas. We then went to the Bakery. We were only hanging around for like two minutes there when we saw two people coming out, and OH MY GOD did my brain go dead when I immediately recognized one of them. I blurted out "OH MY GOD ARE YOU ALISON MARTIN ?????" and she smiled and said yes !! Chris Martin's mum !!!! She was so sweet, even though she was in a rush she stopped to talk to us, asked us where we had come from, asked what we were thinking of the new album (she clutched her chest when she spoke about Daddy, and then said she hadn't heard all the new songs yet) and when my friend mentioned we didn't get tickets she said she couldn't help there, she isn't going herself either. It was such a surprising and lovely encounter ! Can't believe I was so lucky on my first ever visit to the Bakery. Afterwards Hannah and I went for a coffee in Belsize Park. It was a lovely day, thank you so much for meeting up with me Hannah !! :heart: To be continued...

OK, sorry I still haven't caught up entirely with this thread and I won't get round to writing up my adventures and impressions of that amazing day until maybe tomorrow or even later (I want to do a full report as well, and think it's gonna be interesting because my experience was so very different from Stephen's :D), BUT for the moment I'm gonna leave you with this full concert recording. I know the audio is not the best, but I hope you'll enjoy the video the more ! As always I gave my best to capture those little moments and facial expressions of the band members that make each concert unique. Four days later and I'm still so flashed from this concert and grateful that against all odds, I could go :heart: This meant and will forever mean a lot to me.

Ah damn. I completely forget about this with the London gig craze these days. Can I get an extension o_O o_O o_O

I see what you mean. Guy's tweet about Femi also sounded final, yeah. Hm, that is very disappointing for a lot of fans I guess :( Wish they at least did a mini tour like with Ghost Stories. But it seems like they want to go back into the studio again as soon as possible.

Yep, just heard him say that live on radio. Well, I doubt it will happen but I would be open for it. It would mean finally getting to hear these songs live !

Hi, you have to choose a song from the previous posts (Tr. in T. or Guns) and then pitch it against another song !

Thanks ! I think X&Y is a masterpiece as it is but I wouldn't mind the band reworking it sometime and finally start performing those songs again !!!

Trouble in Town vs Guns

Welcome!

Welcome to Coldplaying !

@cp3176 - the leak of Arabesque that came out a few hours before the official premiere of the songs on Annie Mac was the clean (radio) version !

The title, the art with the planets and DNA etc all give me STRONG X&Y vibes (or rather, X&Ybes) But then again Orphans was supposed to be on the next record, so I'm probably clowning myself here thinking of futurism and space rock.

I haven't even gotten round to watch/listen to the Jordan livestream and the two Will interviews and the two track by tracks and the Amman broadcast yet and here is more content pouring in every single day :tired_face: :joy:

Yesterday evening when they did that cover of Gypsy Woman, I felt something that I had not felt in a while. I felt the band that used to do legendary BBC radio sessions and covers back in the early days is BACK. That sparkle, that magic of Oldplay, has crept back in !

OMG, they have to beat Robbie Williams. I can only say that well, I did my part to help them doing that, when I was in the UK a few days ago... :rolleyes:

Wow ok, so they're not gonna do a few performances for EL next year though ? I thought Chris said there were gonna be 7 performances in total, so far we only had 2 public ones. Maybe without the guest musicians...? By the way, sorry for being so inactive on this thread, everyone ! I have A LOT to tell you about my Monday miracle in London but so little time...also preparing for one or two cool things to share, so hope to catch up soon !

This song has grown so much on me. The piano part is hauntingly pure and sad, and the loopy guitar/drums track in the second half sounds really unsettling/intriguing. The Persian lines and the African chant at the end transitioning into COTW are gorgeous. Wish they had performed this live in London instead of Chris's solo performance of ASFOS on piano.

Love it when the xylophone (or chimes or whatever the correct name is) sets in on that song....

My brain since yesterday evening: La da deee, la da daaa :joy: But honestly, great cover from the band. This cover and session yesterday made me feel really warm about this new era - something of the sparkle of early Coldplay has crept back into their performances !

This piece of music is so heartbreakingly sad, almost reminds me of a funeral. But as always with Coldplay, it features a beautiful glimmer of hope at the end ! It was a missed opportunity to not have the string section in London perform this live, by the way.