Tonsu

So he bloody should be! For me it's clearly one of two songs the album should have been built around - it not only encapsulates the whole theme but it also offers partial resolution to the (tenuous story) AND is one of the best things musically they have done this time around. I guess they dropped it for DLIBYH, which seems rather trite as a package. For me MX needs both. Otherwise it sounds like a holiday fling rather than a deep romance. More Pink Floyd Coldplay = amazing. Imvho they should have taken this route long ago.

I think you're completely right - if it was my first Coldplay gig I would have given it 9/10 and said it was amazing. Having seen them so many times though over the last 9 years I thought it was relatively poor. Not in terms of performance, but in effort and (particularly) setlist (the effort doesn't matter so much if the set is great - they can play these songs in their sleep - and probably do!! :P) The London crowd is hard. But being on the floor and mixing a lot with people, actually very many people were foreign and quite a few didn't even speak English! (No problem but it means I think many fans come to London from around the world so maybe they should try to make these shows special ones). If they played more than one gig in London in a single year it would also help! Standing tickets were going for ~£200 on the ticket sites because they only played one gig :( When people pay that much, they expect something special :/ So glad you had a great time, they are amazing aren't they? :) :sunny:

Back from the gig before twelve (due to an exceptional and extremely friendly and amenable taxi service :D) Warning, long, mostly negative, review incoming: It wasn't a great gig imo. I gave it C+ to my travelling buddy (but to be fair he seemed surprised I'd rated it so low). A really strange setlist tonight... After such mouth-watering festival appearances that I've been watching since early summer I was expecting one of the better gigs I've seen from the boys, but it just didn't seem to come together in the way it usually does (16 or 17 gigs for me now back to 2003). They hit many of the high notes (at times) but often it seemed Coldplay-by-numbers :( We were about a quarter of the way back from the stage (level with the end of the ramp). The start was incredible, the bracelets were amazing. They had the crowd rocking from the first song, and I think Hurts Like Heaven is probably one of the most spine-tingling songs live that I've ever seen, by any band. Stunning. From Lost to Violet Hill it felt on the floor like they increasingly lost the crowd :( Lost is probably my own feeling, more likely it was the song after (MM). The balloons were much enjoyed but it took away from the music. For me those balloons are the YELLOW balloons, and anything else seems wrong. Still it was fun - one of the weakest tracks from VLV for me, but after hearing some of the MX songs tonight unfortunately the feeling I came away with is "one of the worst songs from VLV is better than the songs they think are strongest from MX". After that MM - crowd didn't care much. In My Place - great as always, confetti here is very wrong for me - the song doesn't need it and it doesn't 'fit'. What If - brave of them to play it., I'll say that! It ends like A Day in the Life, and so one of their more Beatle-y efforts. But no thanks. Square One, White Shadows, a number of others - yes please. The crowd were limp here. Violet Hill - personal fave, would have been absolutely gutted if they'd dropped it, but only half-stirred the crowd I thought. GPaS - Back on track at last!! Scientist - they'd just stirred us from our slumber with a real belter, but back into slow-down mode. Lovely performance as always :) Then onto the three-song set at the end of the ramp (think it must have been the protrusion seen at Manchester as they also sold tickets behind the stage). Up In Flames - played as just on the record. Many around us shaking their heads by this point :\ Don't Panic - amazing to hear this again after five years, but another lowish-key song, so for me it didn't sit right in the set. Great performance though. Chris stopped it to get a huge cheer for Jonny and Will singing together, which they of course got and all loved. Probably the moment of the gig for me :D UAtW - So very glad to hear this instead of Daylight :dance: Nice performance, but the end of a very strange 'end of ramp' set (it wasn't acoustic) after the previous 'downtime'. Things picked up a lot after that :sunny: Overall a strange gig with standout moments but an incoherent setlist that often left the crowd cold. Most of the middle was completely imbalanced and left people scratching their heads. I'm probably being harsh after having seen them play some the best gigs ever at the festivals this summer, and this is no way matched those. The bracelets were incredible, but the London crowd is a tough one to please, and with the odd set and a lack of any noticeable extra effort from the band there's little special to take from the gig from me. I cannot believe they dropped songs like 42, Strawberry Swing and Lovers in Japan for average stuff like Up in Flames, What If (??!) and the (very empty sounding live imho, though I like the studio version) Major Minus. I'm sure they'll introduce more MX songs (and better live ones) like DLIBYH and PoC (if Rihanna's available) and...can't think of any more :( At least if they re-balance the setlist it'll be better :) The feeling I came away with tonight is that, at the time, I loved VLV but thought they would go on to be even stronger. Tonight I feel like VLV will forever be their highlight and they can't top it, because even the weakest song from Viva (Lost) was better than most of the songs they played from MX - and they have given up playing most of their best VLV songs :cry: It was a great experience tonight, with fantastic company, met one or two really nice people, and it was of course amazing to see so many songs again (Politik, the new version of GPaS). I realise I should just feel lucky at all that I got a ticket! But at the same time, for the first time ever, I don't feel that bothered about seeing Coldplay again... Sorry for the mostly (very?) negative review, but left very confused tonight that a band this great (all-time great imho - I'm talking the Beatles, Pink Floyd etc) can play just one show in London this year that seemed rather limp... The fruit and veg is home with me my friend because they did after all play UAtW :) Luckily, as an ex-greengrocer's assistant (albeit twenty years ago) I reckon I can turn a profit tomorrow :P Hope you're well Nancy :flutterby: Thanks so much for posting this, it helps get it all into perspective :) I used to listen to x&y with my mum when she was sick. One night we listened to it all night long on repeat (so, six or seven times!) and just talked and talked. It's the closest I think we ever were :) Very best wishes to you, and so glad your treatment is over and you are feeling better :sunny:

Leaving now :dance: Got a bag of rotten fruit and veg with me in case they play What If instead of UAtW :D

Wow, amazing!! :o So happy so many got in to what was such a tiny gig :dance: Would really love to hear some detailed reviews (as always) if people have time - they make the experience completely come alive for those of us who couldn't attend - thanks! :)

I first saw Coldplay in 2003 and was amazed at Chris running around - I think it turned my opinion from being 'an incredible band' to 'an incredible band with a completely unique energy' - it utterly blew me away. I wish he wouldn't do it so much, but I think what he does has made them into the huge band they are today...which is what he always wanted (so I feel I can't begrudge them too much). They should play for longer, I agree. They need to do 1hr40 minutes at least for the prices they're charging and the wait people have to see them (2 years here in London - where they live!) I saw Paul McCartney last night and the tickets were expensive but not double the price, and he played for longer than double Coldplay do (and he's almost seventy!) Physically (with the running around) I think Chris pushes himself to breaking point at every show. I personally didn't especially like the 'techno' set at the last round of gigs. GAPS particularly is one of their best-ever songs and deserves a proper place in the set imho. I've never heard LiT2 live either :( It's surely their best song ever behind Politik (it's the ONE song my not-so-hardcore-as-me friends always rave about), but it's been jettisoned for disposable (imo) stuff like Major Minus. Such a great shame.

Thanks so much for the reviews and photos from everyone who was there - as ever they turned what would otherwise be 'just another Coldplay concert' into a shared personal experience that means a great deal :) I didn't like the sounds of Daylight and What If being added to the set at all, seeing it as two wasted songs in an already too-short set, but after reading everyone's reaction I've changed my mind thanks to you all, and am thoroughly looking forward to hearing them both at the 02 gig on Friday (though I do still plan on making a bar/toilet run for Daylight :P) Thanks a lot for the reports everyone - and what the Coldplay crew did for some of the early arrivers was simply amazing!

Better be Lovers in Japan or Warning Sign at the 02 or my name's not Gary Baldi :veryangry2:

So they didn't play Warning Sign? Instapermaban should be in the rules for such 'jokesters' :(

I was absolutely sick to the back teeth of Till Kingdom Come by the end of the Twisted Logic tour. Granted, it didn't help that they played some really lame songs in the acoustic set alongside it (the Hung Up Madonna cover at Earl's Court is the worst thing I've ever seen them play in almost 9 years). They played a reinvigorated version at Newcastle last year, but still, I think just about anything else would go down better (Trouble, Don't Panic, Square One, Lovers in Japan, Shiver, Everything's Not Lost, A Message...you get my drift). I guess they always will keep it at around 1hr30 (see the SECC thread) but they should be pushing ten or fifteen minutes more imho. When they add in a few instrumentals/asides, and the B and possible C-stage delays it SHOULD be longer. 1hr30 on just the main stage is reasonable though and what I expect from a Coldplay gig after so many years attending.

360 degree stage? Yep, and I'm a roast chicken :laugh3: That's a walkway with a round bit at the end! Great idea though for squeezing a few paying more customers in :dozey: Have an amazing time though everyone, it will no doubt be an incredible gig!! :sunny:

Well, they choose to concentrate almost all their TV exposure on the US. They need it there (I guess, or why else do it all?), they don't here. It's a moot point I think, but just to be correct there's no way anything near 15m will watch it. 8m absolute tops I reckon.

Yes but obviously not as a single with a video, possible B-sides, heavy TV promotion etc. I love Charlie brown and think it deserves to be a single at some point, but PoC (with the theme of a King, and with Rihanna duetting no less) would have been perfect for a Christmas single imho. But perhaps they're avoiding the Christmas battle for number one again (it wouldn't surprise me).

Think they should have gone with PoC for a possible tilt at the Christmas number 1.

Terribly disappointed :( If Violet Hill was an attempt to stop young Coldplay fans getting bullied in the playground, this will get them back to being beaten up harder than ever :( Plus as already explained so well, it seems totally against their principles :cry: For me the fact that they're appearing lumps them in with "all the other shit". My perception is that no artist with any credibility whatsoever beyond the pop charts would appear on the X-Factor, and I think a lot of people will see it like that too. They don't need the exposure - they haven't in the UK since A Rush of Blood.

I don't think it's strange at all. I can't speak for Australians. But at a guess, I'd say that while culture and history are in part of course determined by any influence by state religion, the result will still be that many non-religious people will be inextricably tied to the history and traditions, no matter how they came about.

Sounds like an awesome adventure Nick, can't wait to hear about it! $15 a month sounds like a good plan for now I reckon. Hope you're well mate :)

So, Abu Dhabi gets as many 'proper' gigs this year as London?! :\ I would never, ever, risk travelling to the UAE, even in transit: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/dubai-tourists-warned-over-tough-drug-stance-779910.html

Please take me off the list for an 02 standing ticket wanted, thanks :)

What a lovely language you have, it sounds quite beautiful to my ear in Italian :laugh3: All I know is that it's ridiculous that they've been playing large gigs since the summer and have (so far) announced only ONE 'proper' date in London, the touts have had a field day, and real fans have either missed out or given huge profits to the touts. And that, as a result of the 02 debacle, lots of people I know have bought way more tickets than they need for the Emirates 'just in case'. The good news is that lots of 'spares' will pop up much closer to the date, and I don't personally think there is any need for anyone to pay much more than face value for the time being :)

There must have been a huge amount of tickets available in the two presales - we got loads quite easily. I'm amazed to see people recommending getmein - it's the biggest scam going. Ticketmaster sell themselves loads of tickets and then sell them on for even bigger profits - they should be called Toutmaster. To those who didn't get tickets for the date they wanted, loads will become available I'm sure, just like Wembley. They will no doubt be sold for a premium right now, as people panic buy, but once 'the market' settles down they'll be going for around face value I should think. I was lucky to get face value for one ticket the week before Wembley. I think it's the panic buying caused by the ridiculous decision not to add more 02 dates. Being very cynical, one might speculate Coldplay HQ did this deliberately to whip up hype and hysteria for the stadium shows :\

Happy birthday Ian! :drunkjoe:

The Emirates? :shocked2: :cry: The ban on cheering is lifted for concerts, right?

I'm sure they've (or at least Chris has) been working on a few ideas since they signed off the master of MX...whether we will actually get to hear any of it in the future is another matter... They won't release anything new for now, they'll be concentrating on promoting MX.

No idea why people are counting (for example) how many times they've seen Yellow, if you put it that way it seems like some sort of fan competition to me... So in lieu of that, here's the setlist the first time I saw them, and the day my life was changed forever :dance: 1. Politik 2. God Put A Smile Upon Your Face 3. Trouble 4. One I Love 5. The Scientist 6. What A Wonderful World (Louis Armstrong Cover) 7. Yellow 8. 1:36 9. Don’t Panic 10. Clocks 11. In My Place 12. Amsterdam