March 29, 2009
Driving to Abu Dhabi on Saturday night to watch Coldplay perform, the roads were wet, huge clouds loomed in the distance and lightning lit up the sky. What were we doing going to an outdoor concert? For any other band it may have been a different story, but this was Coldplay and so there was no turning back. It was a seriously moody night, but entering the Abu Dhabi city the rain cleared and we breathed a sigh of relief.
The venue was packed and a sea of excited faces waited for Coldplay to get up on stage. The Brit band opened with ‘Clocks’, an old favourite that got the crowd roaring. Frontman Chris Martin was sat on the piano playing that distinctive piano riff to a mass of screaming fans.
Minutes later the inevitable happened, the heavens opened and it rained but, to our amazement, the crowds didn’t run for cover. There was an electric feeling in the air and people screamed, cheered and danced through the rain. The band followed shortly after with ‘Yellow’, another great nostalgic song.
Chris Martin was as charismatic as ever on the night, he stopped between songs to have a little banter with crowd and even managed the odd Arabic word.
Highlights of the night included; a performance in the dark for Earth Hour – fans were asked to light up the stage with their mobile phones and everywhere you turned all you could see was a multitude of blinking lights. A blinding performance of ‘Politik (Open Up Your Eyes)’, an entire stadium signing along to ‘Viva La Vida’ and butterfly-shaped confetti bursting into the air nearing the end of the night.
As we drove back from Abu Dhabi drenched and happily exhausted, we sighed and realized that it’s not often out here you see such an energetic crowd of people at a concert and such a stellar performance by a truly gifted band. Of course, there were the odd teeny-bopper trios insisting on pushing past you but even that couldn’t ruin the night. Coldplay were ace.