starfish42

Yes, we did see the golf course that was in a sort of strip along the new development not far from the ocean, named Trump. I heard the minimum price of a house in P.V. is $2.5 million, and that there are almost never any available. My guess is that area is a priority for fire fighting and protection for obvious reasons. When flying down to LA a couple of weeks ago, we saw the fire near Santa Barbara from the air. It was a veritable furnace, hot enough to melt glass. The heat and glow were clearly visible from where we were, hundreds of miles up the air. There was a strip of smaller fires working their way up the hill from the east towards the main fire that looked like controlled back-burning. As horrible as it is for those who suffer from any natural disaster, I must say, it was an awesome sight.

Tracey and Diane, I agree with both of you. It is so moving because it is so personal. Fix You also has that personal element. Gwenyth said she was a total mess after her father passed away. Apparently, Chris was able to fix her completely, giving here a new life, with 2 kids in London. Their story seems to be the stuff that fairy tales are made of.

For some reason, I woke up, wanting to hear A Message. The lyrics are so moving that they brought tears to my eyes: My Song is Love, My song is love unknown; And it goes up, You don't have to be alone. Your heavy heart is made of stone; And it's so hard to see you clearly, You don't have to be on your own.... And I'm not going to take it back, And I'm not going to say I don't mean that, You're the target that I'm aiming at, And I'm nothing on my own, Got to get that message home. My song is love, love to the loveless shown, And I'm on fire for you clearly, You don't have to be alone. You don't have to be on your own. And I'm not going to take it back, Oh, I'm not going to say I don't mean that, You're the target that I'm aiming at, And I'm nothing on my own, Got to get that message home. And I'm not going to stand and wait, I'm not going to leave it until it's much too late, oh On a platform I'm going to stand and sing, That I'm nothing on my own. And I love you, please come home! And my song is love, is love unknown, And I've got to get that message home. I dont' think Def Leppard (or anyone else) ever wrote a song as beautiful as this. [ame= ] [/ame]

I notice that Coldplay wears their jackets throughout most of the concert even when it's hot, though Chris usually takes his off for the C stage. In one early clip from a performance in Australia, in sweltering heat, Chris actually asked the audience if it was OK if he removed his jacket. You make a good point that ,in matters of modesty, Coldplay is a good contrast to Def Leppard's proclivity to show skin. Coldplay is a class act in many ways, the least of which is clothing. It has been very hot lately. Have you been affected at all by the smoke of the fires? It was very hot Friday and Saturday here in San Fran, the cooling fog finally returning on Sunday.

To cheer everyone up, a favorite Chris Martin quote: :)Coldplay is for people with great taste, intelligence, incredible good lookingness, talent, ability, success, grabbing of life. Coldplay's for people who know what life's about. They're always entertaining. Delightful to talk to. Sweet, charming, incredibly good in bed. Virile. They have incredible success with girls, or boys, or both. They're generally just the world's best citizens. Maybe I'm biased, but I'm definitely right." I love the sing along aspect of this song: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Muber6ZFEjs&feature=related]YouTube - Coldplay - In My Place LIVE @ Zenith Strasbourg, 01.09.2008[/ame]

I read the first several pages of this forum and saw that its members went through the same b.s. that I went through for my concerts. LiveNation tries to sell the less desirable seats first to those most willing to buy at the beginning of the sales period, saving the best seats for sale later. If many people bought seats that they are not happy with, they will ask for refunds if they haven't already. If enough people bail out and request refunds, there is a probably a good chance the show will, indeed be canceled. I initially bought lawn tix because LN was showing all reserved seats sold when the tix for the 7/13 concert went on sale! Luckily, a friend was able to take them and I bought some nosebleed seats for $124, which was a rip off. I also noticed that some of the big name bands, like the Killers, have slashed their ticket prices almost in half. The recession must be hitting the concert business hard. The likelihood that they won't be able to sell enough tix will also be a factor in whether to cancel the show. I was afraid that LN was going to cancel the 7/14/09 Wheatland show because so many of the seats were still unsold as of a week before the concert. However, they had many promotions and slashed the prices of the tix in half with 2 for 1 sales and by adding two lower priced tix at $40 and $50 which also qualified for the 2/1 sale. By the date of the show, the place was pretty much full. I was so happy they didn't cancel because I was able to get front and center seats close to the stage. I don't want to worry anyone, but there is a chance that many people will refund their tix out of frustration and anger, going back to how LN handled the pre- and general sale.

I'm trying to find a way to capture the streaming video, not for any purpose other than my own personal entertainment. I think it's important for people to keep copies of these kinds of gems so that they are never lost from the world.

The Oracle might not be one person, or a person who consults with many others to get answers, taking a committee approach. I thought it might be Gwenyth when you said the Oracle is a "she." :P

Those are probably Guy Berryman's, because he smokes. He said he tried to be hypnotized, which led to the famous group hypnosis, but unfortunately he still smoked afterwards. I always try to cast spells on people who smoke. I inject a seed thought that they are repulsed by smoking and will choose to give it up. I do this as I pass by people smoking on the street. One day the seed will sprout and people will get over their smoking. Guy is too good to die of cancer. And BTW, thanks for reposting the original, uncut photo. It is interesting to see Coldplay's human element, that an unfortunate vice can linger on through a period of grandeur.

Maybe he had to use the restroom. Sometimes that can make a person very uncomfortable. Even if he just needed a break, 3 minutes is not a very long time, considering he sings, dances, and plays for 2 hours straight.

This may help to explain why the black screen had so many problems in the Hannover show. Look at how huge it is. In most shows, it only covers the center part of the stage where Coldplay begins the show. This one goes all the way across the huge stage: It does look pretty awesome, though, doesn't it? I'm glad I went saw Coldplay from a good seat in an amphitheatre instead of a stadium. It seems very hard to get a good view from such a monstrous venue. Of course for Wembley, it would not matter just because of the special night it will be for Coldplay's homecoming and final show of the 2009 N.A./European leg.

Tracey, I hope you have access to a computer while you're on your trip to London. I would love to hear every detail about your concert-going experience there and I'm betting that many on this forum feel the same.

The Escapist is the instrumental that you hear before LIT ("intro"), so I guess it's the sound of the hammered dulcimer at the beginning of LIT that pushes you over the edge, as it does me too. The Escapist is also the recorded song that plays after LIT2, when the lights come up and people start leaving ("outro.") Then hear Chris' voice gently singing, "And in the end, we lie awake, and we dream of making our escape." The concert is very structured in the way it begins and ends with the same two melodies. Very creative and ingenious, I think. It also sounds very romantic and mystical.

MartinFan, get ready for the tears: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvDWn_zDPRc]YouTube - Coldplay - The escapist[/ame] :P

I myself think Chris looks neat with a buzz cut though he is a definitely a beauty with his curly blond locks. It's the rest of him that counts, don't you think? A word of advice: don't refund your tix until you have the new ones in hand. For one thing, if too many people refund, the producers may make a business decision to cancel the show based upon the economics. Secondly, you might not be able to get new tix quickly enough to secure better seats than what you have now.

It's not over until the man with curly blond hair from Devon sings! Interesting Coldplay trivia: Martin was raised in Whitestone, Devon and attended Exeter Cathedral School. It was at the prep school that Martin formed his first band. After Exeter Cathedral, Martin boarded at Sherborne School, a boys' independent school in Dorset. At Sherborne, Martin started a blues band called The Rockin' Honkies. Their debut performance was met with boos from the crowd. Who would have guessed it?

I would definitely not give up your pit ticket. That's precious! I wish they were still selling tix, I might even buy the "orchestra" seats" though it's impossible to plan without knowing the date. BTW, did you happen to see what the "orchestra" seats look like? Would they have good views? Remember, they were the three little dots at the back of the floor that you could not see unless you zoomed in on the pick 'n click seating chart?

Not to worry. I have not heard anyone say that Wembley will be the official end of the concert tour. I say this, based on the fact that Coldplay toured Latin America, playing the X&Y concert after many months while they were working on Viva La Vida. In fact, that is where they gathered much of the material for VLV, including the album's name, which is not in any of the lyrics. Therefore, Wembley must be the last show of this leg of the tour. Based on their extended schedule for playing X&Y, I believe it might be many more months before they resume in Latin America, even next year. No one has said that they won't make good on Tampa by adding it to their list of concerts then. For one thing, I think they must need R&R before heading off for another continent to perform their concert marathon. Coldplay's X&Y 2007 Latin American tour occurred some two years after their release of X&Y in mid-2005. :) The VLV Latin tour may well occur in 2010.

Kick off performance of VLV tour. This was the kick off performance of Viva La Vida at the free concert at the BBC on June 18, 2008. I remember hearing this and how excited I felt at how new and fresh it all felt. This was the beginning of the VLV tour. On 9/19/09, Coldplay will play it at the last show of the VLV tour, ending where it all began in London, at Wembley stadium. YouTube - Viva La Vida Coldplay live at the BBC Surprisingly, most of today's concert setlist remains unchanged from this initial concert.

He may be all those things, but I completely envy his job. I wish I could work for Coldplay in any capacity, no matter how humble, that would allow me to be around Chris Martin as much as possible.

LIT behind the scenes A little slow in places, and the sound dies during the last couple minutes, but an interesting behind the scenes look at the LIT opening.

That was a major flub on LIT at the Hannover concert. For one thing, the bright white lights were on by the end of the song, and it appears as if the curtain was never correctly deployed in the first place. So, is the black scrim actually supposed to fall like that? It's a wonder that it ever works correctly! Chris, poor guy was probably embarrassed and rightfully perturbed to have such a dramatic and carefully planned opening go so wrong. What a disappointment that must have been for the audience as well. In the clip of the Stockholm concert, I saw the stage crew scrambling to remove the screen from the stage at the beginning of "Violet Hill," after it descended. In the concert I attended, I did not even notice the black screen after it fell because it was still very dark in the background, the spotlight shining only on Chris as he stood out in the front, singing "Violet Hill." So, the stage crew could have removed it from the stage and I just didn't see them. I did notice in my concert that Chris had to say, "Lights up, Lights up!" when he began singing "In My Place" to remind the technicians.

:heart: Austingirl, how nice to hear from you that you have posted all your clips from the show. It is quite an unusual but pleasant coincidence that I was just listening to your clips this morning. It proves the interrelatedness of all things. :) I promote your blog and clips at any opportunity that I can because they are excellent. Thanks again for being such a great Coldplay fan and for writing such an articulate review and history of your Coldplay experience. :hug: I see that you also have a wide range of musical tastes, which is very healthy. It was thoughtful of you to give Coldplay credit for re-invigorating your passion for music that led to your creating a musical review blog. I found your story about how you discovered Coldplay almost by pure chance to be fascinatng because it is similar to my own. The difference is that I felt an uncomfortable attraction to them for many years, but resisted it. That all changed with Viva La Vida. :drummer::dance::chris::guitarist: With it, they broke through my resistance and touched me in a very sensitive place. From that point forward, I finally completely surrendered my heart to them and opened myself up to their wide repertoire of music. I saw their performance on a repeat showing of Saturday Night Live a week ago, which was the show in which Chris Martin originally "grabbed" me. (I believe that the original airing of that show was 10/25/08, just before the election.) After that, I could never walk away from them again. Yet, watching the rerun of that show, I was surprised at how subdued Chris' performance was on that show, in which they sang 4 songs instead of the usual 2: Viva La Vida; Lost!; Yellow (at the end of which, Chris sang "Barrack Obama") and "Lovers In Japan" during the closing credits. On SNL, Chris almost seemed afraid to sing too loud, or to dance too wildly, as if he is afraid he might knock something over if he moves as much as he does in live concerts. There, he's completely in his own element, like a king in his castle, and he throws his whole heart and soul into the performance and sings (or belts out) the songs with full passion. Still, without realizing how relatively subdued he was, he captured my heart and soul with that SNL performance and I am forever grateful that happened. I'm still deeply moved to tears welling in my eyes when I see clips of their live performances, remembering my own magical night with them on 7/14/09. :love::cry:

From my own experience, I don't think you'll have tears at the concert. I thought I would, but I was too excited and happy to have tears. Now, when I watch the clips, though, I have tears, completely overwhelmed emotionally when remembering the experience. I know I've become silly for Coldplay, but they opened my heart and touched me in ways I've never experienced before. I see it as a healthy unfolding to love. That's why, for me, Coldplay is love.

For those who haven't seen it yet, what a nice surprise they had for the ending of the Stockholm concert! [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0JHn_-b4eQ]YouTube - Coldplay Stockholm Stadion 2009-08-22 life in technicolor ii The end[/ame] Coldplay has managed to keep their show as a total spectacle. To enhance the experience for some 33,000 people, it seems to have been well worth the extra expense.