JillyBlue

First of all, the Xyloband collar on the cat - love it. You can get a spray adhesive that is light and sort of like the adhesive on sticky notes. Lets you position whatever you want to stick but also pick it up and reposition it, and I think it would be easy to clean off glass.

Happy birthday, Alba! And thanks for the awesome picspam which I will subtitle "The Evolution of Chris Martin." Holy smokes, it's like he grows up right before your eyes. Nice work!

Pardon me while I take some time to imagine that it's ME he's looking at that way. Come on, don't pretend that each and every one of you didn't do the same thing.

When you're at work reviewing data with someone and they say "There's all that noise" and you silently add "and all that sound." This happened to me this morning.

Yes, all you fellow Coldplayers get to video-ing! :whip: I can't be the only one - my video isn't that good!!!

Ariel, thank you for speaking out and sharing your deep thoughts and emotions with us. It's an act of courage and I admire you for it. My love for music goes way, way back - I'm one of the older Coldplayers so my connection with music started before the majority of you were born. Over the years I have been fans of many, many musicians but only a few have truly spoken to me. The first was The Beatles. Near them in time was The Moody Blues, a connection that allowed me to publish my writing as I wrote for their magazine for 15 years. There was U2, whose music promised to keep me young. There was Springsteen. And now there is Coldplay. I can never explain my musical obsessions; all I know is that each one of them brings something to me. The Beatles and The Moodies have brought me friends that are going to remain friends the rest of my life, and now Coldplay is doing that as well. Every time I meet a fellow Coldplayer it is as if we've always known each other and always will know each other. No matter how separated we are by age, distance, beliefs, whatever, we start with that common ground and keep working our way towards one another. Inspired by Chris Martin, I started playing piano again after a great many years of not touching a keyboard. Now I am playing every day on the piano I learned to play on when I was 8 years old (yes, it's an antique now! :laugh3:). When I was able to put away the sheet music and play "Clocks" without it I felt I'd accomplished something! And they've got me writing again. It's as if, in return for my support and in addition to their music, they've given me wonderful gifts. And for that I am grateful. What have we done to deserve Coldplay? I like to think we have been in the right place at the right time with open hearts, and recognized what they have to give. I hope the two-way street between them and us remains for many years to come.

Just sent my video to you. It's far from professional (I propped my phone up on the mantelpiece and danced around my living room!) but it was LOTS of fun to do.

Don't be sad! Think of the wonderful times so many people got to have thanks to our boys. And THEY WILL BE BACK. Hugs. Everybody have a wonderful time tonight in MN!

It makes me giggle to know that Ian is posting Chris picspams.

When you pull something out of your bag and along with it comes a piece of teardrop-shaped confetti and you get this gooey smile on your face remembering the concert where you got it.

Am I too late? Would love to join in!

Coldplay inspired me to start playing piano again after MANY years of not touching the keyboard. "In My Place" was the first Coldplay song I learned to play. I love the whole song, from Jonny's instantly identifiable riff to Chris's voice as he begs "Please, please, please, come back and sing to me...." When the band announced the End of the Decade sale in 2009 I immediately spotted the lithograph of the single cover for IMP and bid on it - and won. It is proudly displayed in my home where I can look at it every day and appreciate this wonderful song and wonderful album. You can see it in my avatar. Thank you, Coldplay, for all the gifts you have given your fans through the years, and especially for A Rush of Blood to the Head.

Don't you love it that the kids have their Xylobands on?

A nice view from Wednesday night:

I am nowhere as good as photographer as Ariel and Wabbit and others here (I can't seem to take a nonblurry picture to save my life), but here are a few of my pictures from Wednesday night. Three excited Coldplayers, ready for the show! Here we go! Chris and Jonny are in there somewhere! Yes, there they are. I just like this one. I like this one, too. View of the X stage from our seats. Guy REALLY seemed to enjoy played UATW on the C stage. Chris & Will, C Stage Guy: Wait, that's Jilly over there... Jonny: I think you're right, it IS Jilly! Jonny leaving the C stage I will never tire of the spectacle that is Coldplay.

When you actually spend time separating your little sack of Coldplay confetti into piles by icon (teardrop, flower, flame, bird, etc.) so you can send your friend one of each.

Just a quick one before I must sleep, but this is Will acknowledging his birthday song!

Ariel, you have got a career ahead of you in photojournalism, girl! And adoption as your Coldplayer Mom gratefully and humbly accepted. May we (all of us) share many more shows. And let's send gratitude and love to Coldplay for helping us find each other - it's "Us Against the World!"

^It wasn't.

He looked so good last night. And the little sneak changed shirts before "Yellow" this time! And when the light was just right I think I got a glimpse of some chest hair fuzz - maybe growing back. And he was just a few feet away from me on the C stage. Haven't had a chance to sort through and upload photos yet but I will post some of the more choice ones later. There are some great ones already on here. I'm suffering Coldplay withdrawal already.

Home after the Detroit show, my 5th and last planned for this tour. I must say I've got a newfound respect for the boys; I am utterly exhausted whereas they just keep going and going and going. Pix will come a bit later but I just wanted to say a few words about the experience. One of the first highlights was meeting fellow Coldplayers. This is always such a delight! To finally put a face and a personality to a screen name is a fun experience and Ariel, Clinton, and others helped to set the stage for the show. The friend I brought to the show had never been to a Coldplay gig before and was amazed by how we all clicked from the very first moment. Why not? We have this remarkable band at the heart of our friendship! My friend and I found that our seats were in the section right next to the C stage, merely feet away! Now, on this tour I've been up front, up high, and now just right to get a look at our band up close and they did not disappoint. It was such a pleasure to sing "Happy Birthday" to Will (my second time - got to do it on his actual b-day in 2009, in Toronto) and actually see the look of delight on his face. He was really touched and the smiles on Chris, Jonny, and Guy's faces reflected their affection for him. This is not a cookie-cutter show, although we anticipated (and received) the speech about the best (bleeping) audience and the best (bleeping) concert, the thanks for the aggravation of going to a concert, and the occasional mess-up. It was the nuances that made the show, and one of the nuances was the audience. The Detroit audience was fabulous, into it right from the beginning and staying with it throughout the show. It's funny that after multiple shows I was feeling PROUD of the band, looking around to see the reactions to the wristbands and the confetti and the sheer spectacle of it all. It was a hoot to watch my friend experience it all for the first time, see him whirl around with a look of astonishment on his face, asking me "WHAT WAS THE NAME OF THAT SONG???" at several points. But it was when the band slowed it down that their ability really showed. Chris's voice was great and the tenacity of the band proved itself as they leaned into the songs. At the end my friend summed it up: "I was impressed." During this tour I've found certain songs touch my emotions (even after years of listening to them). In the Washington show it was "Yellow", in the Toronto shows it was "DLIBYH", and last night it was "The Scientist." I don't know whether it was the audience's reaction, the band's stellar performance, or the space my head is in at the moment, but the music and the lyrics resonated with me and have done so throughout my journey home today. "Nobody said it was easy" but Coldplay does everything they can to make it easy to love them. And I do.

Pepperoni is a type of sausage. Somewhere over on the Will thread there's a joke picture of Will dressed like a sausage. sticky

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I wonder if we could slip Will a camera and get him to sneak a pic? After all, he's got the best view when the shirt changing happens.

Happy birthday, Will, we love you! See you tomorrow!