Nik Jam

After waiting 3 and half years since Brooklyn, the moment finally came! Tickets for the show actually went on sale on my birthday (though I believe I bought them in the presale the day before) way back in January. I never thought the day would actually come. Tangent but, I'm from the Bay Area, but in some weird tradition I always seem to have plans when Coldplay comes here. In 2012 I had to miss the San Jose shows with school and financial issues, and it looked like I was screwed but the Brooklyn shows were announced and the money I was saving for the ill fated South America shows were diverted to that. In 2008 I couldn't make their show in SJ as well, but was able to make it work when they returned in 2009. This time, I already knew I was gonna be out in September, so it was an easy decision to come to LA, plus I'd have to wait two less weeks! I really loved Ghost Stories, and was bummed not to hear it live, so for me (and many, of course) this was our first shot at hearing songs from this album, and was hoping it'd get love from the band. Now for the actual review: Stunning, expectations met and exceeded. As Chris said in an interview, there are no more duds. They fit in pretty much every big hit from the first five albums. I can't think of anything I was really sad about missing - though certainly there's some I would like to have heard. As for the two most recent albums, I would have loved to have heard Fun and Ink, but am happy with what wound up being played. I'm REALLY glad Always In My Head is getting it's just due in the US leg. (I'm only now reading up on what previous setlists were used throughout the year, I successfully avoided most spoilers!) It was also great to hear Magic, grateful it was played over PoC. Four (or three and a half) Ghost Stories songs was understandable given that it's just a two hour show, but I'd say it was enough. I admit when Amazing Day started I was looking at the time and was worried A Sky Full of Stars was going to be cut (although I avoided spoilers, I knew Up&Up was the closer) and it was a big sigh of relief when it came! A Head Full of Dreams really works live, that and Birds were my highlights from the new album. As for Stage C, I'm not sure how I felt about the three songs being played, there were a lot of acoustic songs I would have preferred. But really? Not much reason to complain. This will be my only Coldplay show this year, but I'm hoping they do another US leg (it seems like a lot of areas got left out...) and I can do some traveling if they don't come back West! And now that I've seen one show I can watch Periscopes and Youtube recordings now... so I look forward to enjoying the tour from home now!

1. O - More because of the lyrics of Fly On and how it resonates with my own love life and loss - but I'm a sucker for Coldplay's piano songs in general, reminds me of Atlas which I also loved. The main O and it's reprise however are very beautiful and a solid way to end the album. 2. Sky Full of Stars - also a fan of Coldplay's poppy material, and this was really the only one on the album but I loved it, should be a live staple alongside Charlie Brown and Fix You 3. Oceans - Love the atmosphere, and the interlude at the end 4. Magic - Great first single, listened to it almost every day since it came out 5. Ink - nice and catchy despite the creepy lyrics! 6. True Love - great lyrics (I'll probably find myself saying "If you don't then lie to me" often...) and music 7. Another's Arms - love the angelic female sample, but the style of the song itself not a big favorite 8. Always in My Head - nothing against it, just not one of my favorites 9. Midnight - Musically awesome, vocoder doesn't do it for me. Don't know where to put All Your Friends and Ghost Story - they're awesome though, maybe even the best of them all!

Took me two or three listens to fully appreciate the album... Not too bad, MX I appreciated on my first listen, VLV maybe second listen and X&Y took forever to really enjoy. When listening to it for the first time I was very underwhelmed, especially by the middle tracks. Really enjoyed Oceans/Sky/O on first listen, but eventually I was able to appreciate Ink and True Love. Would have loved if A Sky Full of Stars was released after the album came out. I made a conscious decision to buy the track when it was released, but I kind of lament that Oceans/interlude/Sky would have been a more immersive experience if all three were heard for the first time, as knowing what the interlude was going to turn into kind of took away from the first listen. It's supposed to be a "concept album" (at least that's what Wikipedia says, don't know if that's the official word) but I don't really see it. There's no real story. All nine regular album songs seem to be basically saying the same thing. Wish there was some variety.

I don't think Coldplay would go over 20 songs I hope there's some variation unlike the last tour, especially if they stick with doing arena shows with two dates per city, maybe make a setlist A and setlist B where the main differences are acoustic tracks as well as rotating in tracks from the new album (This would allow all 9 songs to be played split between two shows) I think Always in My Head would be a fine start, and they can drag out the choral-ish intro to make a solid two minute Intro track. They can either go straight to Magic but I think they need to do something flashy by Song 2 or 3, probably something from MX. (iTunes festival did it right by going into Charlie Brown second, maybe MX/HLH could work too - especially if they bring back Xylobands and I hope they do) 1 Always In My Head (with extended intro) 2 Hurts Like Heaven (with MX intro) 3 Clocks 4 Magic 5 Yellow 6 Ink/True Love/All My Friends 7 Midnight Acoustic section 8 Atlas 9 Strawberry Swing/Up In Flames/What If/Green Eyes/Warning Sign/Christmas Lights (in December) 10 Midnight 11 Charlie Brown 12 Another's Arms 13 Viva La Vida --Side Stage/Encore 14 Oceans (interlude played during transition) Main Stage 15 A Sky Full of Stars 16 Paradise 17 O (interlude playing during transition) -- Second Encore -- 18 The Scientist/Ghost Story 19 Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall (with MMIX intro)/Don't Let It Break Your Heart (with AHT intro) 20 Fix You (O Reprise playing while lights turn on)

Still find myself humming Hurts Like Heaven in the shower... Green Eyes and Warning Sign too

I wouldn't be surprised if when the LP6 tour really gets underway (like the April-December MX shows, by comparison) only Charlie Brown and Paradise from MX remain on the setlist. I think earlier when it's just festivals and random dates MX/HLH, ETIAW and UATW will make appearances though. I hope they do start to do 2 hour shows, even if they have to do more slow or acoustic songs to not get worn out, those portions of the show are well received already. And yes, even though color was a staple of MX shows. I rewatched Live 2003 (or rather watched it for the first time) last week and realized it's always been a part of Coldplay shows. So yes, I still want lasers, confetti, and of course Xylobands (judging by the Brooklyn show future shows are going to be very pricy - so they can't tell me money will be an issue, I think they've adjusted for it) The question is, how will they do these things to still make a new experience? Wristbands that change colors? More or less color options? Or maybe use them the whole show instead of for just the MX songs. That'll be something for another thread I suppose.

Decided to be realistic and only do about 20 songs like a main setlist. Just modifying the MX tour with some songs I wanted to see but didnt hear. Mylo Xyloto Hurts Like Heaven In My Place Lovers In Japan The Scientist Yellow Speed of Sound (not acoustic) Princess Of China Strawberry Swing Warning Sign Don't Let It Break Your Heart Viva La Vida Charlie Brown Paradise Up With The Birds Us Against The World Trouble Clocks Fix You Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall

Could also mean that they'll do some one off gigs every once in a while (does 8 gigs in LA count as one off?) but only do a full tour in 2015.

Can't post pics or video till I get back home next weekend, but I was lucky enough to get upgraded to the 14th row after I stumbled across a guy asking an "usher"(?) near my section 226 for a seat upgrade. When he couldn't take it (his group was too big) I swooped in and got it (going solo isn't the greatest thing but there are some perks) Such a surreal moment, and some good karma as earlier in the day (and 12/30) my naive tourist self got ripped off a few times, haha.

Incredible. I might add more thoughts later, but this was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had, certainly in a concert. This meant a lot to me because I couldn't make their show where I live in San Jose due to school complications, and after hearing about xylobands and the interactivity I tried to save up for the East Coast tour but just missed getting enough money by the St. Paul show. Once I heard about this show there was no doubt and I snatched up a flight and ticket right away. The only issue was while I had a great view of the stage, I was in the side and thus was blocked by the amps and couldn't see the main circle above the stage, which sucked. I could see a few bits and from what I could see, the only songs with interesting stuff in that circle are on the Live 2012 DVD anyway. Tomorrow might be better but I'm on the side again, I'll be on the upper level so maybe that'll help. Almost broke into tears during Warning Sign. When I heard it was a song they played I was pretty bummed cause I really like it. I'm glad they kept it on the setlist. Apparently the setlist was pretty much like every other show, which to me is fine, I wanted to experience what I would have gotten if I was able to make the other shows. Really grateful. Looking forward to tomorrow. Hopefully they shake things up even a little bit!

So without seeing spoilers from today's show, is the set mostly the same or is it shaken up, And is the set design the same?

Love it! I'm an a capella performer myself. Have thought about arranging some songs, and certainly a Coldplay one. Thanks for the inspiration :) Keep up the good work.

So I went ahead and bought a ticket for Stubhub for $230. Section 226 Row 10. Like the Dec 30 show if I wind up getting finding something better I can get it and be confident I can resell this ticket for about the same price on Stubhub, especially when we get closer to the ticket But I've been burned way too many times by waiting to get soldout tickets (A month ago I paid triple face value by a scalper for nosebleed seats at the door for a concert when I coulda paid less if I just bit on Craigslist offers that were merely twice as much) Worth the risk cause this will be an amazing show and I haven't seen a MX Coldplay show in person yet.

I wonder when it's time to concede there won't be tickets available and consider Stubhub. Or get a Citi card.

Just got my ticket in section 124! Was hesistant to buy tickets there, especially since the price ($200+) is the same as sitting in the floor, but I decided there's no guarantee I'd get floor seats on Saturday, so it's worth the risk. I could potentially sell the ticket if I get a better deal anyway. Now to worry about the Dec. 31 show...