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Sunday, 09 April 2006 |
By Timothy Chow
 March 22nd was a REALLY good day. I'm reliving it through my photos and videos right now and it's embarrassing because the videos involving sing-a-long-y moments have me belting out the songs highly out of tune but clearly really excited. Oh god, so embarrassing - almost as embarrassing as the time that I had my question asked to Chris and Jonny on the radio and I sounded SO GEEKY and SO GAY, but less so since this wasn't broadcasted to 5 million people. . .yeah.
Wednesday started out quite normal actually, no stalking of the guys, no grand plans to somehow steal Coldplay memorabilia, nothing - just showing up at the concert with no waiting and enjoying it. It all began around 3pm when I drove downtown to hang out, as well as to eat dinner with a friend. By the time we finished it was approaching showtime (8pm) so we went to the ACC to see the beginnings of the COLDPLAY CONCERT! Huzzah! Haha!
Another friend was supposed to meet us there, so we went in, got checked but got in with the camera, and wandered around squeeing at everything. I was wearing my “ZOMBAID” shirt, but nobody understood the joke, so I was kind of disappointed. Would've been better if I wore the shirt that I got back in May, the brown one with the band sitting down, that way I could prove that I loved them so much I'd seen them before, ho ho.
Anyway, by the time we went in, Richard Ashcroft had probably performed a few numbers already. The lights were out, but I didn't believe we had actually missed some of his stage-time; all the while I thought it was just random music being played on the speakers. We did get to hear him play songs off his new album including "Words Just Get in the Way" and "Music is Power," as well as a bunch of stuff from The Verve era (including "Sonnet" and "Bittersweet Symphony"). After getting the crowd to its feet during the last song, he received a loud standing ovation and then walked off stage.
Before I give any kind of review, here is the set list they played, for easy reference:
1. Square One
2. Politik
3. Yellow
4. Speed of Sound
5. God Put A Smile Upon Your Face
6. What If
7. How You See The World
8. Don't Panic
9. White Shadows
10. he Scientist
11. 'Till Kingdom Come
12. Ring of Fire
13. Trouble
14. Clocks
15. Talk
16. Swallowed In The Sea
17. In My Place
18. Fix You
My friends and I were continuing our dinner discussion about Matt McGinn and Hoppy when the lights suddenly went out, followed by this grace period of darkness for about a minute or two in which we all stood up and cheered and laughed and nervously anticipated the band’s arrival. Suddenly the screen lit up and there were these black numbers on the white screen, counting backwards. The uproar was deafening, and it was actually very exciting to be all pumped up for it with so many other people who were feeling the same.
Bursting off into "Square One," Chris stood at the back near the screen, just singing, while Guy, Jonny and Will began playing the song. It was a good introduction to the concert and one that got the crowd sufficiently enervated. Chris introduced us to the fact they were filming the concert for a DVD, which got an even louder approval - heh. The second song of the set, "Politik," will always be my favourite starting song by them (yes even more than "Animals") no matter how many concerts they do, because it's that moment around the third minute when they resolve the head-banging verse/chorus with this awesome and utterly beautiful bridge that completely does it for me, and I'm slayed. It establishes the mood and atmosphere for the next few songs not because it's so much harder and subtly melodic than their normal stuff, but because it's such a powerful tune . . . not to mention the fact that this time the screen behind them was doing these double reflection things, and it was incredible to watch. *sings along* Oh – overwhelming.
After "Politik,” Chris continued his whole, "We've come to Toronto to make our film cause we believe it's the best audience in the world" speech (which made me super happy because I want to follow them around and be one of those ridiculous fans). They played "Yellow" next with Jonny doing his thing, and these huge oversized yellow balloons falling down from the ceiling which, even though I knew was coming, was still all so surprising and exciting nonetheless. I looked around and saw all these people taking photos of it and it was funny because they were huge oversized balloons. They must have started dropping the balloons late because by the time the song ended, they hadn't all popped yet - which was the requirement for Chris to finish the song last time, in August. Lots of the people kept pushing the balloons to the front for some strange reason, instead of to the back or to the side so that everyone could play around; by the end, there were still a bunch of un-popped yellow balloons on stage. Chris gleefully popped one of them (and a photo of the moment wound up on the cover of the Metro newspaper) eliciting a response of satisfaction from the crowd because he looked really happy while doing it and because the deflated balloon hung around the guitar neck.
"Speed of Sound" continued the repertoire of well-known songs and it worked incredibly well because he forced us to sing the chorus. It's catchy and people are into it . . . and now that I watch the video I recorded, it's SO embarrassing because I kept forgetting that the camera can pick up my voice even though the recording section's on the other side of the camera. After finishing “SoS,” they move onto "God Put a Smile upon Your Face.” I remember thinking that it wasn't as good as August's performance, mostly because last time's “GPaSuYF” was brilliant and the audience was totally into it, so it was probably the best song then, just in terms of performance AND audience participation. I don’t know . . . I wasn't left cold with this rendition, but it just wasn't as good as it could have been.
After that, they slowed it down by playing "What If" off X&Y, which isn't a huge favourite of mine, so I did my usual cheering and what not, but I wasn't personally vested into it or anything. Still, it was really good, ending with that climactic peak instead of the fade out that they're known for. After the lights went out, everyone moved around in the darkness - Jonny moved further away from us to the middle, Guy from the right to the left so that he was in front of us, and Chris to the far side. With Jonny playing by himself for a moment, they then launched into "How You See the World (Version 2),” the song that was on Help! A Day in the Life for Warchild. Lyrically, on paper, it's by far one of the most direct songs they've made, but sung live, it just sounded a little awkward, considering there are just too many syllables being packed into the lines. I think this was exacerbated for me when I kept comparing it to “Version 1,” which was on the Japanese edition of the X&Y. I really liked their performance of it, though. Jonny was really on the ball, sounding angry for the entire thing but maintaining that poise and that languid posture that I love about him. Guy was playing the maracas, and I tried taking good photos but they just ended up being all blurry due to the poor light. Either way, Jonny does not and cannot do any wrong.
So, after the slight disappointments of “GPaSuYF” and “What If,” Chris introduced the next song by saying that Jonny was going to do some singing - he'd do a verse. I thought, “Yeah it's got to be ‘Don't Panic,”’ and lo and behold! It was the amped-up electric version of the song, not the acoustic version, so there was more energy and excitement to it. Chris started off the song for a bit but then slightly relinquished control to Jonny, and Jonny sang in his lovely voice the second verse. I’m pretty sure I was dancing my ass off and just being too excited to actually hold onto the camera properly. Heh. I have to admit, it was really well done. The only things I could ask for more of was if Will did his whole drumming thing before the song started like he did in Düsseldorf, or if Jonny played the harmonica during the solo part instead of the guitar . . . Not that I would have been able to catch the harmonica from such a distance.
I’m going to skip "White Shadows" because I don't remember any of it, aside from Chris doing his ‘I'm-reaching-for-the-air, one-hand-at-a-time’ dance, which he hadn't actually done for "Yellow!” Oh - near the end, when it slows back down, Chris and Jonny went up to the front and lay down on the floor, Chris singing and Jonny just playing. It was adorable. After they finished, Chris sat back down on the piano and started the chords for "The Scientist.” I've never really liked "The Scientist" when played live because it always seems to somehow miss its target in terms of just sheer beauty (though the Chicago $2 Bill version of it is pretty good). This one was like most of the others, sounding good, but not heart-tugging like the normal studio album version of it is. At the end, Chris did his whole call and response thing that he's been doing lately in concert, engaging us to follow his lead. After that, “The Scientist” backwards came on while they and the stage hands moved everything around so the band could do "Ring Of Fire" and "'Till Kingdom Come.” Telling us this was a song they wrote for the late Johnny Cash, "'Till Kingdom Come" got a good reception, and they performed it excellently, which endeared me even more to it. Great song. Afterwards, Chris shared with us, "Jonny and I are sweating like madmen here so we need to do a wardrobe change,” which then involved 20,000 people watching Chris changing his shirt on stage. I was going to cheer but then decided that I didn't want to look THAT gay. Then Chris added, “…And this is a song BY Johnny Cash!” and they played "Ring of Fire," which was my first time hearing it live. Yay! After the Cash tribute, they played a toned down version of "Trouble" which sounded kind of demented because the piano part wasn't as prominent as it is on the album. At the end though, Chris got down on his knees and played it with Will, which was cute.
I had been warned that "Clocks" heralded the return of the LASER, and sure enough, the laser returned! But in red! And not in that crazy strobing kind of pattern that happened during the last ARoBTTH tour! I actually don't remember much of their performance of it, aside from the fact they played it and I was kind of bobbing around and looking around and checking out how others were enjoying it - so I'll just talk about "Talk,” their last single and the one on the screen with that BEAR! What's with the bear, seriously!? I don't get it, and I don't think there's an actual reason for it, but throughout the song, there's just this bear that walks back and forth on the screen. Regardless, the entire performance of the song was inspiring, with that kind of U2 lighting interspersed between the moments when Chris was just singing in the darkness and him grabbing someone's cell phone and dialing on it. Hehe. After "Talk" he thanked us for being a good audience and then they left the stage.
Of course, wanting more, we all clapped and clapped and clapped until our shoulders were sore and hands comfortably numb. They eventually came back on, and played "Swallowed in the Sea,” a song I really like except for the lyrics which are a little sketchy and kind of lame. Nonetheless, the screen behind them was pretty to view, with hand written song names being juxtaposed on top of each other, and Jonny guitaring it up in company. "In My Place" had some slashy moments, with Jonny and Chris and Jonny and Guy conversing, and Chris doing some rousing big crowd actions when we were all shouting. Of course, he ran from the stage to the audience, and passed down far, far away to the very back, where he sang. I got a photo of it, but it's really blurry. After he ran back like some crazy-rabbit-sprinter-hybrid thing, the band went into "Fix You,” their final encore song of the evening.
Okay, before I go any further, I LOVE "Fix You.” It's definitely one of their best songs on X&Y and you could really see it when they played it, from the church-ish organ that Chris played on, to the warm guitar chords that Jonny struck out, to the lethargic kind of beat that Guy and Will gave. When they got to that point where Jonny let loose in that rapid spitfire, the crowd started cheering and yelling and Chris started to spin the light bulb that was on top of the piano, culminating in the release of it, Jonny, Will and Guy all going at it. It was a glorious moment, followed next by an even better sight - the four of them singing with the screen behind showing each of them together. It was beautiful. "And the tears stream down your face, when you lose something you cannot replace," indeed. With huge audience applause, Coldplay walked off the stage that night, but not before being thrown a Canadian flag by my friend who was fourth row, floors, and Jonny wrapping it around himself.
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