Richard Ashcroft, came on stage and sung boring songs for about half an hour. Everything he sung sounded the same and he kept repeating his own words, like an echo.
Richard Ashcroft, came on stage and sung boring songs for about half an hour. Everything he sung sounded the same and he kept repeating his own words, like an echo.
Ever since I heard Coldplay’s first album, Parachutes, I swore to myself that if this band would ever come to Holland I had to be there. And I was. The tickets sold out in a couple of hours and my friend Linda and I were lucky enough to lay hands on two of them.
To take it easy on ourselves, we decided to skip the subway buses and trains and just take the car. Also, since I finally got my drivers licence the day before, I was the one to drive. I drove a fifteen year old Volkswagen which kept overheating so what should have been a speedy ninety minute drive at most resulted in a frustrating, four hours long, stop-start journey. Here’s a little tip; If you’re a girl, standing on the side of the motorway, never open up the bonnet! It will only attract the biggest freaks and will get you nowhere. Spoken from experience.
X&Y is Coldplay’s third album, I got it the day it appeared in stores and to be honest, it really disappointed me. I expected more of them, especially after Parachutes and A Rush of Blood to the Head. It’s still a good album and nice to listen to, but it’s lacking something.
The support act started somewhere around seven. Richard Ashcroft, who according to Chris Martin is one of the best singers around, came on stage and sung boring songs for about half an hour. Everything he sang sounded the same and he kept repeating his own words, like an echo. I didn’t have a clue who he was. Everybody just kept talking and moving around so I didn’t hear a thing he said. I didn’t recognize him until he started his last song. "Is he..? Could it..? Is it a cover? No it couldn’t be.. Damn it’s that guy from the Verve!" He sang Bittersweet Symphony and I could see the whole stadium change in an instant. All of a sudden everybody’s attention was focused on the stage and people started dancing and singing. So that leads me to the obvious statement: He shouldn’t have gone solo…
Richard Ashcroft left the stage and made place for Coldplay. The band started with the first track of their new album, Square One. Followed up by Politik they immediately set the right tone for the rest of the evening. After these two songs Chris Martin took a moment to show the band’s sympathy for the bombed London, "the place where we live and which we love", and dedicated the concert to those in trouble.
The concert continued with a great variety of strong, rock-like songs such as Clocks and softer songs like Warning Sign. The performance of Clocks was one of the better ones that night. Their passion and concentration was radiant and Chris Martin almost seemed to disappear into his piano.
Unfortunately for me there were a bunch of elderly ladies sitting on the row in front of me. I don’t think they get out much because they were going at it like crazy; yelling, jumping on the seats and screaming along with every single song. Screaming at a Coldplay concert, come on, what the hell were they thinking? I could barely hear Chris Martin sing. An occasional shout is ok, but cheering all night long is definitely a no-no. Especially when you are in front of me, ruining my view.
I didn’t let them spoil my night and enjoyed the rest of the concert. The band was a delight to look at, all dressed in black and they gave us a great performance. The big video screen behind the band, showing images suiting to their music, was a nice addition to the light show. I wasn’t very big on the idea of seeing them play in a stadium but they showed that they are more than capable of it. They kept the atmosphere intimate, even though the place contained tens of thousands of fans. Watching Chris Martin perform was an interesting experience. When he wasn’t abusing his piano he was bouncing around stage, hopping on one leg, crawling on the floor and all of this while singing, in tune I might add. He even used a couple of Dutch words in between songs. Songs such as The Scientist, Talk, Yellow, Everything’s Not Lost and of course their latest single Speed of Sound were on the playlist. After an hour the band left the stage, only to come back for a great encore of three songs. The second one was In My Place, which had everybody singing along. The third and last one was Fix You.
During Fix You a light bulb came down, Chris Martin grabbed it and gave it a good swing and it spun circles in the air during the rest of the song. On the moment Martin released the light bulb fireworks bursted on both sides of the stage. An appropriate performance for a song with lyrics such as ‘lights will guide you down’. Martin hurried back to the piano to torture the poor instrument again. While banging the keys he changed the lyrics into a goodbye, telling us that it was time to go home. Thereby he created a perfect ending to a wonderful gig.
Words: Annemieke Koomen