As mentioned in my last blog entry, I recently got to see Coldplay during their Viva La Vida tour (with Snow Patrol and Howling Bells), and dare I say it was one of the best shows I've ever been to.

I knew nothing of the Howling Bells before that evening so I wasn't sure what to expect. Lots of bells in their music, perhaps, or maybe a shocker revelation that one of their members was part werewolf. (Get it? Werewolves? Howling? Howling Bells...oh, nevermind.) To my surprise, neither were incorporated into their music - rather, their sound was like a dance-y hybrid of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Metric. All in all, an appropriate opener act (from Australia, no less).

Next to take the stage was Snow Patrol.

Excuse me for a moment.

*I LOVE SNOW PATROL!*

Ahem.

Now that's out of the way, here's some information that might surprise you: I happen to be a fan of Snow Patrol. Having seen them perform once before, I had high expectations - Gary Lightbody has a fantastic voice - and those expectations were met, perhaps exceeded. Not much new material was played; they stuck to old favorites such as "Open Your Eyes" and "Chasing Cars" from Eyes Open, and to my delight they played perennial favorite "Run" from their album Final Straw. The new songs they did play were "Crack The Shutters" and "If There's A Rocket Tie Me To It", two of my favorites from A Hundred Milion Suns. If you ever have the chance to see them perform live, take it.

While prepping the stage between acts, this fellow with a broom started to breakdance.

Yeah, I know. Awesome.

When the main attraction of the night, Coldplay, took the stage, it was nothing short of spectacular. Now let me say this: I LOVE COLDPLAY. To me, the mark of an excellent concert is being able to immediately forget about the time, work, stress...whatever was on your mind the second before...and just feel totally immersed in the music. That's the corniest thing I'll probably ever write on this blog, but I honestly believe it to be true, and it happened as soon as they took the stage with "Life In Technicolor."

One thing that I shouldn't have been surprised by (but was anyways) was Chris Martin's incredible showmanship. He was funny, engaging and pulled surprising athletics; he ran all over the stage, threw himself on the floor several times and twirled an umbrella for "Lovers In Japan", among other things. The band sung about Wayne Gretzky and Michael J. Fox, asked everyone to do a "cell phone wave" and even rewarded those with bad seats on the other side of the arena by running over to their area for an acoustic serenade which included "Green Eyes". They also did a great cover of Smashmouth's "I'm A Believer", leading to some great banter amongst themselves with Chris asking each member "If you're in love, sing oooh-oooh" before launching into the up-tempo chorus.

The stage pyrotechnics left nothing to be desired; nearly every song had an accompanying light show. Of special note was "Yellow", whereupon a bajillion yellow balls descended from the ceiling as it started (and several bandmates popped a few). Cannons shot out paper butterflies into the arena, and the band members' faces were reflected in ceiling-mounted screens.

That is to take nothing away from when the band stripped it down, however, which provided some very memorable moments. For instance, Chris Martin introduced their piano-only rendition of "The Hardest Part" by saying he originally called it the "solo" section of the concert, landing him in hot water with Will C who provided the vocal harmonies. (Paraphrasing: "please cheer for him so he doesn't leave the band".) And so cheer we did - and the performance was fantastic. Audio of this can be found here: http://www.coldplay.com/newsdetail.php?id=428

Of the top of my head, other songs they played which I loved included "Fix You", "Strawberry Swing"and "Death And All His Friends". The show ended, in my opinion, much too soon, though the blow was softened by a terrific encore consisting of "The Scientist" and "Life In Technicolor II".

Last but not least, they say a picture is worth a thousand words so here's an essay: