Beyond the Rhetoric

Coldplay is playing Vancouver over the weekend, but I had the chance to catch the Coldplay concert when they were at the Pengrowth Saddledome in Calgary a few days ago. I’ve been to a few concerts in my day and I thought that Kanye West put on quite the spectacle. His ego may be larger than life, but I have to hand it to the production and creative teams that work with Coldplay, because their concert was positively amazing.

From the massive balloons for “Yellow” to the unleashing of thousands (maybe even millions?) of butterflies for the conclusion, it truly was a sight to behold. Even the light show was pretty amazing in an of itself, not to mention the use of a satellite stage, plenty of voluntary interaction with the crowd, and just such an incredible energy that cannot be matched. I can’t believe how much energy that Chris Martin has. He was running from one end of the stage to the other, jumping on the piano, grabbing the guitar, and belting out a tune all at the same time.

As I’m sure Ed Lau will agree, if you ever have the opportunity to see Coldplay live in person, take that opportunity. You won’t regret it. With rumors that Chris Martin wants to hang up his musical coat for good shortly, there probably won’t be too many more chances to see a live Coldplay concert.

In the meantime, you can live vicariously through the videos taken on my point-and-shoot camera. The audio isn’t the best, of course, but you get a pretty good idea of what it was like to be there. Breathtaking. Positively breathtaking. On a side note, the opening acts of The Howling Bells and Snow Patrol were pretty entertaining too. I’m digging the sound of The Howling Bells (they’re from Australia). It’s just different enough to keep me captivated. Look them up on YouTube, iTunes, or wherever else you “sample” your music.

Tags: coldplay, concert, live music

Filed under Arts and Entertainment.