Shattered Windows and the Sound of Drums

Lights. Lasers. Smoke. Cameras. Giant globes. Sound that shakes walls. Though there weren't any "shattered windows", Coldplay in all of their glory came to Salt Lake City as part of their Viva La Vida tour and it was absolutely fantastic! Coldplay is arguably my favorite band (arguable because of Tally Hall, of course...I think maybe they both tie for first) and I saw them last night in concert. Here was the set list:

Life In Technicolor
Violet Hill
Clocks
In My Place
Speed Of Sound
Cemeteries Of London
Chinese Sleep Chant
42
Fix You
Strawberry Swing
God Put A Smile Upon Your Face/Talk
The Hardest Part
Sweet lil piano something-something by Chris
Viva La Vida
Lost!
The Scientist
Death Will Never Conquer
A mixed recording of Viva La Vida again
Politik
Lovers In Japan/Reign of Love
Death And All His Friends
Yellow

I love that even though they're one of the biggest bands in the world, they were still super humble. Chris Martin introduced them as Coldplay, a band from Great Britain. It was awesome. They let us (the audience) sing a bunch of parts of the songs and at one point Chris commented, "Man! That's some good singin!"

So now I can say that I sang with Coldplay. :)

This was such an amazing concert. I called some friends during songs that I thought they'd appreciate just to share the joy, because I think that everyone should have experienced it. Here's the playlist again, with my commentary in between: (this is mostly so I can remember it, but it's awesome how they formatted the concert, so you should read it too. ;] )

Life In Technicolor
My, what a way to start the show. Especially after the headache-inducing (no, really, it did) second opening act (the first, Sleepercar, was good) that was all techno and weird animation. Life in Technicolor was a perfect way to set the mood, with a stunning setup of lights and color, introducing the night.
Violet Hill
I loved that this was next because it kept up the excitement for the show and kicked up the momentum of the feel of the concert.
Clocks
What a classic...I loved the lasers especially in this performance.
In My Place
Gorgeous rendition! I loved how throughout the concert, you could just see the band members bond. I could tell that they really enjoy playing together, and their chemistry definitely showed throughout the evening.
Speed Of Sound
Another beautiful typical Coldplay song. I think it was this one that had smoke with lasers, and Adam commented that he felt like he was floating in space, to which I agreed.
Cemeteries Of London
Each song had a different mood to it; with this it was a lot darker and cemetery-like feel. This added so much to the show!
Chinese Sleep Chant
42
Serious, this whole show was amazing with light and color and used them well. I also thought the camera men did a fabulous job of capturing all the great angles and a lot of the time I felt like it was a ready-made music video, but it was live!
Fix You
Adam and I got really excited when we realized it was this one...I don't know why. It was SO beautiful though! This is ultimately one of my all-time favorites.
Strawberry Swing
I learned chords for this song on my guitar, but haven't learned the solo yet. After this, I'm motivated to do so. And their guitars were SWEET!!!
God Put A Smile Upon Your Face/Talk
This was cool...the band members all came onto a white-lit platform and played together. It started out with a weird distortion and no one could tell what song it was first. When we finally realized, it was so rad! Then they went straight into Talk; the transition was so smooth that I didn't immediately realize it was a different song until he started singing Talk. I love when bands reward you for coming to their concerts by busting out stuff like this.
The Hardest Part
This song has actually been one of my all-time favorites (unlike you, Joe, haha) because it applies to me on so many levels in so many situations. Chris and Will, the drummer, made beautiful harmony. It rocks my socks that the drummer sings so well. Because Chris was still on the white platform and Will was back on the main stagewith the drums, they filmed it so there were two spotlights and the video screen showed them both.
Sweet lil piano something-something by Chris
I definitely didn't mind this :) {I later found out it was "Postcards from Far Away" from their amazing EP}
Viva La Vida
The whole concert was amazing, but everyone jumped up immediately and started cheering when this started to play after the simple, pretty piano solo. The band members had such energy and it was so great to watch them play this song that most people have come to know. Their energy reverberated off the walls and spread to the audience so quickly!
Lost!
This was my favorite song when I first heard the new album. I don't think I could stop smiling when I sang along in the concert.

The boys packed up like they were done, thanking us and running off stage. We, of course, wanted more, and lo and behold, the next thing we saw was them running up into the audience at the other end of the center...to seats with instruments already there! Chris announced that there are "super babes" in Utah and maybe the reason bands usually stayed on stage is so that they wouldn't get distracted with them in the audience. :]
The Scientist
He then explained that this was the portion of the show where the band played instruments that they didn't know how to play (except for Jonny, who plays the guitar). Chris played the harmonica (Adam and I were pleased) and they performed The Scientist! It sounded pretty dang good for not knowing how to play.
Death Will Never Conquer
Sung by Will, playing the guitar! I love this song. I got it free off of their website a while ago. We thought the concert was definitely done this time...

As we cheered and they ran off again, a mix of Viva La Vida played on a recording. The lights were dark and the audience realized that to add to the Coldplay light affect, we all had cell phones, and suddenly there were gajillions of cell phones dancing along. It looked so sweet!

All of the sudden, the stage erupted with huge bright lights , again pulsating to the beat of...
Politik (!!!!!)
We went nuts, of course. At this point, I just busted the last songs at the top of my lungs. I loved it.
Lovers In Japan/Reign of Love
This was accompanied with sweet old-fashioned clips of "lovers" and it was hilarious! I called Diana during this one; it reminded me of her and her awesome fiancee, Jonny. In the middle of the song, they dropped tons and tons of little confetti butterflies over the audience on the floor! It was awesome.
Death And All His Friends
After this one, we thought it was over...again...and encored them. Again. They came back on and thanked us again for coming, announcing they'd end with one more song.
Yellow
As the stage was flooded with yellow light, I couldn't have asked for a better ending song. Yellow was the first Coldplay song I ever heard, and one of the first I learned on my guitar. It just seemed fitting that they ended with this one.


Anyway if you like Coldplay, you should really talk to me about this concert. I have other fun things to show! ;) It was pretty much another perfect night.

AND now I have seen Tally Hall and Coldplay BOTH in the SAME year. (Jack Johnson was also a bonus!) :D