Busty, the Mrs, my sister in law and I caught them last night at the Bradley Center. I know they're old news, but I thought I'd share.

Tix were $75 a pop, which is not the right foot to start off on. That, plus a sunday night and a 1.5 hour drive = grrrr. But still. We get there, and Busty got his ticket at a different time, so technically he's seated elsewhere, but we're gonna chance it and he comes with us.

Our seats end up being right... next.... to the fucking stage. Shoe-throwing distance to the far side. About 25 feet between me and the guitarist, and nobody in front of us! Nothing but an aisle and a railing to look through. No standing up, no bullshit, just goodness. Those seats = worth it. I'd rather have been where we were than in the front row. Saw every little thing with ease. And the fabulous seats directly in front of us (in which busty is squatting) remain empty the whole show.

I've seen them once before, at the Tabernacle in ATL, like 3 or 4 years ago. --Loosely paraphrased breakdown from busty and I walking back to the car: Back then, they were coming at the event like "You might know 'Yellow,' probably nothing else, but we have this amazing little album or two, and we're gonna knock you on your ass." And they did. It was business! And business was good. Now, they're in the U2 bracket, filling arenas, making 35-year-old accountant guys scream with glee. So they approach the shows accordingly. Everyone knows every word of every song now, so they try to "dress it up" a bit. Chris does his godawful Mr Goodbody impersonation, with the air punches and step routine and rolling on the floor and all, but he's gotten better at it, and doesn't lose his breath now - singing was solid. There's shit dropping from the ceiling, he goes out in the crowd, there's lasers (yes, seriously).

In short, they act like a top-selling band, and I can't fault them for it. So my conclusion is that they realize that they have the best job in the world, they seem very greatful for it, and they're working hard to live up to their end of the bargain. The flipside of that is that, if you saw them before the accountants discovered them, you got spoiled a little, but good bands can't stay small forever. Best that they embrace it and have fun, I reckon.

They're all growd's up and they're all growd's up.

I love "Yellow".
Other than that, I find them to be a very boring band.

But I definitely see the appeal.

They milk the material Radiohead left lying around to great effect. And they do it with The Edge on guitar, more or less. I respect them, and the songs can be very, very good. But if this next album is Part III of the last 2, I will be very let-down. Do Sump'n Diffr'nt, dammit.

I think that is my problem with them.
Just waiting to see if they do something different.

Doesn't change the fact that "Yellow" is fucking gorgeous.

good god. 75 bucks?

I wouldn't pay that much for my favorite band.

35 bucks to see Sigur Ros was enough and about top price for me.

My friend sold a ticket on ebay to that Sigur Ros show for 100 bucks. People are crazy.

yeah, I think I paid less than $20 to see them in 2001. Good band, but I wouldn't fork over that cash for them now. I actually couldn't tell you the last time I listened to one of their albums... maybe the precursory "X+Y" listen before tossing it on the trash heap. Glad you at least had a good view though. Was Gwyneth pulling Chris' puppet strings from the sidestage?

Easy there, Bubba. I know you have a thing against The Edge but I wouldnt even put the guitar playing in Coldplay in the same fucking galaxy as U2.

Anywho....I'm not really a fan of the band at all but I'm glad you guys had a ball. I understand how nice it is to get out to SOMETHING every now and again. Fucking frustrating this growing up, no?

Yellow is a fucking annoying song.

I saw them probably around 01 too and they were awesome. I didnt' like the last one at all though, so I don't think I would fork over alot of money to see them again.

Yeah, I like Coldplay, but I think "Yellow" is quite the snoozer. Back when they first came out, I was pretty dismissive of them until I listened to the rest of the album.

You and I disagree.

I still like Parachutes, it's pretty, harmless Britpop. I liked a couple off the second album too. I was a little surprised when they blew up the way it did. 'Yellow' is catchy and all, but there's many a band of their ilk with lots of Yellowish songs that get passed by the public. I think their songs have gotten progressively less memorable with each album, which, admittedly, wasn't really a long drive to begin with.

I like Starsailor much, much more.

Growing up IS fuckin frustrating. Quoth the Mrs yesterday "oh, you're getting that sexy salt and pepper hair!"

Coldplay '01 was awesome, period. That was a damn SHOW. This... this is good, but it's "arena." Not the same. Not necessarily worse, but much less my cup o tea. I think maybe I just hate arena shows.

True dat. Still sorry y'all didnt have a Redlands leg to your last sojourn below the Mason-Dixon

Yet you still won't come clean on comparing The Edge and Coldplay? I'll go so far as to say that dude invented a style of guitar playing that involves lots of small combo amps and delay pedals.

And that dude's backing vocals are what actualy make U2 a great band.(well, that and Larry Mullen Jr.) I understand the hatred for Bono but the fucking Edge harmonies are sooooo priceless.

First off... I like the edge. I like him. I like cold plizzle too. There's no slandery going on here. ColdPlay dude's just like a 75% mix of "imitation edge" and then some original stuff. He doesn't capture it. He doesn't top it. He shoots for it, misses a little, and lands somewhere interesting.

His setup these days, btw:

- Teles, all with 2 humbuckers. No more single coils for him, apparently.
- One Jazzmaster, for one song. Otherwise all tele's w/ hums.
- 2x some fender combo I couldn't see the front of, looked like the back bracing of a Super Reverb (the 4x10).
- One monstrous, Edge-approved pedal board, with 2 (count 'em, 2) of those POD delay thingies (the green ones), and he set the tap delay by foot for every song.
- Also on that board were an MXR phaser, a Boss delay, and some shit I couldn't quite make out.
- An identical, BACKUP version of same ginormous pedalboard, waiting in the wings, with all knobs pre-set.


I wish we coulda made it by Redlands too, bigtime. Too many damn babies to visit, and not enough time to do it all.

Supreme Mullah Darrin Frew has just emitted a fatwa against you.

I've moved on. Right now the greater evil is Kaiser Chiefs.

I was at the show last night with my wife, we were in the 7th row dead center, and had an absolute blast. I think it was in the top 5 of shows I have seen all time.

One thing I really cant understand is all the snobbery towards Coldplay in the music listening public at the college/indie scene level. The deserve, in my opinion, all the fame, money, glory, they have received. They DID take some clues from Radiohead, U2 and others, but I think they made it there own. They dont dick around like Radiohead, and will never have the bombast of U2. Both things I am happy for, which is why I like them, and hate the bashing. Let U2 be awesome, let Radiohead be freaky good, let Coldplay get some f-ing respect.

It pains me to say it, but people who like indie music can be pains in the ass. Way too quick to criticize. Had you been at the show, and see the way they leave it on the stage, you would have respected their performances.

Saying they aren't worth the money, is just lame. Not every show needs to be a $10 budget show with young/new bands who just stand in one spot, never say "thanks", "hello" etc. Get over it, and enjoy the music.

Snobbery is childish and lame. Don't show it here.

I saw them on the Grammy's and all it cost me was a couple precious hours of my ever shortening life.

It's o.k. to not like something too.

Yeah I gotta say, there, Space, that I was truly impressed. My question is really whether or not the $75 Arena Concert proposition is fundamentally a good one, and that depends upon the viewer. But one absolutely cannot agrue that those guys didn't work their asses off to make it worth every penny.

On a side note, did you see the chick in the see-through shirt whose stuff kept popping out every time she jumped up and down?

NO! Damn IT~!

I usually spot that stuff pretty easy, but not this time. We were three rows behind the guy that the band stopped for during that Johnny Cash Section... Very cool.

I completely agree. I am happy we can say it. BUT, It's the constant bashing I can't stand.

What if i just constantly bash Yellow and keep the remainder of my opinions about Coldplay to myself?

as the size of a venue increases, the amount of people who go to shows regularly decreases. if i go to 30-40 shows each year and pay $10-20 for each, it's not likely that i'll put down $75 for just one show. a person who sees only a few shows every year can afford to do that.

so, yeah, it totally depends on who's going. i've been to one $75-ticket show in the last ten years and i was on the guest list. had i known how good it would be, i may have considered paying.

nice setup. anything more mysterious than an MXR phaser/chorus?