My experience was nothing short of amazing. It was exactly what I’d always believed every concert should be like and to me, this is precisely how music should be enjoyed.
From the moment the band came onstage, I just knew it was gonna be awesome. And the guys certainly did not disappoint. In fact, after Clocks, only their third song of the night, I’d already declared to Nessa that this was without a doubt the best concert I’d ever been to. Watching Chris Martin perform with such raw energy and heart was needless to say, breathtaking. In My Place sounded better than it already is. Yellow was a massive crowd-pleaser. Fix You became this gorgeous anthem. The guys did a cool techno remix of God Put A Smile Upon Your Face/Talk (video not taken in Singapore but it was the same version) and as expected, Viva La Vida was freakin’ awesome live. I developed a new love for Lovers In Japan, and was moved by the heartfelt and tender performance of The Scientist.
And as though listening to their already gorgeous songs live wasn’t enough, there was the spectacle. Lasers! Balloons! Confetti! Rotating globes that doubled as screens! Beautiful backdrops! More confetti! But that’s not all, cos the band decided to be just a little bit more awesome and walked right into the crowd and performed a mini acoustic set AMONG THE AUDIENCE.
Audience participation/engagement was high as everyone sang along, chanted the “oh” refrain from Viva La Vida and was clearly there to enjoy the awesomeness of Coldplay. We even got to try the Coldwave (only the second venue to do it, after Auckland) which was pretty cool until it died down after the fifth or sixth round.
The energy from the concert lingered for a long time after I got home. Only thing was, I was on such a high that I found it hard to sleep cos I kept re-living the entire experience and I couldn’t get the “oh” refrain out of my head. And even this morning, when I got up, I woke up with a big, stupid smile on my face.
If anything, this experience has given me a whole new level of love and respect for the band and you can bet I’ll be at every one of their shows in Singapore from now on. While the videos I’ve posted certainly don’t do any justice, I hope it’ll be enough to convince you that you should do yourself a favour, and catch Coldplay live. Cos seriously? Not many bands in this world are gonna be as good as this.
As an only child, Ernie & friends were my best babysitters. They taught me everything I needed to know growing up. I could sing and count to 12, I knew all about prepositions, I knew how crayons were made and I was constantly exposed to the news. Even my parents understood the educational value of the programme and never prevented me from watching Sesame Street.
So when I saw this, I was partly surprised they were addressing this issue, but also impressed with how Sesame Street was being so relevant. Perhaps I was too young, but to me the show always seemed like a utopia of sorts. Everyone was happy, people never fought over issues like social class or racism. But then I also remembered that the show had to deal with the death of Mr Hooper and it became clear why Sesame Street had to touch on this issue of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. After all, the show is focused on educating children, not just academically but also on the various aspects of life. And with so many soldiers coming back from the war, it was necessary to teach the kids about the changes they’ll have to face. After all that these military families have had to go through, having this sort of televised support will show the many kids affected that they’re not alone in this, and that everything will be okay in the end.
Now if only the other kids around the world can watch this too.
Y’know, I was just thinking, thanks to the Internet, people are now becoming informed consumers. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t gone out to make a purchase without having consulted the Internet first. Me? I’ve been toying with the idea of upgrading to the Blackberry Curve 8900 for awhile now, but part of me has also been desiring the iPhone. So what’s a girl to do? Google both for reviews, of course. And after about 30 minutes of intense researching and oogling at both models, I managed to come to a decision (I’m getting the Blackberry, in case anyone’s counting), one that I’m very satisfied with.
Now imagine what it would’ve been like Before Internet (B.I.) – I’d have to scour through shelves of magazines, flip through the hundreds of ad-clogged pages, before finding that one review. Repeat process to look for a second, or even third one so you can gather more perspectives. By the time you’re done, you would’ve wasted plenty of precious time. And you still might not be extremely convinced.
You see, life B.I. didn’t allow us to read through user reviews – which, on more than one occasion, would give us a more representative/genuine feel of things, mostly because these guys (a) weren’t paid to write the review, and; (b) they’re real-world users. Besides, it’s always good to do some cross referencing and a couple of comparison checks to ensure you get the most accurate information. Yes? Now only if there was some programme to help us gather all these details and generate a side-by-side comparison chart. That would certainly be very useful.
Coldplay put a smile upon my face
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