Coldplay Tour Put a Smile Upon My Face

August 13- Elkhorn, WI. The night air was warm with a cool breeze keeping things pleasantly comfortable. As daylight slipped away, the lights faded and the crowd went silent. Suddenly, the stage exploded with light and sound as the band opened with a powerful performance of Square One. Against the backdrop of a huge electronic screen displaying a digital countdown, Chris Martin, Coldplay front man, catapulted across the stage. From the opening moment of the concert, Martin and his bandmates never let the energy level drop.

The band continued with an energetic line up very similar to recent shows at NY’s Beacon Theater and Cincinnati’s Riverbend Amphitheater just a few days ago. Throughout the concert, the band dressed in monochromatic black, stood back and allowed Martin to do his thing. Part leaping, part twirling, the charismatic lead singer never stopped moving for more than a few moments.

Introducing the band, Martin thanked fans profusely for “allowing them to be here tonight.” Leading into the next song, he referred to as the “song that brought us to American the first time” . The audience surged as the opening strains of the haunting hit “Yellow” poured over the lawn. With the audience focused on the music, it appeared as if dozens of yellow balloons came out of the starlit night. They bounced through the crowd, spewing confetti as they popped. Martin refused to end the song until they were all opened, leading to some prolonged vocals and lots of laughs as fans struggled to burst the more stubborn balloons.

The crowd of about 35,000 responded exhuberantly, giving back every bit of energy created by the band. While some bands weave in an assortment of tunes which might not be as recognizable or popular, each song the bad played raised a louder cheer from the audience. The band took the crowd on a winding a journey through the music subtly building the tempo to a shattering climax with their most well known song, “Clocks” near the end of the long set.

Adding another dimension to the music was a multimedia display behind the band. On a series on huge LCD displays, colors, images, video of the band, and enhanced and embellished video feeds were uniquely created for each song. Mixing close up views of the band on stage, photo montages and brilliant color graphics views the synchronized perfectly with the music and made it an interactive experience. During “Low”, the audience saw the message “Take out your Camera” flashing. On cue, we were instructed to take a picture as the enormous video screens showed images of the audience taking photos.

The band of four college buddies consisting of Martin, Jon Buckland on guitar, Will Champion on drums, and Guy Berryman on bass mention influences by musical legends such Bob Dylan, the Stone Roses, Neil Young, My Bloody Valentine, Hendrix and Clapton. According to their official website, www.Coldplay.com , Champion originally played guitar, bass, and the tin whistle. Clearly, he has taken quite well to his role as drummer. It’s hard to categorize the music, purely rock, but with an alternative edge and compelling melodies. Discovered at an open air festival for unsigned bands, in 1999, the band put out their first album, “Parachutes” to critical acclaim. “Yellow” was then picked up by ABC to back promos, and Coldplay hit the mainstream. Listen carefully to the soundtracks of movies like Peter Pan(2004) and Confidence(2003) for mega-hit “Clocks”. Whatever the music is called, it was clear that the fans enjoyed it.

Retaining a sense of humor throughout, the band never took themselves too seriously. They came on stage at about 9pm, and played nearly continuously ’til 11pm. Powerful and soulful renditions of “Politik” , “God Put A Smile Upon Your Face ” and “Warning Sign” ignited the crowd. With Martin prancing, leaping and swirling across the stage, the music continued. As the set continued, Martin seamlessly transitioned between piano, electric and acoustic guitar. Following a stirring version of “The Scientist”, the band gathered at the front of the stage. Drummer Champion took to the keyboards while Martin and Buckland switched to acoustic guitar. In a tribute to Johnny Cash, for whom the song was written, we were treated to “‘Til Kingdom Come”, followed by an amazing cover of “Ring of Fire”. Dramatically, the stage went dark and silent. As the crowd held their breath, a blasting explosion of sound and light heralded the opening of “Clocks”. The set closed with a final song, “Talk”.

After a brief break, the band returned to the stage for a three song encore. “Swallowed in the Sea” ran I into “In My Place”and finally, “Fix You”. Martin ad-libbed the final lines: “And now it is time for us to to go/âÂ?¦âÂ?¦Good-bye Milwaukee and Chi-ca-go”

Following the June 6 release of their third album “X & Y”, which has sold over 730,000 (www.billboard.com) copies to date, the band embarked on their 2005 US tour. The tour kicked off August 2nd in Toronto and continues through September. Additional European dates have also been added. The album follows the 2002 release of “A Rush of Blood to the Head” which debuted at number 5 on the Billboard chart and has sold 3.8 million albums to date.

For Chicago area fans, the Alpine Valley show on August 13 may be the only opportunity to see this Grammy winning band. Their June show at Chicago’s Metro sold in in mere seconds, leaving just about one thousand lucky fans holding tickets. Kudos to the band, who quickly realized the intimate venue could not come close to accommodating the demand. Martin, reportedly disturbed by reports of tickets going for over $500 each, had all available tickets given out free to disappointed fans who had hoped to score a ticket at the Metro before the show. The show at Alpine was quickly added to the tour shortly thereafter.

Although Alpine Valley holds considerably more people, ticket were still in high demand. Online ticket brokers were listing pavilion tickets for up to $400 and lawns seats for up to $150 in the days before the show. As the band does regularly, pre-sale lotteries were offered to fan registered on their web site www.Coldplay.com. For the Alpine Valley show, a second pre-sale was offered when another block of tickets became available. Frustrating, but on the second attempt, I hit pay-dirt: Two pavilion seats!! Yet there would be a few more obstacles, before masking it to the show.

By a week before the show, I had heard nothing, nor seen my hard-won tickets! Just moments before panic set it- an email! The tickets were to arrive in a day or so. However, several days passed and still not ticket. I was not until Tuesday evening that I breathed a sigh of relief after tearing in to the overnight envelope! The day of the concert arrived, accompanied by cool temperatures, grey skies and showers. Undaunted, I packed extra clothes and thanked the fates for my pavilion seats.

After going up to Alpine many times over the past ten years, I figured I considered myself veteran. The rural location tucked among farms and dairies makes for a rather indirect route from Chicago or Milwaukee. The weather held and the drive up towards Lake Geneva was pleasant. All seemed to be going quite well as we turned onto Highway 43, within 5 miles of the concert, and the road seemed clear. Moments later, we saw a sea of red lights ahead, traffic had come to a grinding halt. Memories of years past told me the parking lots were backing up and police had slowed it down to a single lane. Excitement mixed with anxiety as the minutes ticked by. Truly so close�yet.�

As 7:30 came and went, I tried to believe that no respectable rock band starts on time. As we finally arrived in the parking lot, it became clear that Coldplay would live up to rock star status. Fans were milling about, BBQ scent wafting, and nobody in much of a rush. We made it into the venue a bit after 8pm to find a throng of enthusiastic fans, and the scent of beer swirling about. The opening band played with mild interest from the crowd. The air was thick with anticipation and I breathed a sign of relief.

We easily had time to grab a couple of icy cold beers and find our way to our seats. The pavilion holds 7500, and almost every seat has an excellent view. Our seats in section 203, row PP were perfect. Years ago, I went to a fair share of Dead concerts at Alpine, where we learned the extreme left and right got very bad sound distortion. Tonight, none was apparent. The sound system was flawless. Combined with the multimedia effects, our senses were blanketed in the music. Getting there had not been easy, but the concert made it well worth the effort.

At the close of the show, the band spent a few minutes taking in the crowd’s appreciation, waving and taking their bows. Seeming very pleased by a job well done, they left the stage. But not before Martin stopped to shake hands with a few fans crowding the stage.