Coldplay
This has been the only concert I've looked forward to in awhile. We see Dave Matthews Band every summer. That's kind of a given. Not even a big deal anymore. We had a feeling the Coldplay concert would be great, and that the crowd wouldn't be that big. They aren't that well known around here, def more up in Pittsburgh, but the Valley tends toward Country and Southern Fried Rock. ick.The ride up. A group of us actually rode up in our friends Honda Odyssey mini-van. The ultimate 'mom ride'. To be honest it was really nice. Felt like taking a plane there. Cup holders, cooler in the back, lights and air vents above your head. All that was missing was the DVD player. We went with two Heathers, Ben and Karen, the married couple who own the van, me and D. Met up with even more people at Starlake, including N. Who I am so glad she showed up. She kept hedging about it. I told her to suck it up and quit acting like a soccer mom and get her ass to the concert. Other than only having Miller Light on hand to drink, I think she was really glad she came. I was!
I've said this before, but Starlake is the best place to see bands. Ok, it's actually the Post-Gazette Pavilion now, but that's too long to say or type. It's an outdoor venue, big huge grassy banked lawn area, with a large covered pavilion area in front of the stage. The parking lot is huge and kinda wraps around it. Woods run up to the edge of the lot on most sides. It's the only place I know if that still lets you tail gate. You can bring anything into this place and they don't flinch, except glass bottles. They used to ride around in a golf cart and supply people with plastic cups and take the glass so cars wouldn't be driving over the glass. There are plenty of port-o-potties, but the woods always seem like a cleaner option. It's amazing anything still grows out there with all the uric acid that's been poured into the woods, but you don't have to touch anything when you go in the woods. Worse case someone sees your butt. We brought a case of beer, several coolers and one of our friends grilled a large amount of shrimp kabobs. I didn't eat any, not because they didn't look yummy,but because I knew it irked him that I didn't. hee hee.
Ok, the other great thing about this venue other than the tailgating freedom is the tickets. I think we quit buying tickets for anything here about 5 years ago. The shrimp friend always does a brisk scalping business and mocked us forever for paying full price. We finally started waiting and buying "lot tickets". Every show has them, we've yet to not get tix to a show. Some stupid sod always gets stuck with a ticket they need to offload. It doesn't matter if they aren't together, we all meet up in the lawn anyway. My best transaction so far was $40 for two Sting/Annie Lennox pavilion tickets that had a face value of $70 a piece. For Coldplay we paid $10 a piece for $34 face value pavilion tickets. Saving money is great, but I also love the haggle.
The show. We didn't even watch the opening band, Black Mountain. As soon as they quit we went in. We waited at least a half hour after that before Coldplay took the stage. Stage went black, and a tall curved background video wall lit up with a white background and a digital clock display counting down then counting up. The sound exploded out as they opened with "Square One". It was THE loudest show I've ever been to, including all the metal shows I got dragged to in my previous life. Friggin loud but crystal clear. Chris Martin's voice was perfect. It all sounded so soooo good. They all might be asses in real life, but the way they joke around and pander to the crowd without seeming clichéd makes it seem like they're cool guys you'd like to hang out with. We listened to the first 4 songs from the lawn they listened to three more from the pavilion. I don't do justice to writing concert reviews so here & here are the links to two reviews describing the experience much better than I can. All the show did was solidify wanting to see them in Va in Sept. We will have to buy advance tix for that show. I wanted to post a few pics from the show, but I don't have any, so check this site out. I had N's camera phone but she hasn't sent me the images yet, so the close-ups of the band are from another site.
Coldplay
Forum
Easy To Please Coldplay SetList Site
SetList According to Someone Else: (basically every song you'd want to hear)
Square One
Politik
Yellow
God Put A Smile Upon Your Face
Speed Of Sound
Low
The Hardest Part
Everything's Not Lost
White Shadows
The Scientist
'Til Kingdom Come (Acoustic)
Don't Panic (Acoustic)
Clocks
Talk
-----
Swallowed In The Sea
In My Place
Fix You
I've said this before, but Starlake is the best place to see bands. Ok, it's actually the Post-Gazette Pavilion now, but that's too long to say or type. It's an outdoor venue, big huge grassy banked lawn area, with a large covered pavilion area in front of the stage. The parking lot is huge and kinda wraps around it. Woods run up to the edge of the lot on most sides. It's the only place I know if that still lets you tail gate. You can bring anything into this place and they don't flinch, except glass bottles. They used to ride around in a golf cart and supply people with plastic cups and take the glass so cars wouldn't be driving over the glass. There are plenty of port-o-potties, but the woods always seem like a cleaner option. It's amazing anything still grows out there with all the uric acid that's been poured into the woods, but you don't have to touch anything when you go in the woods. Worse case someone sees your butt. We brought a case of beer, several coolers and one of our friends grilled a large amount of shrimp kabobs. I didn't eat any, not because they didn't look yummy,but because I knew it irked him that I didn't. hee hee.
Ok, the other great thing about this venue other than the tailgating freedom is the tickets. I think we quit buying tickets for anything here about 5 years ago. The shrimp friend always does a brisk scalping business and mocked us forever for paying full price. We finally started waiting and buying "lot tickets". Every show has them, we've yet to not get tix to a show. Some stupid sod always gets stuck with a ticket they need to offload. It doesn't matter if they aren't together, we all meet up in the lawn anyway. My best transaction so far was $40 for two Sting/Annie Lennox pavilion tickets that had a face value of $70 a piece. For Coldplay we paid $10 a piece for $34 face value pavilion tickets. Saving money is great, but I also love the haggle.
The show. We didn't even watch the opening band, Black Mountain. As soon as they quit we went in. We waited at least a half hour after that before Coldplay took the stage. Stage went black, and a tall curved background video wall lit up with a white background and a digital clock display counting down then counting up. The sound exploded out as they opened with "Square One". It was THE loudest show I've ever been to, including all the metal shows I got dragged to in my previous life. Friggin loud but crystal clear. Chris Martin's voice was perfect. It all sounded so soooo good. They all might be asses in real life, but the way they joke around and pander to the crowd without seeming clichéd makes it seem like they're cool guys you'd like to hang out with. We listened to the first 4 songs from the lawn they listened to three more from the pavilion. I don't do justice to writing concert reviews so here & here are the links to two reviews describing the experience much better than I can. All the show did was solidify wanting to see them in Va in Sept. We will have to buy advance tix for that show. I wanted to post a few pics from the show, but I don't have any, so check this site out. I had N's camera phone but she hasn't sent me the images yet, so the close-ups of the band are from another site.
Coldplay
Forum
Easy To Please Coldplay SetList Site
SetList According to Someone Else: (basically every song you'd want to hear)
Square One
Politik
Yellow
God Put A Smile Upon Your Face
Speed Of Sound
Low
The Hardest Part
Everything's Not Lost
White Shadows
The Scientist
'Til Kingdom Come (Acoustic)
Don't Panic (Acoustic)
Clocks
Talk
-----
Swallowed In The Sea
In My Place
Fix You
posted by Ren at 11:12 AM
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