Coldplay @ The Forum July 15th

"Fix You" - one of my favorite Coldplay songs


"Square One" - Chris sliding down the ramp on his back and singing.

What a great concert. It's like the AM/PM commercial -> "You can never have too much good stuff." The 20 track set list was awesome and pretty close to the Monday night (14th) show. There were 9 tracks from Viva La Vida or Death... , 5 tracks from Rush of Blood.. , and 4 tracks from X&Y, and 1 track from Parachutes and 1 new track.

"Life in Technicolor" (Viva La Vida or Death...)
"Violet Hill" (Viva La Vida or Death...)
"Clocks" (Rush of Blood to the Head)
"In My Place" (Rush of Blood to the Head)
"Viva La Vida" (Viva La Vida or Death...)
"42" (Viva La Vida or Death...)
"Yes" (Rush of Blood to the Head)
"The Scientist" (Rush of Blood to the Head)
"Chinese Sleep Chant" (Viva La Vida or Death...)
"God Put a Smile Upon Your Face" (Rush of Blood to the Head)
"Square One" (X&Y)
"Speed of Sound" (X&Y)
"What If" (X&Y)
"Lost!" (Viva La Vida or Death...)
"Strawberry Swing" (Viva La Vida or Death...)
"Yellow" (Parachutes)
"Death Will Never Conquer" (new track or B-side?)
"Fix You" (X&Y)
"Lovers In Japan" (Viva La Vida or Death...)
"Death and All His Friends" / "The Escapist" (Viva La Vida or Death...)

A nitpick but I felt that right after the "Technicolor" intro, the band jumped into the vocals of "Violet Hill" a bit too quickly and the leading intro for "Violet Hill," which I think is very nice and has a certain mystique to it, was cut out. I was hoping for "Trouble" or "White Shadows" was going to be played but they weren't. "Trouble" was actually performed the night before. I was surprised they played "Chinese Sleep Chant" . This was the one track the crowd did not seem to get into as much which did not surprise me since it has more of that indie/alternative sound. Toward the end of the show, the band went all the way up to the third level (same level as us but other side) to play an acoustic version of "Yellow" followed by a new track "Death Will Never Conquer" that was sung by drummer Will Champion . It was funny because when Chris got up there, he said "So this is what it's like?" Chris screwed up a bit on Speed of Sound but he's so charismatic that everyone just laughed along with him. The highlight of the show for me was "Fix You" as well as the encore performance of "Death and All His Friends"where the music reached a climax and the VIVA background drops down. It was incredible.

The crowd was awesome. Lot of energy and sing-a-longs. During show, Chris told us (Tue 15th night crowd) that in "Starbucks terms" the first night (Mon 14th) crowd was "Grande" and that we were "Venti." Funny.

In terms of visuals, there was the album cover as the backdrop - which later became a black & white live video feed of the band performing, and you had the signature "Coldplay globes (orb/bulbs)" which changed colors and later on became a live video feed of the band performing, a nifty laser light show, and toward the end lots of confetti shaped like butterflies that filled the air for several minutes during "Lovers In Japan." It was like NYE in July. We sat in the back so it was bit hard to see the band. I know I sound like such a total whiner by now but I wish they had made better use of the projection system for the fans in the back.

And dude! You can't have a concert in LA without the stars. I didn't see them but apparently Kathryn Heigl , Leo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Miley Cyrus (Mon 14th show) were rockin' out with Coldplay as well.

At the end of the concert, I heard a fan comment how it went by so fast and how it felt like the shortest concert ever. I clocked it in at around 90 minutes and to me it did feel a bit short but I also think that time flies when you are having a good time.

I think back to high school when I use to go to the local record store and spend what little money I had on B-sides and live tracks so that I could have every version of that track that I loved so dearly. But a recording is just a recording. For me there's no substitute for live music as you will never hear that song as it was performed that evening. Listening to the albums now bring back happy memories.