COLDPLAY @ Virginia Beach

Hey All,

I'm really sorry it's been more than two weeks since the concert before I sent out this email, but when we came back we were really behind on school work and I didn't have time. Also, you may just want to skim this email because it’s a grant total of 3678 words. Yeah, I know. It’s just, I wanted to write everything done to have some closure on the whole thing. Also, I’m been trying to write this email since we got back, writing little bits and pieces any moment I could spare. That’s part of the reason why it took so long and it’s why I haven’t edited it. You heard me. I haven’t looked over anything I’ve written. So you’re just going to have to deal with it. Enjoy!

Some of you may, or may not know, what we intended to do for the concert but it's kind of important I explain. We decided we'd drive up on Wednesday night and stay at a hotel. The next morning we intended to be sitting outside the venue with folding chairs (and schoolwork) at 11:00 am. Now, the "getting to the hotel" thing worked out fine (even if we did get a little lost) and so did the "getting to the venue at 11:00" thing. It was the staying there that we were prohibited from doing. No one was in line yet, but there was nowhere to park and the employees there said that the parking wouldn't open until 5:30!!!!!
I thought I would die.
Mom on the other hand was just thrilled. She was probably thinking something like *finally we can abandon this nonsense of sitting in folding chairs all day. This is ridiculous. I mean, it's not even a Christian band!* Whereas I was thinking *What!!!! What kind of a venue is this!!!! This means I won't get to the front of the mosh pit!!!!! This means I'll have a miserable time!!!! Why is mom so happy?!?!!?!!!* And of course, Jared was thinking *dude, I'm just glad I'm not doing school work*
So, needless to say we had to change our plans. a lot.
I thought that maybe mom could just let us sit outside the venue, doing our school work. Just, you know, without her.
Mom: No
Me: But it will only be for a few hours!
Mom: A few hours!!! Someone could kidnap you and take you all the way to China in "a few hours"!!!!
I even tried the "if dad were here he'd let us stay" line but that didn't work 'cause she pulled the "I'm the mom, and dad's not here!" line. So instead of following our master plan of sitting in line all day for Coldplay, we sat in a Target parking lot. And no, I'm not kidding (how I wish I was).
Mom promised we'd go back and drive to the amphitheater again at 3:00 to see if anyone else had started a line, but I cajoled her to going at 2:00 (you don't separate me from Coldplay). No line had started and they had even closed the main gate so that we couldn't have even gone as far as we had before with our van this time.
I thought I would die.
So, we retreated back to the Target parking lot. Now, as a little side note (wait, hasn't this whole email come out like one big side note???) the people at the Target were really nice...even though we were really weird out-of-towners coming in and buying obscure stuff every hour (we went in to buy stuff a grand total of 4 times. yeah).
Anyways, at four o' clock we went back to the theater and saw no line, but, like, two cars (we didn't know what this meant at the time) were parked outside the gate that we had been through earlier that morning. We left, much to my disappoint.
Mom: no.
Me: But it will only be an hour and half!
Mom: Someone could still kidnap you in that kind of time
Me: *whimpers*
Now, you're probably wondering why you're reading this email because the subject says "Coldplay Concert @ VA Beach" not "Dumb boring stuff no one in their right minds would care about!" Well, I hear ya, and that's why I'm gonna fast forward to what I had feared would happen. We went back at 5:00 and low and behold there was line, but it was made up of cars just to get into the parking lot. We were about ten cars or less back (which, I admit was pretty good). We got into the parking lot 1/2 an hour later and we ran to get in line at the gates. Well, the good news was that those nine cars (or so) in front of us were the only people in front of at the gates. So, fast-forwarding again, we got to the front a row (there were four) and we ran...to yet another line. This line was to get into the orch (mosh) pit. While we waited I heard a girl behind us tell her friend (another girl) about something she read on the forums that Chris Martin had said. To this, the girl's friend said, "now Chris is the lead singer, right?" I promptly told mom, "now, remember, Will is the drummer, Chris is the...." and she said, exasperated, "Honey, not now." (The motherly equivalent of "shut up.") Well, at least I can say I tried. Another odd thing happened. The girl behind me said (the smart one) something on the lines of "Chris doesn't like Bush." Her friend (the stupid one) said something to the effect of disapproval, and the first girl said, "I know, I know. But we don't judge people's music based on their political opinions." I know. I was really surprised.
Well, they let us in, and I got the exact spot I had been hoping for; just off right of house center. Unfortunately, I was so concerned with getting that spot that I wasn't observant of the camera in front of my view. Mom was kind of enough to trade (love ya, mom) and I was happy. But then I realized I was right next to the two girls that I had overheard behind us.
But first, the amphitheater. There were no curtains to hide the wings, so you could see all the equipment; guitars, computers, sound boards, light boards, generators, etc. And there were really weird looking people just milling around the stage, supposedly doing stuff (what, I wouldn’t know). There were two drum-sets already on stage, and a keyboard, but no upright piano. The setup was mostly for the opening band. I looked around for the roadie Miller, but I didn’t see him (For those that don’t know, Miller is the roadie who writes the tour diary for Coldplay.com. He’s almost as famous as the band for those who check the website as religiously I do).
Well, I guess I should get to the two girls. I was right about the one girl (who I called stupid, I shouldn’t have ‘cuz she turned out to be really nice); she wasn’t a fan of Coldplay. And I was right about the other girl being a really big fan. Believe it or not, she came all the way from Canada to see this concert! So, we started talking and they were really nice. They were sisters, and one of them was a homeschooling mom of four kids and she wasn’t a fan, but her sister wanted her to come. Her sister checked the forums religiously and was very knowledgeable about the previous concerts on the tour and the setlists.
Speaking of “knowledgeable” the most interesting person there (that wasn’t performing, of course) was Rusty. He was the security guard right in front of us, on the other side of the barrier. Now, I’m not sending this email to Jayjay, but sometime I’ve got to ask him if his good twin (Yes, Jayjay’s the evil one) lives in Georgia, cause if so, then he was working at the concert. Now, this guy was die hard southern, but still he had the attitude the mannerism, and the facial expressions of Jayjay. That, and he had red hair and freckles like Jayjay. And he had been in the navy, so his head was near bold (he wore a cap most of the time, though). He talked to us about everything from how many trunks there were to load in, to the most likely person to get crushed at the concert (I was an example), to why Bassett hounds ears smell bad (don’t ask!). He was a wealth of knowledge and seemed to know everything about everything. I swear, it was like Jayjay only with a southern accent (*snickers. Can you imagine?*).
So, without further ado, the part of the story that involves Coldplay (finally). After Rilo Kiley finished, the crowd was in a frenzy. The mosh pit was finally full, and most everyone in it was drunk (mom even says she thought the people behind her were smoking weed. Weird). And I already knew that they were going to play “Square One” and “Politik” as the opening two and “Fix You” as the closer. And Rusty told us that the third song they were going to release these big yellow balloons from the ceiling, meaning “Yellow” was going to be the third song. So I thought I had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen, but knowing the songs really means nothing better than any expectation I could have held.
They sounded almost exactly like the recording, but even better. Hearing Chris’s voice without any compression was amazing, and the lights were absolutely fantastic. I was completely blown away with every tech-wise. They even had three lighting people in chairs up in the rigging running three spotlights for Chris, Johnny, and Guy. Chris was completely out of control for Square One running around the stage like a maniac. Once the song ended I thought I’d lose my hearing not the pa system but from the crowd. “Politik” was even more surreal because I had seen them perform this song on the dvd. I was ecstatic. I can barely remember the song because I was so overwhelmed. But that was nothing compared to the third song.
Then they played yellow
I could have died.
It was awesome. The balloons were being released from the ceiling, but most of them were blowing out of the theater and I knew I wasn’t going to get to touch one, so I just turned around again to watch Coldplay. I felt so bad for my dad because his favorite Coldplay song is yellow (and the live version, too). Now, Coldplay has being doing this thing where they don’t finish the song until all the balloons have been popped. So, Chris is supposed to sing the final line of the song (kind of like how he ends “Fix You”) and he tries to hold out the note and he starts to laugh and asks for the audience to pop the balloons. He finally ended the song, but as we later found out, not all the balloons were popped (he thought they were).
Then came God Put a Smile Upon Your Face. I found it quite funny when they began to play because the reason I was aloud to listen to Coldplay was because this song referenced God. It’s true, and there I was listening to Coldplay live with my mother right next to me. I was very well done, might I add (like it’s even necessary).
And if all you do is skim this email then you will most likely miss the part where I explain Amsterdam. When Chris sat down to play the opening notes of Amsterdam, I nearly began to cry. As I’ve probably explained to most everyone I’ve seen after the concert, Coldplay was supposed to have retired Amsterdam for this tour. When I first found out, I thought I’d just pray every day until the concert that God would make Coldplay play Amsterdam. Well, I hadn’t prayed in a while after finding out that Coldplay had put “warning sign” back into the tour set list. I have to inform you, however, that I would have gladly given up hearing “warning sign” any day for Amsterdam. I can hardly put into words what it felt like. Getting to hear my favorite song by those who wrote it was extraordinary. If I had died that night, my life would have been pretty well complete. But that was only the fourth song into the concert (and the 2000 word mark. I’ve still got 1556 to go!).
After Amsterdam they played quite a few other songs, but to save some time, I’ll just go over the highlights.
After Amsterdam, they played “Everything’s Not Lost,” which I was pleasantly surprised to hear. Now, if anyone reading this email loves this song as much as I do, they will be completely jealous that I got to hear it arranged the way it was. Christ intro’d the song saying to the people in the back, “that we haven’t forgotten about you” (or something like it. It was too long ago to me to remember his exact words). As I heard the bridge, I knew I had to make a concerted effort to remember the new arrangement they played. I sincerely hope that Coldplay will be putting out a DVD for this tour if only people can hear “everything’s not lost” the way I heard it. While Will sang the usual version of the bridge, Chris played a new harmony on the piano WHILE singing a complementary harmony to what he was playing on the piano!!! It sounded amazing. And, while Chris sang the new version, Johnny came right up to the upright piano and started mouthing the words. I also remember Chris redoing the lyrics for most of the song, and really liking them. This had to be my second favorite song of the evening, which explains why I forgot so much. The songs I loved the most, are the ones that were just too good for memory. Although, I’d like it to be known this was the song I tried the hardest to remember while it was being played because I wanted to play their new arrangement later when I got home. So much for that!
And a quick note about the “scientist”: at the end, Chris gave an exhausted hug to Johnny, which was really cool because you’d think that they’d get enough of each other, touring and all (at least, that’s what Joel used to tell me). Instead, it showed that the band was just as into their music as the audience was (at least, the true fans anyhow). (On another note, you know it’s really bad when my version of a quick note is 65 words.)
Before I go on, I just remembered that during the performance quite a few things happened, and since I don’t remember when (it was a surreal evening, okay?!!?!!!!!@!@!#!!!) I figure I might as well mention them now. There was a thing were Chris had the audience to some repeating after him (he’d sing a line, we’d sing it back). Also, to the intro to one of the songs, Chris said something that the band thought was just the funniest thing ever, though I don’t know why. I can’t remember the context (oh, you’re a real help, elie) but it had something to do with Coldplay never playing at airports or cake parties. Chris began the song but then stopped and said, “well, I’ve never been to a cake party.” I’m guessing the joke was plain dirty ‘cause I didn’t understand it. I was just amused seeing the band kinda goofing off. Also, I should mention that Coldplay did redo some of the lyrics to “Politik,” mentioning other bands, although I don’t know who. Another thing that happened that I don’t remember when (I could find out, but I doubt anyone cares) was when Chris told everyone to take a picture at moment during the song. I heard about Chris doing this for the entire tour so far, and I heard great things about it, but I was under-whelmed by how intoxicated some people were in the audience were, causing them to have the worst timing. Because of this, most of the flashes that went off, weren’t in synch and it wasn’t as cool as I heard about it being. Oh well. I think that’s it. Gosh, it’s so sad. I remembered where all (but one) of these events fit into the set. If I hadn’t had so much school work this email would be ten times less crappy. But, as I mentioned at the beginning of this email, I don’t plan to edit this. I’m just going to send it warts-and-all because it would consume more time than I’ve already spent on this email.
Now for “Talk.” Chris absolutely went crazy on this song. Other than the run during “In My Place” (which I’ll certainly get to later), this was the song where Chris got the craziest. He ran all over the stage and even took someone’s cell phone and started talking singing into it. Can you say “wicked, awesome!!!!”???? Chris was lying on his back, kind of rolling around while he sang (which wasn’t as gross as it sounds. I just can’t explain it well).
After Talk, Coldplay did an acoustic set, but before they could start, Chris noticed that one person in the orch pit had hoarded a yellow balloon. And because I’ve tried miserably to explain this part of the concert to other people with the little memory I have of the incident (it was one of my favorite parts ☺), I’ll just quote Miller:

“Chris put on his best schoolteacher voice and scolded the balloon’s bearer. ‘Burst that immediately, it should have been gone five songs ago’ there’s laughter as the owner refuses to damage their souvenir. Eventually, another one is held aloft further back, then another, then two together. There’s more laughter as it’s clear that Virginia Beach is taking their balloons home with them and nobody’s gonna stop them.”

Now, I must mention that Miller left a few things that I actually do remember! Like, Chris didn’t stop hounding the guy to pop his balloon (because Miller was on stage, I was completely unaware that there were others. For, Chris centered his attention on the guy in the orch pit), and more he scolded the dude, the most Will and Johnny and Guy cracked up. They must really love their jobs. Then, Chris gets a bit serious and starts talking about how people are supposed to pop them because they look really nice and a bunch of yellow and gold confetti comes out and how the guy was ruining it for himself because he wouldn’t get to enjoy it. Finally, Chris just concedes that he can’t make the guy pop it. And then made on the best statements of the evening.

“Why don’t you d-n Virginia Beachians pop your f-cking balloons?!?”

This statement was met with resounding cheers and laughter which I joined into until mom gave me this look like *if you keep doing that, you’re going to be grounded for the rest of your life and we’ll leave the concert right this second.* Needless to say, I tried to contain myself (well, only a little).

Now, I’m going to skip over stuff that, had I not already amassed 3185 words already, and been working on this document for over a week would have put in. I feel as if this “email” is severely defeated the purpose of itself. I’m sorry. ☹
Well, I might as well tell you about the last three songs (and then my hasty goodbye with Rusty and the two really nice women).
They left the stage and, of course, they came back out. After all, they still hadn’t performed “Fix You.” They played “In My Place” and when Will (my favorite member of Coldplay, which I think I mentioned at the beginning, but I haven’t taken a look at it in a week) began the song I was so amazed. Will was obviously exhausted but he gave the song more effort than anyone else, beating the crap out of those drums.
During this song, Chris finally did the run into the audience that he does during every concert. He had faked everyone out during (how many times am I going to use that word?!?!!) “White Shadows” so I was a little off guard because one moment he’s singing on the stage, then next thing I know he’s half way out of the amphitheater and I’m watching him on the big screen. My mom says that she saw a group of security guards bolt up there with him, but I didn’t see a one. I’m glad she saw it, though, because I was freaking out that he had just run up there!
They left for another encore and they came back out and I think this is when Chris mentioned the Cake Party. I could be wrong. Anyhow, I was very amused that Guy came back out while I beer and a cigarette. He got a lot of time to drink and smoke during Chris’ intro to “Swallowed In the Sea.”
After this they performed “Fix You.” I was so excited. I didn’t want them to leave, and I’d tell you more about the song I could only remember it. Well, after they finished “Fix You” I knew they wouldn’t come back. I asked the one hard-core-Coldplay-fan-sister what her member name was on the forum, and asked Rusty if I could have the pick on the floor. He handed it to me, but then they told everyone to leave the mosh pit. We bought some stuff at merchandise and went to our hotel. And that, my friends, is “THE Email”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!