Colby & Lyndsey at dinner

I’ve been working on this post all night, and considering that my mind is quite fuzzy from this swell head cold I’ve acquired, it’s a wonder I’ve made the progress that I have. Sans this first sentence, I have a sampling of pictures, a set list, a YouTube video, a link to a fellow blogger, and an embedded photo album all from the Coldplay concert the Fros, Chris, and I went to in November. Yes, I realize this “review” is long overdue, and since a lot of the newness has worn off (and because I feel like crap), this won’t be a traditional review.

This was my and Chris’s third event at the Sprint Center in KC this year. Folks, contrary to popular belief/rumor, we are not loaded, nor are we obsessed with attending concerts; 2008 was just a good year for us.

Lyndsey and me checking out our programs.

We ate dinner at Ted’s Montana Grill in the KC Power & Light District, which was a nice change from the usual restaurant I insist on eating at when we venture to KC. I usually insist at eating at one of four Fiorella’s Jack Stacks because it has been my family’s favorite restaurant since before I was born. I cut my teeth on their gigantic onion rings. No wonder I’m a carnivore.

Anyway, we didn’t eat there. We ate at Ted’s Montana Grill, which was just a block from our parking garage and a block from the Sprint Center. Lyndsey and I really hoped The Band would be eating dinner there, too, but alas, they did not. Gotta say, the restaurant was very good. I had a bison burger, Lyndsey had a veggie burger, Chris had the salmon, and Colby had a steak, and I believe we were all quite satisfied with our choices. I loved that this restaurant is all about sustainability and being responsible consumers; for that reason, our plates were filled with the perfect amount of food so nothing would go to waste. We even drank our beverages with paper straws! And we had room for dessert, which was something with chocolate that I picked out before we even got to the restaurant.

The Fros and the Austins at dinner.

Once at the Sprint Center, we found our seats and purchased our cursory merchandise and waited. Thankfully, we had some pre-concert entertainment from the four drunkards who sat in the row in front of us. The opening acts Sleeper Car and DJ Jon Hopkins were the usual opening acts: Good, perhaps, but paling in comparison to what we were waiting for. And once they were over, we waited some more for the stage to be reset. Once again, there was more entertainment from the fools in front of us, and they were certainly “entertaining” the people around them. By “entertaining,” I mean, they were starting to get on everyone’s nerves, but everyone around them kept there mouths shut because the four were drunk.

The Austin

Concert began. Set list below. I gotta say that before the concert, I thought Chris Martin’s dance moves looked a little weird when I saw the band on shows like SNL. On stage, in a huge arena, though, Chris’s frenetic dancing looks kinda normal. Or less crazy. Something.

Do I have a favorite from the concert? It’s hard to say. I mean, it was all great. I especially liked “Green Eyes” and “Lost” and the segment in the crowd. I included someone’s video of “Green Eyes” from the concert in the media below. It cracks me up because Chris Martin’s voice cracks at the beginning, and he laughs at himself; that and his other running commentary during the concert made me wish I was friends with the band. They just seem like a bunch of cool, laid back guys who play music for a living. Totally unpretentious. Lorraine (a blogging friend of a friend) was closer to the crowd segment than we were and also has a great review of the concert, plus some great pictures of the band that are much better than ours.

What’s curious, and sort of what I hate about attending great concerts, is that afterward I have this great admiration–that occasionally turns into obsession–for the band. Yes, I familiarized myself with Coldplay’s songs before the concert, and I liked the new album just fine, but honestly, I consented to go because Chris really wanted to. After the concert, Lyndsey gave me the idea of making a playlist in iTunes of the concert set list, and I listened to it over and over. I finally committed the titles of all those songs to my memory, and I read everything I could find about the band. In sum, I need to go to another Coldplay concert because now I truly appreciate them. Argh!

The view of Coldplay on stage from our seats

Set List

1. Life In Technicolor
2. Violet Hill
3. Clocks
4. In My Place
5. Glass Of Water
6. Speed Of Sound
7. Cemeteries Of London
8. Chinese Sleep Chant
9. 42
10. Fix You
11. Strawberry Swing
12. God Put A Smile Upon Your Face (techno version)
13. Talk (techno remix)
14. Green Eyes
15. Postcards From Far Away (piano instrumental)
16. Viva La Vida
17. Lost!
18. The Scientist (acoustic)
19. Death Will Never Conquer (acoustic – Will singing)
20. Viva La Vida (remix interlude)
    First Encore
21. Politik
22. Lovers In Japan
23. Death And All His Friends
    Second Encore
24. Yellow
25. The Escapist (outro)

Here’s a link to my Picasa album of all our “good” pictures (with some contributions from the Fros). Photographing a concert is hard with all the fluctuating light levels, so here is the best of what we took.

Coldplay

Coincidentally, I went to high school with a Chris Martin. Not the Chris Martin, but I think it’s funny.

OK. So maybe this did turn out like a normal review. Guess I got caught up with writing about it long enough to forget that my nose won’t stop running. Anyway, the moral of this story is: if you have a chance to see Coldplay, TAKE IT!