Coldplay - How Are They This Good?

I went along to see Coldplay on Sunday night and I would have posted this yesterday but they had a second show in Brisbane and I didn't want to spoil it for anyone.

Since I saw their Twisted Logic tour back in 2006 (actually I saw them twice, once at the end of '05 in Paris and again '06 in Brisbane when I got home) I've been hanging out to see their show again. I even posted about getting nervous when tickets went on sale. That's how much I love this band.

Now from what I understand people are split down the middle when it comes to Coldplay. Half of people love them and half of people hate them. I don't understand why that's the case but I won't try to either.

Let's just say that Sunday night was one of the best shows I have ever seen in my life, possibly the best. Their songs translate so well live that it's just awesome song after awesome song. And they have the whole package. Their stage production is simply unreal. At some points during the set I just didn't know what was happening. Instead all I could do was stand there in awe of how great the experience was.

I'm useless and forgot to take any photos so I don't have any for this post but I'll try to paint a picture with words. Actually I'll do my best for one song.

My favourite out of their new songs is "Lovers In Japan" and, wow, it went off. They had an enormous screen behind the stage which, when the song started, had really cool images of Japanese stuff that really cleverly fit in perfectly with the lyrics. But the best bit was when it hit the chorus. Thousands of little paper butterflies in different colours got blasted out over the audience and were lit with blacklights so they glowed with that awesome luminesence you get from blacklights. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was just incredible standing there. Each song had something different. In fact for a couple of acoustic numbers they ran up onto a tiny stage set up in the nosebleed section. The people back there went ballistic.

But it wasn't just smoke and mirrors. The mix of the band was immaculate. They're one of the best sounding bands going around. Vocals were seamless and the band sound was full and spot on. The only minor disappointment was that they tried to cover up some samples a little bit. Their new album was always going to need some sampling live but I just wished they hadn't tried to cover it.

I could go on but I won't. It was awesome. I'll stay on a high for a little while yet. Thank you Coldplay. Sunday night is what all concerts should be like.