Random Musings

Coldplay
“The Viva La Vida Tour”
Singapore Indoor Stadium
23rd March 2009 

A Review

I think I’ve only been to 3 major concerts in the last one year – Maroon 5, Jason Mraz and Coldplay.

All of them were great in their own way, of course.

Maroon 5 simply rocked the house (though there were a few complaints about the short duration of their concert).

Jason Mraz charmed everyone with his songs, charisma, musicality and vocal prowess.

But I have to say none of them entertained the crowd as much as Coldplay did tonight.

I dare say the Coldplay concert tonight was the most entertaining concert I’ve ever been to in my life.

They certainly pulled out all the stops to ensure that the concert would be a huge success, from huge yellow balloons bouncing over the audience, to copious amounts of colourful confetti strewn over the arena, to the band actually uprooting and playing some songs right in the middle of the audience (yes they actually walked up to one of the stands at the back of the arena and did a few songs there).

And I think the audience appreciated it and lapped it all up.

Now I’m not much of a Coldplay fan (I hardly know five songs), but you can’t help but respect these guys for their incredible showmanship, their down-to-earth-ness, and their likeability.

They’re easily “the biggest band in the world” right now, but yet they put on absolutely no airs and tried their best to reach out to the audience to the best of their abilities.

They made every possible effort to engage the audience.

You can’t say the same for other bands.

Chris Martin always gives 100% for every song. He sings it as if it’s the last time he’ll ever get to sing it. He is an amazing showman, and he is an incredible pianist.

And he comes across as a very nice bloke too.

There were many memorable and amazing moments during the concert which I shan’t dwell on…but overall I dare say that not one of the people who attended the Coldplay concert tonight would tell you that they did not get their money’s worth.

One last point about their songs – Coldplay’s songs aren’t exactly the most difficult to play, but they are unique in their own way. They seem to speak of something greater…kinda like the way U2 songs do.

Very unique style of music and songs. And I notice Chris Martin likes to allude to the “stars” and the “skies” and the “lights” a lot in his lyrics.

In conclusion, I am unable to conclude whether Coldplay are indeed deserving of the “world’s biggest band” tag based on the evidence I gathered at last night’s concert alone. I guess this is a discussion for another day, when I perhaps might have gathered more evidence than I currently have.

But one thing’s for certain – Coldplay certainly know how to work a crowd and put on a really good show.