It was a big Saturday night date night in Philadelphia. Well-heeled yuppies and giddy-to-be-there teenagers were all gussied up for the big show. By the amount of bunnies on the arms of lunkheads singing along to "Yellow" - I proclaim Coldplay the biggest babe magnets since mid-70's Jackson Browne. I've lost sight of how much fun the big arena show can be. Flashing lights, smoke machines, big screens, real crowd anticipation and skinny pasty-faced Brits at the top of their game all added up to a spectaculary risk-free spectacle. Chris Martin was totally engaging as the boy next door frontman with grandiose rock star moves (along with giving Craig Finn a run for the coveted most awkward dancer title) and local market savvy (several Phillies references). But the band certianly gets gigged for their silly, psuedo-military outfits. My advice - go another direction there.
It really is an exceptional sight to see 20,000 fans explode as one to the opening chords of "Viva La Vida", "Speed of Sound" or "Yellow". I felt like part anthropologist, part proud papa as I surveyed not only the crowd but my 12 year old son Sean blissed out at his first big rock concert. He sang, he pantomimed, he danced (unfortunately my rhytmic genes did not skip a generation), he fist pumped... he was completely immersed in the music. And my very understanding wife was jumping around like a teenager and having a tremendous time.
So it was hard not to love for all those reasons (plus the tix were free), but still... the sound was your basic, bad, cavernous, echo-y hockey rink sludge we've endured forever at the local enormo-dome. You also had your $7.00 beers and $12.00 roast beef sandwiches (two waters - $8.50!!) and $35.00 t-shirts! Sean wouldn't even let us buy him one. That's how ridiculous a $35.00 t-shirt is.
But certainly Coldplay was better than I expected. All four of their cds reside in my house, yet I've never actively played a role in listening to any of them. Viva La Vida (at least 4 or 5 songs) has been my son's constant car companion for at least 2 months so I've heard those songs A LOT and enjoyed them. So I was surprised at how many other songs I recognized during the concert - I gotta assume that's mostly through exposure via local public radio station WXPN.
Coldplay has two speeds - ballad and mid-tempo. I'm never gonna love them and I'm never gonna hate them. But I'm always gonna dig them for giving my son his first hit of a big time rock show and giving my wife that rock and roll buzz that I get so often I sometimes take it for granted.
It really is an exceptional sight to see 20,000 fans explode as one to the opening chords of "Viva La Vida", "Speed of Sound" or "Yellow". I felt like part anthropologist, part proud papa as I surveyed not only the crowd but my 12 year old son Sean blissed out at his first big rock concert. He sang, he pantomimed, he danced (unfortunately my rhytmic genes did not skip a generation), he fist pumped... he was completely immersed in the music. And my very understanding wife was jumping around like a teenager and having a tremendous time.
So it was hard not to love for all those reasons (plus the tix were free), but still... the sound was your basic, bad, cavernous, echo-y hockey rink sludge we've endured forever at the local enormo-dome. You also had your $7.00 beers and $12.00 roast beef sandwiches (two waters - $8.50!!) and $35.00 t-shirts! Sean wouldn't even let us buy him one. That's how ridiculous a $35.00 t-shirt is.
But certainly Coldplay was better than I expected. All four of their cds reside in my house, yet I've never actively played a role in listening to any of them. Viva La Vida (at least 4 or 5 songs) has been my son's constant car companion for at least 2 months so I've heard those songs A LOT and enjoyed them. So I was surprised at how many other songs I recognized during the concert - I gotta assume that's mostly through exposure via local public radio station WXPN.
Coldplay has two speeds - ballad and mid-tempo. I'm never gonna love them and I'm never gonna hate them. But I'm always gonna dig them for giving my son his first hit of a big time rock show and giving my wife that rock and roll buzz that I get so often I sometimes take it for granted.
1 comment:
How many people do you figure it is that you've taken to their first concert?! That's so great he loved it so much....
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