I Heart Coldplay!

Well, the concert was really good – well worth the money spent on the tickets. It was like a live greatest hits album – they played just about every Coldplay song you ever heard of, plus a few maybe you haven’t. And they did it all so efficiently that it was over by 10:20!! That has got to be the earliest I have ever gotten out of a concert like that. On the one hand, it was a tiny bit disappointing that they didn’t go till 11:00, but on the other hand, they had literally played everything, and I will never complain about getting more sleep than I thought I was going to get. Our seats were in the upper level (300 level of Phillips – so not the very top, but high enough). If the stage was the end zone of a football field, we were probably on about the 25 or 30 yard line, and we were on the 2nd row. This couple came & sat down in the seats in front of us (I’m guessing college-age?), and the girl turned around with a big grin and said, “Hi! Are yall big Coldplay fans??” Who? No, we didn’t say that. But seriously – who buys tickets to a concert if they are not fans? Josh & I weren’t really sure what to say for a second. I think she seemed a smidge disappointed that we did not display the same level of Coldplay spirit that she had. I am sure that she did not have 2 kids running her ragged either. Anyway, so as soon as they took the stage, Flakey was out of her seat and shaking her booty like there was no tomorrow. She kept trying to get Boyfriend to stand up with her, but he declined, pointing out that nobody else was standing up. Flakey was mad – I thought they were going to get in a big fight over it. Boyfriend kept trying to get her to sit down, and she would every now & then, but then she would get right back up for the next song. He did stand up at one point, but then Cowboy sitting next to me (who smelled like cigarettes, beer, and mints...mmmmm...) tugged on Boyfriend’s shirt and asked him to scooch over or sit down. Thanks Cowboy! Boyfriend was clearly conflicted, and he took the polite way out & sat down. Flakey sure was mad though. Then about halfway through the concert, I guess it was Boyfriend’s favorite Coldplay song, and he jumped out of his seat like it was on fire, and he never sat down. Flakey was soooooo happy. So we couldn’t see much of the 2nd half because Flakey & Boyfriend were blocking our whole view. Sure, I could have stood up too, but I didn’t want to be “that girl” who was blocking the view of everyone behind me. I decided to save that honor for Flakey. Besides, I was getting a nice back & butt massage from the very large speaker that was pointed RIGHT at our seats that was literally making my seat vibrate. In case you were worried that we wouldn’t be able to hear all the way up in our 300 level seats, no – the speaker was turned ALL the way up, so no problem there. They had some pretty cool lighting effects, including these large balls that were lit up with different colors or patterns, and occasional video from the stage. Very cool. When they got to Politik, they were flashing these lights on the stage to the beat of the chorus: “Open up your eyes…Open up your eyes…” Um, sorry Coldplay – I can’t open up my eyes because those are the brightest stinking lights EVER! They even came out into the crowd at one point and did a couple of acoustic songs from the top of the 100 level. We couldn’t see any of that because of where we were sitting and where they were standing. But it was cool – especially for the people who thought they had crappy seats all the way in the back and then found themselves 10 feet from Coldplay.

All in all, a VERY good show – I would definitely buy tickets again next time they come around. And the best part is that I am not nearly as tired as I thought I would be, since we were getting home around the time I thought we’d just be leaving the arena. Zachary had a good time with Grandma (my mom) and Pappy (my grandfather) who watched them for us while we were out. Zachary apparently even quizzed Grandma on alphabet letter sounds, and then praised her when she got them all right. Good job Grandma!