Coldplay!

First, let me preface by saying that Jacob is feeling MUCH better (see previous post for our ordeal)! He spent the day napping and resting and over the course of the afternoon became his normal, rambunctious, spastic self. :) If he had still been sick, Dave and I of course wouldn't have gone to the concert....or I would have gone without Dave... ;)

I have been very fortunate this year! I've gotten to go to 3 concerts (R.E.M. in June, New Kids on the Block in October, and now Coldplay last night!) and I even got to go to the theater this summer (Spamalot)! That's not normal...usually I'm lucky if Dave and I get to go to a movie or two (just ourselves) over the course of an entire year...

So, with Jacob feeling 100x better, and our friend Shannon (who is more like family anyway) saying she was still happy to come over and babysit, even after Jacob's rough night, we decided to go to the concert. After the long week both Dave and I had, I'm glad we were able to connect and do something fun!

We arrived at the Xcel a little after 8:00. And, unfortunately, we were subjected to a good half hour of the oddest, trippiest opening act I've ever seen! It was one guy, a keyboard, and a running video of cartoon objects morphing into each other. It went on and on and on... When he was done, I clapped with relief!

Coldplay didn't actually take the stage until about 9:00. They were worth the wait though! It was a fantastic concert!! They didn't play my very favorite Coldplay song (Don't Panic) but since it's an older song, I didn't really expect them to. They played Viva La Vida, which sounded awesome live! I actually got shivers listening to it. They played a ton more from their new album (which, if you've never listened to it, you really should!) and a bunch from their Rush of Blood to the Head album (Clocks sounded fantastic! And I loved hearing Politik live better than on the album--seeing drummer Will Champion--who has the "voice of a tiny angel", according to Chris Martin--pound out that beat was incredible!! But I wasn't a fan of the techno version of God Put a Smile on your Face that they performed, as much as the album version). I actually knew every song they played, which I think is a first for me!

One thing I really liked was how much they tried to connect with the audience. At one point, they strolled through the crowd, up the side near the back, and onto a tiny little stage right in the middle of the crowd! They played an acoustic version of The Scientist, which sounded great! And Chris joked that the kids behind them were the Jonas brothers (which one girl behind us took literally!), and that they made him feel like he was 107 years old!

And what I thought was tons of confetti pouring down from the ceiling was actually tissue-paper butterflies. It made quite a beautiful effect!

Their encour was the song Yellow, and it was a good way to end. Thanks again, Shannon, for babysitting!! We had a fantastic time!