This was my 5th time seeing Coldplay. But first time I had seen them with tonight’s gig buddies - Craig, Lewis and Hugh. Something Craig and I discovered was that the first time we both saw Coldplay, unbeknown to us at the time that we were both there, was at the X and Y tour back in 2005 at Bellahouston Park. Since then, I saw them twice during the Viva la Vida tour - one at SECC and one at Hampden. Then in 2012, which is the last time I saw them was at T in the park. Amazingly between then and now they have only played one Scottish date which was at Hampden supporting A Head full of Dreams tour. An album I wasn't really into at the time, hence did not go to that gig. But a few years later I bought the live DVD from that tour and realised that Coldplay had seriously upped their game with their live performance so when tickets went on sale for this gig I was determined to get in on the action. And thankfully Craig managed to snap up some tickets for us.
Due to the other guys living on
the north side of the central belt it took a bit of time after work to get
across to Hampden. So, we ended up missing the first Nina Nesbit. I think
her first album "Peroxide" came out about 10 years ago and I quite
liked it. But to be honest I didn't know what happened to her after that. Hope
she got a good audience though. We did, however get to see all of London Grammar’s
set. They reminded me a bit of Florence and the Machines but a bit more chilled
out. I thought they were quite good, although I can't
imagine investigating them further.
Before Coldplay came on, 2
young Scots came on to introduce the video about how environmentally friendly
the gig was. For example, the reusable cups, where the energy came from
to power everything. Particularly the small side stage where there were static
push bikes to generate the power. Coldplay came on shortly after that.
They started as they meant to go on with "Higher Power" off the
newest album "Music of the spheres", before going back through their
catalogue with "Adventure of a lifetime", "Paradise",
"Charlie Brown" and "The Scientist". So, as you can
see already it was all the big songs. They then moved down from the main
stage to the B stage which we weren't far from. And the hits continued
with "Viva la Vida", "Hymn for the Weekend" and "Let
somebody go". Where Nina Nesbit came on to sing the parts that
Selena Gomez sang on the album.
Back to the main stage and they
went back to the start with "Polotik", "In My place" and
"Yellow". To be honest I loved every song up until this point,
but I must admit I have never been an "In my place" fan. It
just feels so basic, and I realise it’s a good singalong and popular amongst fans,
but I don't get it. Anyway, it was back on top again when they played
"Yellow". Then they went with a couple from the new album "Human
Heart" and "People of the pride" before returning to "Rush
of Blood to the head" again with "Clocks". "Something
just like this" was absolutely brilliant not only was the whole place
jumping but also the lightshow was fantastic. You just didn't know where to
look. To finish the main set yet more big hitters with "My
Universe" and "Sky full of stars". The latter was quite
funny as they decided to have a band meeting halfway through just at the bit
before the song really kicks off. To get people to put their phones away
and really enjoy the moment. All part of the act.
In the encore, they went to the
C stage which was at one side of the stadium. Even though we were on that
stage we could hardly see it and they were facing the seating area
anyway. Hard to please everyone anyway but would be interesting to get
thoughts of people way over on the other side of the stadium. Here they
played “Sparks” and then Edwin Colins sang "Never met a girl like you
before" with Coldplay. Then they went back to the main stage and
finished the set with "Humankind", "Fix You" and to finish
off the worst song they have ever recorded "Biutyful".
lol. I don't think I'm the only one that thought that either as people
were leaving in their droves during it. I must admit even with "Fix
you" the encore did feel like a bit of a come down after "Sky full of
stars".
In terms of the songs in the
set, you can't really argue with it as they played a lot of the most popular
ones. But maybe in the wrong order so you are finishing on the highest of
the highs rather than wanting to leave lol. Which was just the last
song. But when I look back at this gig overall it was an absolute belter
of a night. Coldplay were on fire. They did loads of stuff to make
things interesting and always something to look at whether it was fireworks,
light show or watching everyone’s wristbands light up different colours.
Then there was the song the band wore glowing astronaut helmets and had this
strange puppet singing the high pitch parts of the new album. What a
night and great banter all the way too with the guys.
