Viva La Vida Tour
Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne
March 3, 2009
Written by Jacqui James
WHEN WE ENTERED ROD LAVER ARENA we just knew we were in for a great night. The stage was brought forward from its usual place and there were two walk-outs on either side of the stage that lead out to the crowd.
Unfortunately the two support bands Decoder Ring (an Aussie instrumental act) and Mercury Red (who knows where they come from… Mars we thought) failed to excite the Melbourne crowd. My sister, brother and I kept looking at each other pulling painful expressions.
Before Coldplay came on, through the sound system a track from U2’s new album No Line On The Horizon piped through the arena. I had to laugh after the “wanker”-calling controversy over the weekend.
Coldplay burst onto the stage playing their instrumental Life In Technicolor 1 which sounded amazing. Everyone in the arena had a great view as there were the screens but as well in the centre a giant globe hung which turned into a video screens, and later on smaller globes lowered showing Chris Martin, Johnny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion’s individual faces.
Chris was impressed with the crowd’s noise level being a Tuesday night. He also said how the band appreciated the crowd spending the night with them after such hard times.
The song Yellow saw many big yellow balloons dropped from the ceiling. When they popped yellow sparkles sprayed over people. The crowd at the back got a huge surprise when the band walked from the main stage to the second level on the arena where they did at least three songs acoustically.
They changed up some of their hits like God Put A Smile On Your Face and The Hardest Part. The band and sometimes only Chris used the walk-outs to play on, allowing those close a chance to be in the first row.
I have always appreciated and loved Chris’ playing of the piano. Last night he played a classical piece which lead into Politik. Watching and listening to him is just awesome.
Coldplay left the stage and the crowd started to sing Ohhh Ohhh Ohhh from their hit Viva La Vida. The band came back and did my favorite Coldplay track The Scientist. They finished the night with Life in Technicolor ii.
The night was filled with energy, hope and compassion but none of these things were spoken. It was very inspiring to be there.
English