2 June 2012: Emirates Stadium, London, England (Fan Reviews)
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My second Coldplay concert. Simply amazing. And yep, Politik wasn't played. Which was ok. The rest of the songs were great. The rain was dreadful but it didn't dampen the spirits. [thanks Lawliet89]
Awesome photos everyone.. AWESOME AWESOME gig... I think it has to be one of the best I have EVER been to.. EVER. I have some photos to post and a few second long videos too. Highlights were Clocks, Warning Sign, in the pouring rain.. Chris lit up from behind, playing the outrow.. whilst the rest of the band went back to the main stage.. Fix you. Chris came out onto the walkway level with us...and WE sang it to him! Incredible.. It rained like you wouldn't believe.. we jumped, we sang, we flashed... we enjoyed ourselves.. It was my son's 14th Birthday yesterday.. he had such a good time.. we met some lovely lovely people in the queue.. we painted ourselves with flourescent paint.. a real social event! Some amazing moments, Chris putting his arm around Guy and both smiling like loonies, Guy and Jonny playing together and grinning all the time... Chris was on fire.. jumping, running, singing his heart out.. as did we. The tube was a NIGHTMARE Getting home though.. bad planning London. They shut two stations! We must have walked about four miles in the pouring rain.. and after having been up since 4am the previous morning! Not nice. We got home about 2am.. We did get second row.. after being there since 7.. Me, my husband, my son, and ALL of our section got held up by a blind lady and her son being allowed in first. Which is FINE, but they let the other queues in first, so we missed getting front completely....surely health and safety says let them in BEFORE the rest of the other queues?!! Someone, I hope NOT a Coldplayer, pushed to the front of our queue too.. We told him off and eventually got the security guys involved.. and he got moved, but why would you do that?? But all in all an amazing gig. Would I do it all again today? Well, maybe not today, my ears hurt after the VERY VERY VERY loud earhurting bass of the support acts! My legs ache after my walk.. I am tired, my throat is sore and I am probably far too old to do this at all.. But heck I'd go Monday if the opportunity arose!! LOL... Is there any other band in the entire world who can make you feel like this?? [thanks Comicforce]
What an amazing night - me and my girlfriend got there at 12 so we could get a good standing spot, and we managed to get 1 row back from the X stage every single song had the crowd going wild, but none more than Charlie Brown - every person I could see was jumping. I think there some Xyloband issues though - my girlfriends didn't work, along with many other people I could see, and mine seemed to have a mind of its own. Didn't ruin the experience though! [thanks Vitamin Z]
FANTASTIC CONCERT. After my first MX-gig I thought Vivatour was waaay better but after yesterday I changed my mind. Almost perfect setlist and such an amazing show. Didn't care about the rain until after the show and it seemed like Chris was gonna explode any second jumping around and doing his things making us happy more than ever, EVEN though it was mentioned he had a little cold I had a really really great time and I think it was my best concert so far. BUT there is a buuttt and it's not Chris'....... saw some people mentioned the so called system at the arena, why open all the doors at the same time? The best thing would have been to have 2 or maxium 3 doors for standingtickets. When we got inside there were ~50 people or even more already inside and when we came to the arena just around 8am there was ~15 people queuing!! I hope the ones who got inside first of ALL really did wait for hours just like others. Luckily we managed to get to the fence and had a fantastic experience anyway, but still, I saw Comicforce mentioned it who was there 1 hour before us got 2nd row and it's so unfair, never been to a venue who organize so dumb.... To end with something good... the best part was, Chris standing infront of where I stood (several times), looking at me who was crying tears of happiness more then ever before, pointing right at ME and waves with a look on his face like ah don't cry haha and my friend did capture it BUT she dropped her camera EXACT the moment he waved, so all you can see is his hand reaching out towards us and then floor and me screaming to death haha... still one of my best moments ever :') [thanks LINNEAH]
Our day started at 4am when the alarm went off.
It was my son, Oliver’s 14th Birthday, and he was awake too! He’s a teenager, so you can imagine my surprise. But I think we were both quite excited.
Andy my husband, and I gave him his present, which was an apple iphone and shortly after we left for the station.
It was just getting light when we left. We parked our car at Osterley Tube station,and got a train directly to Arsenal Station, which is a mere five minute walk to the stadium. We found it pretty quickly, you can’t really hide a stadium! And after some minutes worked out where our queue station was.
We arrived at around 7am. Possibly just before. We wanted to be in the front row.
A couple of other people were already in our queue. We subsequently found out that they had been there since 4am that morning! That’s dedication for you!
Adjoining our queue, was queue R, and we discovered my friends from the Little Noises; Mich, Anna, Jo, Laura and Chelsea, who I hadn’t met before, were in the front of the queue there. We all re-introduced ourselves and I was pleased we would all be close by for the long wait.
The day went along without too much incident. I had brought far too much food and drink for the three of us, so I ended up attempting to give it away during the course of the day, sharing chocolate and cake and sausages to all comers!
It was supposed to be June, so we hadn’t worn winter clothes, but it was, quite frankly cold. Although I don’t think it was quite as cold as it had been in November.
I took a trip to MacDonalds to use the loo and stock up on coffee and to get warm, I also popped into the local Sainbsburys and bought us a picnic blanket to starve off hypothermia, whilst Andy and Oli sat in our ‘space’in the queue. Which was really just a place by the wall! A little later on two other girls joined our queue, and we all mostly intermingled with both queues, R and P.
Chelsea was also in our queue, which was handy as we could take it in turns to queue sit more frequently.
A short while later, the world famous Tash joined us, and I introduced myself to her. (she isn't a cyborg LOL).
Around Midday, they started sound checking whilst Chelsea, Tash and myself were over in MacDonalds, making use of their facilities. We could hear them quite clearly from what was around half a mile away. I wonder what it must be like to live around there and get a ‘free Coldplay soundtrack’ two nights in a row.
Lunchtime, and we broke out the meal, but I was getting a bit nervous and excited now, particularly hearing the sound check coming out of the stadium, and couldn’t really eat a lot. I did however make sure I drank, this time!
At around 1pm Oli and I went over to the merchandise stand and bought two t-shirts one for him and one for me, spent a small fortune again, but hey it’s Coldplay and it WAS Cold.. so we needed an extra layer.. honestly!
Shortly after I went for a walk and took some photos.
Just around then a miracle arrived, in the form of the SUN! At last.. we all started stripping off the many layers and feeling a lot more relaxed.
The people in front of us in the queue, two girls and a boy, who had been there since 4am, were getting out paints and making a banner, and then started painting themselves! Oli joined in and got some yellow paint on his face and arms as reward..I also got a yellow stripe across my nose! Very stylish!
The place started very quickly to fill up, the queues started snaking away into the distance and we started to get excited…
Then finally we went into the countdown for the beginning of the entrance. At this point the security started organising us into a line. We were all getting nervous, this was it!
At this point a man and woman attempted to join our queue from nowhere! They were attempting to push in basically. I told them that wasn’t on! The man just pointedly ignored me! I was getting quite irate, but nothing was happening, when another guy from a little further down the queue joined me, and then several others too! Sometimes people in England are just TOO polite, and maybe he hoped we’d all just let him in! But not in this case! We were all really shouting at him that it wasn’t on, we really had been there since 7am and so on.. but he JUST was not getting it, so rude and arrogant! We eventually had to get security involved and they made him leave and go down to the end of the queue! Huzzah!
Then we started to count down to 5pm.. only 10 hours queuing! Nothing
At this point a lady and her son joined the front of our queue, the lady was blind, so we were all happy because the security guy told us that he would let them in before everyone else. But what we didn’t realise is they were intent on letting them in BEFORE us, but at the same TIME as all the other queues, and holding our queue up! Nightmare!!
Consequently when we finally got to go in, racing down the stadium steps and round a corner to our chosen spot it was too late! I managed somehow to get second row, due to sprinting like a greyhound and passing people like Linford Christie, which is no mean feat at my age, and also managed to pull Andy and Oli in with me, they had got separated in the rush, and stopped from running by security! We were in.. sadly not the front as we had so desperately hoped, after our incredibly early start, but better than the back.
The support acts started on time. Rita Ora, was not really my cup of tea. Followed mostly on time by Robyn. I've not heard her before and I am afraid she reminded me of a slightly manic Christmas elf! But at least her dancing was amusing. But sadly the bass on both support acts was turned up SO high it was actually physically painful, it felt like someone was attempting to pop my eardrum using dustbin lids.. maybe it was our position, close to the amps, but it was so SO loud! So I spent most of their sets with my fingers in my ears and could barely even HEAR them sing above the ridiculously heavy bass.
Then the time we were waiting for arrived. 99 Problems started and we knew that the time was imminent, followed closely by the Back to the Future theme song… Excitement central!
Then the band came onto the stage. Amazing. I was again, after my Little Noises adventure, made forcefully aware of just how amazingly good looking they are. They look younger and thinner in real life, and it does take some adjusting to just how close they are. They are REALLY in front of you.
The stage is incredibly high, far above my head.. so we did have to crane our necks a bit to see anything. Also the gig was being filmed, maybe for Coldplay’s new DVD which is apparently being made, or maybe just for the big screens, so there was a camera RIGHT in front of where we stood, so every single time Chris stood at his microphone to play the guitar, I could only see half of him, so frustrating! Andy says he couldn’t see him at all, so I did better than he did! We could see the ramp to our left, but we were not in the front for that either, so it was hard, when you had tall people in front of you to see properly. I am 5’3, but apparently most of the rest of the audience is 7’12”, so I was a bit frustrated when someone pushed in front of me. But tried to get over it, after all I had spent 7 months waiting for this hour and a half.. nobody was going to spoil it for me now!
Then the gig started.. it was incredible..
This is my stream of consciousness to friends this morning..
My head aches, throat is sore, my legs hurt, my ears HURT.. The bass in the bloody strange support acts was so loud it physically hurt...
But all in all amazing.
Just want to state, in case none of you is aware.
Christopher Martin is THE best looking person on the planet. Period.
They came out and It took my breath away seriously.. He did one of his 1000 yard stares at our section.. and I swear I was in direct eyeline.. LOL but it may have been my imagination, I was kind of buried in the ‘mosh pit’! Being short is SO not fun in there, but I did have a BRIGHT YELLOW stripe across my nose and under my eyes! A glow in the dark one! Courtesy of our fellow queuees.. Oli looked awesome! OMG a full bright yellow florescent hand print on his face, glow in the darkglasses and about 10 glowbands on his arms!
See R42 photo. Here. http://www.coldplay.com/newsdetail.php?id=972
The rain came down in BUCKETS.. We all got soaked to the skin, but it didn't matter
He dedicated yellow to 'My wife Gwyneth' ....
Other points.. we didn't see ANY Of the C stage stuff.. wrong side and too faraway buried into people.. so I watched it on the screens.. which were amazingly big.
High points.. Jumping to Charlie Brown.. balloons.. confetti... Warning sign.. Oh my.. that was beautiful.. then when they had finished, the others all went back to the main stage, but Chris stayed at the piano in the frankly power-shower like rain, and played.. I could see him lit up from behind with the rain coming down and bouncing off the piano, wow.. Heart exploding time.
Clocks!! Some of you know how I feel about this song.. but suffice it to say, it's probably one of my favourites! At the end when they go all bonkers.. Chris started wildly hitting the keys with the flats of his hands! LOL! hilarious but actually IN TUNE! HOW?! then he did the famous backwards fall off the stool.. They had turned the piano around during the C stage things, and now he was facing the piano our side, so we could see him better.
Other thoughts….Fix you.. Chris came down the ramp around parallel to us, dropped to his knees, opened his arms and we all sang to HIM… amazing, incredible.. probably the high point of the entire gig. But there were so many.. Paradise.. singing so loudly that I thought my head may come off! LOL.. Viva..Charlie Brown.. all amazing.. Jumping, the rain, the confetti on the floor, in my hair, in Olivers hoodie.. the mess of soggy confetti in the rain.. the glowbands.. the awesomeness.. apologies to anyone’s feet I trod on during the jumping.. !
Finally every tear drop… sung to the cascading heavens around us. Then the show was over.
We hung about a little to say goodbye to friends.. Laura got a pick and Tash got a set list. Sadly I lost everyone again after that, so I am sorry I would have loved to have said goodbye.
The place was a mess! COATED in discarded beer and soft drink bottles, not to mention the soggy, confetti draped over EVERYTHING! The poor crew started taking down kit whilst a virtual waa waa waterfall of water fell onto them from above.
Then it was time to leave, but as we were going, out onto the stage came Apple, Gwyneth and Moses, and a few other kids. They walked along to the middle of the Xstage.. stood for a bit talking, then Apple set off along the stage alone smiling shyly to people who were all taking her photo and gave us all a little wave. What a cutie she is, and so like her Dad.
Then we joined the almost zombie like train of people attempting to get home. London transport in it’s wisdom, (they said they had power issues) shut two tube stations, and we passed around three stations with queues longer than a mile to get into them!
We must have walked for around four miles before we found one we could use, I can’t even remember which one it was.. I was SO tired by then! Finally the long long train journey home and I fell asleep.. However the train got stuck at one stop, they gave some excuse, that my tired brain refuses to remember, but they left the doors open for what felt like ten minutes! It was freezing, especially as we were all soaked to the skin, so by the time we got back to our car, we were all shivering so much!
Finally home around 2am..
What a day… night and morning!
Next stop Holland! [thanks comicforce]
Happy Jubilee and all that... although frankly beginning to feel a bit like, ok enough already, had the river thing - sorry but that was so funny with the orchestra in the dry and the poor choir singing their hearts out on top in the deluge that only an English summer can conjure up. I laughed my head off! Saw some of the concert - Stevie Wonder - brilliant, Madness - ditto, Paul McCartney - better than I'd expected but Elton John... er sorry when did he stop being able to sing. I know he'd been ill but frankly he was pretty awful to my ears. Anyway - one of our bits of the weekend was Coldplay at the Emirates Stadium (Arsenal). So... firstly support - Rita Ora was brilliant, that girl can sing and got the limited crowd that was in early going. Only a short 20 mins set which was a shame, I'd have gladly listened to more - great band as well. The Robyn... well not my sort of thing, very very clever drumming but her sound and style didn't really suit a stadium gig. A smaller venue would have been better but then again maybe not for me. So Coldplay hit the immense stage. Now I quite like Coldplay but in that genre probably prefer Snow Patrol if I'm honest - I listen to them more regularly anyway. Having seen Snow Patrol a couple of times at The O2 I was expecting to say "Coldplay were good but not as good as Snow Patrol"... I couldn't say that, they can command a stadium these boys. Not a lot of chitchat just hit after hit from Yellow, In My Place, the absolutely stunning Fix You to Paradise and all points in between. Great sound, fantastic light show - we were up in the Gods towards the back which whilst you can't see the stage close up you do get to see the light show better - and a great great sound quality. Add to that the fact that it absolutely chucked it down with rain for most of the gig a testament to both band and the technical crew - there was pretty much no cover for them at all. Finally - everyone got a wristband as you went in - at a couple of points, the start and more notably the end these lit up driven by a radio signal, pulsing in time to the music. 60,000 people waving their flashing wristbands in the air, cool sight and also a great way to include the crowd actively in the event. Top marks... [thanks Guitars and Life] http://guitarsandlife.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/gig-review-coldplay-arsenal-football.html
Started badly when I got to Basingstoke by car I realised I had left my camera at home and my phone decided it was going to do a Nokia and drop from full battery to half battery in 2 minutes following a phone-call, so there is a lack of pictures as I turned it off to save battery for the train ride back home (waves at Michy) Maybe changing at Green Park wasn't the best idea I had as it was full of England fans heading to Wembley, but I managed to get to the stadium around 3-30 and ended up I would say 50th or so in the "J" queue, the doors opened late but it was a good queue, a bit chaotic as it looked liked 2 queues as the queue for the K doors was pretty close. Security was a bit rubbish, they didn't even check my carrier bag when I said it was for the bin (and when to the bin to drop off an empty plastic tub, via the toilet as I really needed a piss). Anyways once inside I managed to get to the 3rd row, but that stage was frecking high (pic 1) and to save my neck I decided to look around. The seating looked a bit rubbish so I ended up on the little raised bit (for cables) between the 2 speaker towers, pretty much middle of the runway. It was a nice place to sit for the hour and a bit for Rita Ora to come on, she came on and not really knowing any songs by her (My radio station of choice Jack FM doesn't do Rita Ora) I nodded and thought it was ok. Stayed standing until Robyn whom didn't look like she was enjoying playing to 50,000 odd people. Then the rain started, and being roughly in the middle of the stadium I had no cover whatsoever, more on that later, the part in front started getting full, but the girl to the right of my decided she wanted to be a rock and not move out of the way to allow the flow of people over the speaker line, which was a bit annoying as I kept on having to move out of the way (and to the people moaning behind me, you had your chance to go in front). 99 Problems and Back to the Future, followed by fireworks, lasers and other stuff (Has Chris been talking with the Flaming Lips again?), good set-list, bloody good acoustics from where I was standing, no pushing at all, bit hard to jump up and down as I almost landed wrong and slipped off the plastic protective cover. Lots of energy and the sight of seeing all the wristbands lighting was amazing (I was in red). Getting out was a bit of a nightmare when a couple of people decided to stop and have a chat in the tunnel, but it was a good break from the heavy rain, and a good 15 minute walk to Caledonian Road where I hopped onto a tube (which was busy), and had a good switch over to the Northern Line (where some lady decided to try and force the doors open and in the minute or so delay I managed to hop on), went back via Burger King at Waterloo (£5.99 for a medium meal-deal ) as I was hunger and hopped onto the Salisbury bound train (and with the number of wrist-bands I saw in the carriage there was quite a few concert goers on the same train). So anyways, I is cursed, the 3rd time in seeing Coldplay and the 3rd time it has rained. But it's the first stadium show since Crystal Palace in 05 that I was standing!. [thanks Black Rose]
I was there since 6 am like friday and some people camped at the Emirates! I was the 3rd in the J queue and it was cold but the waiting was not so long when you can speak with other fans of different countries: very good experience!!! So when the doors open, I run run run to be in 1st row in front of the x-stage and in the middle: the best place there I think. As my wristbands fell just before I arrive at the barrier I come back to get back it and I fell too! ahah! and when I saw the liveblog I hope Will and Jonny didn't see me Amazing show as usual, lasers, balloons, wristbands, fireworks, etc and good setlist!!! And the crowd were amazing! One of my best gig even if I didn't like the support act except the remix of ETIAW by Robyn and even if I have to walk so much after the show to find a subway!!! I can't believe this mess: what will they do during the olympic games???
[thanks Eve81]
Up there with the very best gigs I've ever been to. Setlist was almost perfect, the energy from the band was incredible and the atmosphere was lovely. They really put in so much effort. Also, everyone around me seemed really nice, met a couple of nice people. If any of you are on here, it would be nice to speak to you to see what you thought of the gig! I was the one who started rapping Jay-Z about 30 seconds before it came on, then rapped the whole thing with my sister. [thanks mrkjhnwht]
More Fan Reviews can be found at 2 June 2012: Emirates Stadium, London, England
Setlist
Can be found at 2 June 2012: Emirates Stadium, London, England
Photos
Photos from this show can be found at Coldplaying.com in the Gallery thread for the Emirates Stadium. http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/1903
Videos
Videos from this show can be found in the first post of the Coldplaying forum live thread for this show at http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?t=90353
Discussion
All post-show discussion for this show at the forum thread http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?t=90353
Media Reviews
Can be found at 2 June 2012: Emirates Stadium, London, England
Twitter Updates
Can be found at 2 June 2012: Emirates Stadium, London, England
Anchorman's Live Photo Blog
Can be found at 2 June 2012: Emirates Stadium, London, England
