Coldplay Performance
Coldplay Performance at Ricoh Arena, Coventry: One Night to Remember
The world-renowned British rock band Coldplay performed at Ricoh Arena in Coventry on the 29th of May, 2012. It was a performance in support of the new studio album Mylo Xyloto the band had released recently.
Today, Coldplay is one of the most popular and commercially successful bands, selling over 50 million albums worldwide. Throughout their career, they have won numerous awards, including five MTV Video Music Awards, eight Brit Awards, and seven Grammy Awards. According to Rolling Stone magazine, Coldplay’s sound is melodic, vaguely spacey, elegant, and dramatic. Thanks to lead vocalist Chris Martin’s ability to touch the strings of the soul and the musicians’ desire to continuously evolve their sound, Coldplay has become one of the top-selling bands (Rolling Stone).
Every Coldplay live performance is a real extravaganza of pyrotechnics and special effects. The performance at Ricoh Arena in Coventry was no exception. Unlike most musicians, who are used to employing fireworks at the end of their concerts, this British rock band starts making a fantastic laser show from the first song. At the performance at the Ricoh Arena, their first song to be played was Hurts Like Heaven from their latest album Mylo Xyloto. Huge blue, green and red balloons were flying in the air. Due to all these trick effects, Neil McCormick from The Telegraph compared Coldplay’s performance at the Ricoh Arena with Star Wars (McCormick, 2012).
During the concert, the musicians were charismatic, emotional, and energetic, especially the lead singer Chris Martin. It appears that he was ready to jump into the crowd to become a part of this united gathering of like-minded people.
Coldplay is a band with more than a 15-year history. During this time, many of their songs became world-wide hits, which their audiences want to hear at most of their concerts. The second song they played was In My Place, with the crowd singing unison with Chris. But when the musicians started playing the song, The Scientist, the crowd exploded with delight. Fans were drowning out Chris Martin with their own singing. On this subject, he began to joke that the concert has just begun and they have not played good songs yet. When it comes to a singsong, this band is always on top.
It is remarkable that the musicians surprisingly played a song Yellow as a gentle piano ballad, which eventually transformed into a stomping and screaming guitar anthem. Viva La Vida also was fantastic, and the crowd could not resist their excitement and started moving lively in time with music. During Princess of China, the artist Rihanna appeared on big screens installed on the sides of the stage.
Speaking of new songs, the most touching was Up in Flames. Martin played it on piano carefully and gently, accompanied by percussion and a chorus of the crowd. This showed that Coldplay can be both rock and lyrical. They have their own distinctive style and cannot be confused with any other band. On this occasion, Kitty Empire of The Guardian writes: “Over the years, Coldplay has transformed from needy performers into joyous ones – compulsively magnetic without ever resorting to rock’s latent sexual aggression” (Empire, 2012).
The spectators also deserve attention. More than 40,000 fans of all ages and from different counties were at Ricoh Arena that night. On their wrists were fluorescent bracelets that complemented the incredible light and sound show. When this irrepressible and inflammatory musical performance was over, loyal fans did not want to let their favorite musicians go. During the encore, sweaty musicians, one-by-one, appeared on a tiny stage in the rear part of the stadium. They played Us Against the World, making it clear that this song is about the band. That was one of the memorable moments.
Coldplay’s live performance at Ricoh Arena was a kind of a show one will never forget. Every spectator ensured that Coldplay was the band that filled every inch of the stage with their presence, and whose songs when played live sounds as great as on their records. If you are fond of Coldplay’s songs, but have not been to their concerts yet, you certainly have to attend one. You will receive priceless emotions and feelings.
List of References
Neil McCormick: “Coldplay, Coventry Ricoh Stadium, Review”, The Telegraph, 30 May 2012.
Kitty Empire: “Coldplay – Review: Ricoh Arena, Coventry”, The Guardian, 3 June 2012.
“Coldplay: Biography”, Rolling Stone, Retrieved 30 April 2013.