Chris Martin on The Today Show, Friday
It is an absolute blessing to live in New York City.
On Friday morning, I rose bright and early---at 2:30 am---to head uptown to Rockefeller Plaza and get my ass in line to see Coldplay on The Today Show. An hour later (goddamn the subway at 3am), when I arrived on 5th Avenue between 48th and 49th, the sight that I saw was not surprising: a line already around the block decorated with sleeping bags, board games and a hint of marijuana in the early morning air. Without complaint, I plopped myself down, ceremoniously blasted the spankin'-new Viva La Vida album on my iPod, and passed out on my backpack until about 5:45. When the sleepless line finally entered the concert area and became a restless crowd, it was 6am, the sun was out, and I came to the realization that I would be standing shoulder-to-shoulder with a myriad of sweaty people for a solid THREE HOURS. (Note the title of this post.)
Though I was exhausted and uncomfortable, I was thrilled that at any moment, my favies would be coming out and rocking my life with their sound check. I killed time by shifting my weight back and forth, taking off my sweater vest, and reading Steve Martin's Born Standing Up---which became my trademark item to wave at the camera whenever it swooped over my head. Finally, to the near-orgasmic delight of the crowd, the four came onstage at around 6:20am. "This is the sound check, so we're going to sound like shit!" said Chris. When they started off the (early early early) morning with "Clocks," I felt like I was at Woodstock. Suddenly, I was family to the hundreds of people around me, yet I was completely in my own head. Every note and every word was so special---I felt like we were all being given this gift of a live, un-broadcast performance that only we got to experience. They capped off the sound check with "Yellow," which was slower and sadder than I'd ever heard it, and peaced out until two hours later, at 8:30, when they came back for the broadcast performances.
Again, they kicked it off with "Clocks," which was huger and even more gorgeous than their sound check version. I jumped and pumped my arms and sang along and screamed when they finished. It was one of those all-encompassing concert experiences that made me want to wave my arms high enough so that they would see me and just me while simultaneously totally allowing the crowd to swallow me. Also, the fact that I'd gone by myself let me just listen to everything going on around me, which was relaxing and invigorating at the same time. There was no one there to say, "Wasn't that great?" or "Ugh, I wish we could see better!" or "Damn, I'm tired." There was just me, other sweaty people, and Coldplay.
They played four more great ones: "In My Place," "Viva La Vida," "Lost!" and "42." "Lost!" is definitely my favorite on the album, so that was a great four minutes for me! I just rocked the hell out and shouted the chorus. (Oh, and speaking of four minutes, Chris Martin gave us a little cover of Madonna's "Four Minutes" during the sound check. It was the sexiest.)
"42" was their encore, and they finally called it quits just after 9am. I was just drunk with happy. There is just nothing like a live show, especially when you know the music so well that you can appreciate all the little nuances that are truly spontaneous and---well, live. Oh my God. Coldplay. Coldplay, be more amazing, except you really can't.
Check out the videos of the performances---really, you must---at The Today Show website. Photo credit: People.
No comments:
Post a Comment