Coldplay or Coldshoulder?

Is that it? This is the feeling I was left with after one of the most anticipated concerts in my wee short lifetime.

I have been a Coldplay fan for a few years now and was sooo excited that finally I was going to be able see them strut their stuff "live". I had joined the fansite and was able to purchase two tickets in the pre-sale for fans only. Much to my and Ross's excitement these tickets got us into the middle of basically the front row...albeit a few rows back. I was pretty hyped up before they came on and had to take a breath or two to calm myself down a bit....then all of a sudden they were on....lights ablaze and Chris Martin prancing about as only he can do. They played all the hits and a lot of songs of the new album...the lighting was great and the sound more than good enough but something was missing... and then after only 80 minutes it was all over and Ross and i were both left with the same feeling....one of dissapointment.

Things had seemed rushed and lacking in intensity and i wonder if we had seen the same concert in Australia or England or America if we would have had the same feeling? Maybe the band just had an off day...perhaps they were tired at the end of a long tour and just weren't up for it.... maybe thay just did not feel connected to the mainly Japanese audience...or maybe they thought they could just get away with a minimal effort?...I was hoping for "Rush of Blood to the Head" and "Amsterdam"...and maybe even some new material....

There was a huge difference between this show and the ben Harper show a few weeks before.
At the Ben Harper show there had been a spiritual presence, a spirituality in the lyrics and the music and the performance that Coldplay simply could not match. Ben sang about making the world a better place and about relationship with God, he reached out to the audience and connected with them....moving them on a deep level. Coldplay barely sounded any different to the CD's and whilst this provided entertainment value, their songs about love and loss failed to get beyond shallow human emotion.

mmm I wonder if the rest of the audience shared this view? Probably not as maybe all they cared about was being there and seeing their heroes?...

Roll on U2 in November...