I saw Coldplay on Thursday and they were fantastic! I'll recap the show in-depth as best I can, and I'm hoping this will help warm me up for reviewing some albums!

Prepare for a text wall!

The first opening act was Kitty, Daisy, and Lewis. They covered "Blue Moon of Kentucky," which should give you an idea of their style (swing-ish, bluegrassy). The talented band members switched instruments often; as their name implies, they had three singers (two female and one male). At one point they brought out some random Jamaican guy, and the singer proceded to trade her same harmonica note with his same trumpet note for at least a minute-and-a-half, making them sound like a broken record. They were quite boring, but were clearly talented and certainly not bad.

Elbow was the second opening act, and I unfortunately missed a good portion of their set while getting a T-shirt. Unlike the first act, they were a good match for Coldplay and seemed to be an interesting group overall. Between songs, the singer was very friendly, and they had a handful of songs that were quite beautiful (especially as the sun went down!) Relative rocker "Grounds for Divorce" was another highlight.

Coldplay took the stage after the PA played U2's "Magnificent," something by Jay-Z, and The Blue Danube.

"Life in Technicolor" was the well-chosen opener; a slightly transparent veil cloaked the band in shadow during the song, creating a really cool atmosphere mixed with the golden stage lighting.

The veil dropped as the song segued into "Violet Hill." While not one of my favorites from the album, its uncanny resemblance to late Pink Floyd makes it an interesting song, and they performed it wonderfully. Chris Martin danced and spun around the stage quite a bit.

The fantastic "Clocks" was next; with bright red laser-lighting and a perfect performance by the band (lots of good improvisation, but not so much that it ruined it), it was one of the highlights of the show.

"In My Place" opened with Will Champion's recognizable drumming and a bluish spotlight on him. Lots of audience members were singing along.

"Yellow" was next, and featured bright yellow lighting and giant yellow balloons filled with confetti. Another fan favorite, the song was one of the absolute high points of the show. It was drawn-out a bit longer as Chris coached the audience to sing the chorus to his bandmates.

"Glass of Water" was the first song from the new EP to be played, and was done very well. They seemed very excited to play it and didn't disappoint. I believe this was when another aspect of the stage setup was revealed; a few big orb-shaped lights descended from the ceiling that served as extra screens of sorts- a very cool touch.

"Cemeteries of London" followed; with a black-and-white old-timey treatment to the video screens, the atmosphere of the song was enhanced. Buckland's little guitar part at the end was resonant and nicely done.

"42" lived up to its role as one of Viva La Vida's best songs, and was another highlight of the show. The apex of the song (its awesome transition) had a lighting fade-out as one would expect, and Chris (and the audience) held out the "oh" at the end as long as they possibly could- he had a lot of fun with that one, choking to be silly.

The masterpiece "Fix You" was performed exactly as on the X&Y album, and had moody blue lighting. There's not much to say about it except that it was wonderful.

The closer of the main set, "Strawberry Swing," was not a song I had particularly cared for until only recently before the show, but they did a fantastic job on it live, causing me to appreciate the song more. The sugary pop song was treated to bright pink lighting and the orb lights "transformed" into different things throughout.

Afterwards, the band moved to a B-stage in front of the right-side video screen and began a techno-ish remix of "God Put A Smile Upon Your Face" combined with "Talk." Both songs were shortened, and it was slightly disappointing to hear two of my favorites edited quite a bit, but the unique rendition and combination made the pair yet another highlight.

Afterwards, everyone except Chris left the B-stage as he began "The Hardest Part." Even this song, which I consider to be the lowest point of the set, was performed beautifully; Chris did a duet with Will on it that was somewhat unintentionally funny, but the sincerity of the song and awe-inspiring performance made it difficult to laugh. Martin then followed with his classical-sounding piano solo "Postcards from Far Away."

The powerful lead single and title track "Viva La Vida" was next, and was another perfectly performed hit. The crowd really got into the "oh-oh oh-oh-oh" chant, imbuing the song with a unique extra layer of energy. After the song, Chris lay on the ground, as if defeated, and every time the audience would reprise the chant, he would lift off the ground a bit, only to fall back down. I found this ingeniously funny for some reason.

Then, out of nowhere, the powerful backbeat of "Lost!", backed by brilliant blue lighting, "revived" Chris as he dramatically and quickly sprung up. Perhaps the best performance of the night, "Lost!" had a much more pronounced bassline by Berryman and drumming by Champion that made the song exceed the album version. Also, a cool video trick was employed. Next to Chris Martin's piano there was an old TV displaying live footage of the concert, and on the big video screens it created a cool "picture-in-picture" effect with the TV screen centered perfectly.

Afterwards, the band was escorted off the stage on the left side (our left) and eventually they ended up on a stage toward the left of the lawn. Here they performed a well-done, "personal" feeling acoustic set that began with "Green Eyes." After ad-libbing for a bit, Chris allowed Will to sing "Death Will Never Conquer," which was followed by a "wave" of audience cellphone lights and a cover of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean."

After a remix of "Viva La Vida" played over the sound system, the band surprisingly returned with the jarring beginning of "Politik," which was accompanied by bright red and white seizure-inducing flashing in tune with the music. The orbs were utilized well during the song, with one playing the part of "Earth from outer space" well.

"Lovers in Japan" was next; with an energetic performance, explosions of butterfly-shaped confetti, and imaginative video of Japan, it was another artfully-done highlight.

"Death and All His Friends," another powerful song from Viva La Vida, was a fantastic choice to close the first encore. Behind the band, bluish lights lit up the word "Viva" through holes in some newly-fallen curtains.

After exiting for a bit, the band returned for another Rush of Blood favorite, "The Scientist," which needs no introduction or explanation.

"Life in Technicolor II" from Prospekt's March was a perfect closer to the wonderful show. As the band took a final bow and thanked the audience, "The Escapist" played in the background with bright neon "Viva" letters illuminated in different colors.

While there was a handful of songs from Parachutes and X&Y that I would've liked to hear, but didn't (due to under-representation of those albums), the setlist had an amazing flow to it that wasn't hindered by the loss of these.

The one thing keeping me from saying the show was absolutely perfect was the lack of Speed of Sound, my absolute favorite Coldplay song. This baffles me! To me, it's one of those "perfect songs," and is an amazingly awe-inspiring, wonderfully-crafted masterpiece. There are few songs by anybody I can listen to multiple times in a day; I can listen to Speed of Sound multiple times in a row without getting tired of it! It had been absent from the set for a while (I believe it was performed in its normal rendition for most of the tour, then moved to the acoustic set, then dropped), so I didn't expect to hear it, but it was nevertheless disappointing.

The show was fantastic; it definitely exceeded my expectations and made my father, who was skeptical of Coldplay, a huge fan. Everything was artfully and professionally done, but there was lots of improvisation and well-thought-out audience interaction to balance it out. The boys did an admirable job of making our show feel special; even though the setlist was the same as it had been for several nights, the band did not seem exhausted or annoyed with the material at all. Rather, they seemed exceptionally excited and happy to be there. I've seen quite a few concerts by bands that I love and this is definitely one of the best.