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reviews:
memyselfandi:
"WPLJ - an embarrassment to Coldplay"
So I was fortunate enough to see Coldplay at The China Club, New York
last night. When again will you be so lucky to have the setting of an
intimate atmosphere that could have nearly been UCL student union, the
night before their sell out gig to a crowd 10,000 times the size tonight.
It was near perfect setting for Coldplay to do a 40 minute virtually acoustic
set to only fans and competition winners who were lucky enough to attend.
What could have been an amazing, tranquil, special evening was utterly
ruined by the commercial interests of WPLJ who were desperate not to let
Coldplay to what they do best (ie sing and weave atmospheres that no other
band can), but exploit them for their own commercial gain. They kept interrupting
the set, plugging their radio station, having their moronic DJs taking
the piss and firing pointless Q&A from 'fans' on the floor ("Gee Chris,
how did you make the Politik video go backwards?" - intelligent. Specially
as there isn't a fricking video for Politik yet).
All credit to them. They stuck it out and handled it well. Chris kept
the banter sharp and sarcastic but clearly looked each time more uncomfortable,
unsure what they were there for and what the point of doing the gig was.
By the end of it, Coldplay looked more nervous and out of place in this
intimate setting then they will tonight playing in front of 80,000. If
I was Chris, I'd be screaming at my manager how he managed to set me up
for such a farcical evening. I know he won't though because he's too nice
and straight and deep to get embroiled in it. I am visiting New York from
London. I love New York and love America.
But the commercial exploitation of such a great band is unforgiveable.
Radio 1 in the UK (the Coldplay station equivalent) would never be so
unrelenting in its chase for profit and fame ("yes let's tell you again,
we are the radio station that brought you COLDPLAY!! OK Chris now why
don't you sing something?") - and instead would have let the band do what
they do best (sing, play music and move people). Answering pointless questions
from the floor and being interrupted throughout a set can only be indicative
of the greed, lack of depth and general arrogance of our Transatlantic
counterparts. Chris, Coldplay - come home. We promise not to treat you
with such utter disrespect..............
mb1976:
I was at the Coldplay/ China Club show as well. I do have to say that
I was really looking forward to the show & thought it would be awesome,
but I was dissappointed. I listenned to that stupid radio station from
Friday afternoon til Sat midnight, doing nothing but trying to win tickets
every hour. So bascially I tried very hard to win tickets & I did get
them in the wee hours of the morning. On the night of the show I also
showed up early & waited in line outside for an hour & then waited up
in front of the stage for another 2 hours, waiting for them to come on.
I could see the set list from where I was & saw that they were only playing
6 songs. I thought though that they were the type of band to enjoy a small
venue like the China Club & could be coaxed into playing more songs. I
was wrong. Someone even shouted for them to play Warning Sign, & Chris
looked at him & blatantly said, "No." And as soon as they finished their
last song, they basically sprinted off the stage. I think Chris even said
something about not ever doing anything like that again. He seemed scared
by the audience. Now as a member of the audience, I took offence to that.
I don't want to necessarily blame them because I'm not sure who is at
fault here. WPLJ or Coldplay. I agree the venue was cheesy & probably
could have done w/ a 100 less people in there. And some of the audience
members were very cheesy, loud women. I unfortunetely was standing right
next to this embaressing women. It seems that possibly Coldplay still
could have overcome those obstacles & made the kick ass show it should
have been especially for those dedicated fans in the audience who really
worked hard & waited hours for only 6 songs.
Chris' reaction to Politik/ Scientist mix up: It's something
to laugh at, not take so so serious & to make a joke of which is exactly
what he did. He knew of course & a majority of the audience knew the mistake.
He cleared it up, answered her question in his normal witty way & jokeingly
said something about you must have gotten in here for free. He handled
it very well. And when he sat down to play Scientist - he said it was
Politik as a joke. It doesn't seem like that incident bothered him so
much which it really shouldn't have. Also when he started playing Scientist
the loud, drunk, obnoxius woman next to me yelled, "She's the luckiest
woman in the world!" He had to stop playing cause he was laughing & smiling
& said that was the funniest thing he ever heard.
michellejes:
I have been to a few of PLJ's shows & they are usually AWESOME - 1.5 hours
of great music from cool bands. The format is always discussed with the
band 1st & sometimes dictated by the band, this may have been a way of
preserving their voices. & yes I would have prefered 3 more songs to any
of the questions - but what can u do. We were warned when we won the tix.
The crowd was rude, they couldn't shut up when ppl were asking questions
let alone when the band was answering. & those drunk women!! ARG!! All
the crowd proved that night was that NY stero types are true, I was embrassed.
TheBoose965
EVERYONE quieted BUT that drunk girl...who somehow pushed her way to the
front. I have a pretty good memory of who was to the left and right of
me and for the first like half of it there were 2 guys at the left but
towards the end was this drunken stupid girl who just did not understand...i
was truly pissed. Amsterdam is one of my favorite songs and now when they
replay it you are gonna hear all of the audience say shut the fuck up:/
Chris looked annoyed through some parts of the show. I mean, I've said
in another post I loved it still, but I can understand fully from what
some of you have said about it. WPLJ is utter crap. They have an occasional
U2 song on there, but the perfect example of how bad they are was listening
to wplj as we waited for coldplay to come on stage. On air they played
the same 5 songs looped like 3 times. And when me and my friend were driving
home, I flipped passed wplj on the radio and one of the same songs was
playing again. I never NEVER listen to that station and I don't plan to
for a while now. Not that it is the only repetitive shite station there
are many others. Basically the radio is crap, I just listen to CDs nowadays.
I had some disappointments there, but I made the best of it. That will
prob be the closest I'll ever be to the band. I love their music and it's
gotten me through some tough situations. It's Unfortunate it was so short.
ren:
if you looked at the list at the door, the list of competition winners
was small compared to the list of industry and people who know people.
the majority of the audience seemed like rich housewives from long island
and new jersey. hate to foster stereotypes, but it made me want to puke.
especially the drunk women in front of jonny who insisted on whooping
during amsterdam even though chris kindly requested everyone to be silent.
a note to fans: when chris says to be silent, do it. and have respect
for the quiet songs and don't dance like a slut during them. one of my
favorite chris quotes was at Radio City back in 2001. during a very quiet
song the girls in the front were dancing and whooping, and he said "have
a seat girls" in a very matter-of-fact way. he doesn't like the slutty
dancing. and you are not at a Bon Jovi concert.
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